§ 52.088. WASTEWATER SEWERS. BUILDING SEWERS AND CONNECTIONS; RATES FOR USE.

(A) No unauthorized person(s) shall uncover, make any connections with or opening into, use, alter or disturb any public wastewater facility or appurtenance thereof without first obtaining a written permit from the town.

(B) (1) There shall be one class of wastewater connection to be known as “Equivalent Residential Units (ERU)”.

(2) In every case, the owner(s) or agents shall make application on a form obtained from the town. The permit application shall be supplemented by any plans, specification or other information considered by the town.

(3) A fee for wastewater connection permits and inspections shall be assessed and collected at the time the application is submitted to the town. The fees for a connection permit shall be as follows:

Motels and restaurants	$1,500
Other commercial:
A. Light (0-10,000 gal/month)	$500
B. Medium (10,001-25,000 gal/month)	$1,000
C. Heavy (25,001+ gal/month)	$1,500
D. An impact fee shall be paid for each equivalent residential unit (ERU) which connects to the wastewater system after the construction of the system is complete. The impact fee shall be as follows: equivalent residential unit (ERU)	$2,000
E. Prior to connecting to the wastewater system, a preliminary study shall be conducted to determine the ERU value for each connection. One year from the date the connection occurs, actual flows shall be used to confirm the ERU value for the connection.
Residential	$500

(C) Each person owning, occupying or having an interest in any structure in the town, the property line of which is within 300 feet of the wastewater collection line shall connect to the wastewater system and shall submit an application on the form provided by the town.

(D) Addendum “A”, Service Use Charge System.

(1) Attached to this policy, as an addendum, is a document entitled “service use charge system”, Addendum “A”. Addendum “A” is incorporated herein and shall be referred to as “Addendum A, Service Use Charge System” or merely, “Addendum A” in any document, pleading or proceeding pertaining to the wastewater system of the town. The rates set forth therein may be modified by an amendment to this policy.

(2) The rates set out in Addendum “A” are hereby approved and adopted.

(3) In order to promote equity in distribution of operation and maintenance costs, and for no other purpose, the town will establish future rates based entirely upon metered winter usage, effluent strength by or solely upon the basis as defined hereinabove or upon an equitable combination of any of those so that the costs of operation and maintenance reflected in rates will be equitably distributed among property owners based upon their usage of and benefit received from the system.

(E) All costs and expense incidental to the installation and connection of a building sewer shall be borne by the owner(s). The owner(s) shall indemnify the town from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be caused by the installation of the building sewer.

(F) A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building; except where one building stands at the rear of another on an interior lot and no private sewer is available or can be constructed to serve the rear building through an adjoining alley, courtyard, yard or driveway, then the building sewer from the front building may be extended to the rear building and the whole system will be considered as one building sewer. The town does not and shall not assume any obligation or responsibility for damage caused by or resulting from any single connection as described herein.

(G) Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are examined and tested by the town and found to meet all requirements of this policy.

(H) The size, slope, alignment, materials or construction all wastewater connection facilities including building sewers, and the methods to be used in excavating, placing of the pipe, jointing, testing and backfilling the trench, shall all conform to the requirements of the Building and Plumbing Codes and other applicable laws, rules and regulations of the town and the state. In the absence of the code provisions, laws, rules or regulations or in amplification thereof, the materials and procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the A.S.T.M. (American Society for Testing Materials) and W.P.C.F. (Water Pollution Control Federation) Manual of Practice No. 9 shall apply.

(I) Whenever possible, the building sewer shall be brought from the building at an elevation below the basement floor. In all buildings in which any building drain is too low to permit gravity flow to the public wastewater system, wastewater sewage carried by the building drain shall be lifted by an approved means and discharged to the building sewer. Where the means are necessary, the property owner shall be responsible for all installations, maintenance and operating costs for their operation.

(J) No person(s) shall connect roof downspouts, foundation drains, areaway drains or other sources of surface runoff or ground water to a building sewer or building drain which in turn is connected directly or indirectly to the wastewater system unless the connection is approved by the town and the State Department of Environmental Quality for purposes of disposal of polluted surface drainage.

(K) The connection of the building sewer into the wastewater system shall conform to the requirements of the Building and Plumbing Codes and other applicable laws, rules and regulations of the town, and the state, or in the absence of the codes, laws, rules or regulations, the procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of nationally-recognized publications of what are known as the A.S.T.M. (American Society for Testing Materials) and the W.P.C.F. (Water Pollution Control Federation) Manual of Practice No. 9. All connections shall be made gas-tight and water-tight, any deviation from the prescribed procedures and materials shall be approved by the town before installation.

(L) All excavations for building sewer installation shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights so as to protect the public from hazard. Streets, sidewalks, parkways and other public property disturbed in the course of the work shall be restored in a manner satisfactory to the town.

(M) Regardless of who the occupant, user, tenant, co-tenant, permissive user or any other person, firm, partnership, corporation or entities in possession of the property to which a wastewater connection is supplied or wastewater service made available, the owner of the property according to the public records of the county shall be legally responsible for the payment of all charges, fees and assessments and any other obligation or liability of a user as set forth herein. If any delinquent wastewater connection, wastewater use charge, repair costs, maintenance costs or any other obligation is imposed against any premises, property, buildings or structures, the obligation shall be deemed by town as an obligation of the owner of the real property on which any use is made from a wastewater connection. Water service to delinquent property shall be turned off by the town for failure to pay any and all wastewater fees, assessments, charges or liability and will not be turned on again to those premises where a delinquency occurs unless and until all liabilities to the town for wastewater service are paid in full.

(N) Interest at the rate of 1.5% per month on all past-due accounts either for wastewater connection fees, service use charges, maintenance, repair or any other charge which is provided for, imposed or authorized by this policy shall be imposed on all delinquent fees.

(O) Each user will be notified, at least annually, in conjunction with a regular bill, of the rate and that portion of the use charges, which are attributable to wastewater treatment services, operation and maintenance and debt service.

(1974 Code, § 11-a-4) (Res. 99-017, passed 10-13-1999; Ord. 99-003, passed 10-13-1999) Penalty, see § 52.999