Chapter 13.10
PRIVATE SEWER EXTENSIONS
Sections:
13.10.010 Private sewer extensions authorized—Purpose—Term.
13.10.030 Permit required for extension of city-owned mains—Fee—DOE approval.
13.10.040 Extended sewer construction standards.
13.10.060 Frontage fee connection charge for partial extension.
13.10.070 Recovery contract open.
13.10.080 Recovery contract procedure.
13.10.090 Enforcement of collections on recovery contracts.
13.10.010 Private sewer extensions authorized—Purpose—Term.
Pursuant to Chapter 35.91 RCW, incorporated by reference in RCW 35A.80.010, any legal personage desiring to utilize private funds to install sanitary sewer improvements and appurtenances on rights-of-way acknowledged and recognized to be public may apply to the city to extend the city’s sewer mains or facilities. If the legal personage chooses to install the service connections, it shall install all or none of them. All service connections shall be installed coincident with the installation of the extended sewer mains. (Ord. 429 § 2 (part), 1983)
13.10.020 Purpose.
The purpose of authorizing private extensions to the public sewer system is to encourage the use of private capital in development of private property and to alleviate the necessity of the city becoming involved in the process of bonding public improvements on private property, developer LIDs being felt not to be in the best interests of the city. (Ord. 429 § 2 (part), 1983)
13.10.030 Permit required for extension of city-owned mains—Fee—DOE approval.
Application for private sewer extensions shall be made on forms approved and established by the city supervisor and city engineer and shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable application fee established by the city council pursuant to such periodic resolution as the council, from time to time, updates and approves to cover the city’s expenses in processing the application. At a minimum, the application shall require professional engineering plans and/or drawings deemed adequate by the city engineer for its review purposes. Before issuance of any sewer extension permit, the application and all accompanying drawings and/or plans shall be forwarded to the Department of Ecology (DOE) to ensure that service to new areas contemplated and/or available for service by reason of such extension shall not put the city in violation of any DOE standards or enforcement criteria. No such extended sewer permit shall be issued until or unless DOE written approval of the plans and/or drawings and permission to issue said permit has been received by the city. (Ord. 429 § 2 (part), 1983)
13.10.040 Extended sewer construction standards.
Materials and details of construction of all extensions to the city sewer system shall conform to standard specifications for municipal public works construction as prepared by the American Public Works Association, together with any and all modifications thereto made by city of Mukilteo ordinance. At a minimum, all such extensions shall be made on a permanent basis and shall be in conformance with the following:
A. All permanent sewer extension mains shall be at least eight inches in diameter. However, in all cases, the city engineer shall determine the size and depth of sewer lines connected to the city utility system. Said determination shall be consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan and the long-range objectives for the sewer utility.
B. If an applicant is required to install a sewer line with a diameter in excess of ten inches, and if the purpose for such oversizing is to provide for future extension of said line to adjacent properties within the utility service area, and not merely to meet the needs of the property responsible for constructing said line, the city shall reimburse said property owner for the difference in material costs incurred solely by reason of the oversizing requirement. No such reimbursement shall be made except upon:
1. Full compliance with Section 13.10.050;
2. Certification of the oversizing costs, with such verification from the material supplier and contractor as the city engineer may require;
3. Approval of the oversizing costs by the city engineer; and
4. Approval of the reimbursement by the city council.
C. The applicant shall be required to extend the sewer line for the full frontage of the lot, lots, parcel or parcels which are being connected. Only if it can be shown that no future extension beyond a specific lot or parcel will occur, may a waiver be obtained from the city engineer allowing the owner to extend the line to the nearest point of connection on the lot or parcel. (Ord. 429 § 2 (part), 1983)
13.10.050 Inspection and approval-Bill of sale-Warranties-Right of perpetual access for inspection, repair or upgrading.
A. All extensions of the public sanitary sewer line shall be accepted by the city only after inspection by, and written approval of, the city engineer, and submittal of as-built drawings acceptable to the city engineer.
B. All extensions of the public sanitary sewer line shall be conveyed to the city by bill of sale.
C. All extensions of the public sanitary sewer line shall be accompanied by a warranty of the applicant/grantor that the sewer line is free of debt and was constructed in accordance with city standards and specifications. The applicant/grantor shall further warrant the labor and materials used in the construction of said line for a period of one year from the date of the conveyance to the city, and shall indemnify and hold the city harmless from any damages arising from defective materials or workmanship. The warranty shall further assure that construction occurred within rights-of-way acknowledged and recognized to be public or, if the sewer line crosses private property, that there is, of record, an easement not less than fifteen feet in width which authorized construction and which further authorizes perpetual future reconstruction, repair, maintenance, alteration, change, control and operation of said sewer line and indemnifies and holds the city harmless from any damages arising from the failure to construct said extended sewer line within such acknowledged and recognized public right-of-way or within such a recorded dedicated easement across private property.
D. All extensions of the public sanitary sewer line shall also require conveyance of a covenant running with the private property served by the extension of a perpetual easement for the purpose of inspecting, repairing or upgrading any sewer or sewerage disposal system being discharged into the city’s sewer system. (Ord. 429 § 2 (part), 1983)
13.10.060 Frontage fee connection charge for partial extension.
Any property owner having partial frontage at the end of a sewer extension in which he did not share the cost, may connect to the extended sewer if he pays, in addition to other connection charges established in this code, a frontage fee connection charge established by the city council pursuant to such periodic resolution as the council, from time to time, updates and approves for the frontage past which the sewer extension does not extend. Said frontage fee shall be determined as an amount which reflects the owner’s share of a future extension which may eventually extend past the full frontage of his property based on prevailing construction rates, and shall be payable to the sewer system capital improvement fund. Upon payment of said fee, the city shall record an instrument waiving the property’s liability to contribute to the cost of any future extension of the sewer main along the extent of said frontage; provided, however, that such waiver shall not be deemed to apply to the cost of future connections and connection charges from said property, nor to the cost of any other future improvements to the sewer system which provide a benefit to the property. (Ord. 429 § 2 (part), 1983)
13.10.070 Recovery contract open.
The city reserves the right to refuse to enter into any recovery contract and to reject any application therefor. All applications for such contract shall be made on the basis that the applicant releases and waives any claims for liability of the city in establishment and enforcement of recovery agreements. The city shall not be responsible for locating any beneficiary or survivor entitled to benefits by or through recovery contracts and any collected funds unclaimed by applicants after three years from the expiration of the agreement shall be returned to parties making payment to the city. Any remaining undeliverable funds shall inure to the benefit of the city’s sewer system. (Ord. 429 § 2 (part), 1983)
13.10.080 Recovery contract procedure.
If within sixty days of the date of conveyance by bill of sale of a newly constructed sewer line to the city, the applicant presents a recovery contract acceptable to the city, the city may enter into said contract for recovery of a pro rata share of the cost of constructing said public improvements from other parties that will later derive a benefit from connecting to said improvements. No such contract shall extend for a period in excess of fifteen years and preference shall be given to contracts of five to ten years’ duration. The city council shall approve or disapprove such recovery contracts on a case-by-case basis.
Upon the city’s entry into a recovery contract, the contract shall be recorded in the county auditor’s office. Thereafter the city shall collect for the applicant a prorated front frontage cost of the newly constructed sewer line from any latecoming property owner who did not contribute to the original cost of the installation and who subsequently connects to said sewer line. Such collection shall be paid to the original applicant who constructed said sewer line, his personal representative or assigns, within thirty days after each collection. There shall be a one-time administrative charge in an amount established by the city council pursuant to such periodic resolution as the council, from time to time, updates and approves. Said charge shall be payable to the sewer utility fund. Unless otherwise provided in the contract itself, said administrative charge shall be deducted from the amount paid by latecoming property owners and deposited to the city sewer utility fund prior to disbursement of the remaining balance to the contract applicant or his successors. At the termination of the contract period, latecomer connection charges at the same rate shall continue to be collected by the city from all property owners connecting to the extended sewer main, but said charges shall thereafter be collected for the benefit of the city and deposited in the city’s sewer system capital improvement fund. (Ord. 429 § 2 (part), 1983)
13.10.090 Enforcement of collections on recovery contracts.
Except as indicated below, the city shall not have the right to waive any collections required by a recovery contract and shall exercise reasonable vigilance to assure that payment of fair shares is not evaded; provided, however, that if the city neglects, for whatever reason, to collect any fair share, the city shall not be liable to the contract applicant but the sole and exclusive remedy shall be for the contract applicant to sue in the city’s name to collect such fair share. The city may authorize the connection of additional mains to an extended main which is subject to a recovery contract without payments of pro rata shares; provided, the additional mains (1) are to be constructed in a public right-of-way existing at the date of acceptance of the recovery contract, or (2) connect to the terminus of the recovery contract main. In the event such additional mains are intended to provide sewer service to any tract fronting on the main already subject to contract, the owner of the additional main shall be required to pay the pro rata share for such tract. If, as the result of the existence of two or more mains under separate recovery contracts, any property may be reasonably served from more than one main, the owner of the property may choose to be connected to a particular main and the pro rata share shall be collected under that contract only. (Ord. 429 § 2 (part), 1983)