Re: Northfield Estates Sanitary Sewer
At the City Commission meeting of June 8, 2004, Commissioner Schauner inquired about the City’s sanitary sewer connection fee. Section 19-315 provides the City Code authority for this fee.
19-315 SANITARY SEWER HOOK-ON FEE.
No permit shall be issued to make any connection with any sewer main or lateral for the purpose of serving any property which has not been specially assessed as part of a sanitary sewer benefit district or is not legally liable to special assessments for the cost of sewer lateral until a sanitary sewer hook-on fee, recommended by the City Engineer, approved by the City Commission, and based on the proportionate actual costs of the line to which the connection will be made, has been paid for permission to connect to the City sewer system. (Ord. 5173, Ord. 6241, Ord. 6316)
Because most developers do not construct sanitary sewer public lines for property they do not own or control this provision is generally applicable only for property that is not part of a development. This provision is also applicable when the City constructs sanitary sewer lines. Under the approved Northfield Estates proposal the connection fee is waived, with the justification that the person paying all of the costs for the sanitary sewer line (Mr. Hicks) can use the waiver of the fee as an inducement to acquire the necessary easements to construct the line. The property owner granting the sanitary sewer easement benefits because if the property owner ever needs to access sanitary sewer the cost of access to the public line, with the exception of inspection charges and system development charges, has been paid.