Okaloosa County BOCC — August 2, 2016 — proposed Water & Sewer Ordinance (tracked changes version) — reading text

requirements. Any other mandatory requirements in this article concerning sewer availability, mandatory connection to available sewer, or payment of water and sewer readiness to serve charges, consumption charges and flat fees, are not affected by this section. (4) The Board shall abide by and honor any partial payment agreements relative to hotel complexes executed while this article was pending as the result of a rate study being performed. Sec. 24-213. - Multiple users defined. All water or sewer capacity expansion charges levied in the form of a fee collected at the time of the connection, to serve multiple-dwelling units, such as apartment houses, duplex apartments, office buildings, hotels, motels, mobile home parks and other buildings occupied by more than one commercial tenant such as stores within shopping centers and all other multiple-use establishments, shall pay the amount as fixed in Appendix A—User Charge Tables For Okaloosa County Water and Sewer User Charge Ordinance for each equivalent residential unit (ERU). (1) The Board does hereby officially find and declare by this article that all such charges are necessary to partially defray the cost of providing a trunk water and/or sewer capacity sufficient to provide adequate water and/or sewer service for units involved. (2) When any Applicant requests authorization to connect to a sewer line or water line of the Board for service to a multiple unit connection, or sub-division, such applicant shall file a certified statement showing the number of units within each multiple dwelling, apartment house, multiplex apartment, office building, hotel, motel, or other multiple-unit structure. The Applicant must execute the necessary agreements and make available to the Engineers for the Board, all plans and specifications covering the construction of the improvements which will use the sewer and/or water service system of the Board through the connection applied for. The Engineers for the Board shall determine the number of appropriate ERUs based on number of multiple units and the appropriate meter and/or connection size required to adequately serve the connection. (3) In the event any Applicant requesting authorization to connect to the sewer system or water system of the Board incorrectly states, or misrepresents the facts to the Board in giving the information required in the application, an additional and further charge for each ERU is hereby fixed at 100 percent of the amount set forth above and levied as a penalty for failure to comply herewith. (4) In the event subsequent additional demand is placed upon the system capacity by an existing Customer, additional charges shall apply as shown in the aforementioned Appendix A. (5) The Board does hereby officially find and declare that a substantial part of providing water and sewer service is the cost of the large water and sewer mains and wastewater treatment plants and the charge for connections to such lines is in fact a charge which is levied to partially pay for the cost of the infrastructure. (6) In the event any application is made for the right to connect to the sewer or water system of the Board, and payment for the permit is made after the date of this article, and a permit issued by the Board, the Board assumes no liability if there is no water line or sewer line then available and accessible to the location. Service may be provided at such future time as the Board may determine. Each applicant must determine the location of the existing, proposed, available, or accessible sewer line or water line prior to making such application and must advise the Board of this location at the time of application. (7) The Board does hereby officially find and declare that a substantial part of providing water and sewer service is the cost of the large water and sewer mains and wastewater treatment plants and the charge for Page 41 of 118  connections to such lines is in fact a charge which is levied to partially pay for those costs. Multiple-unit customers are an additional burden on the capacity of the water or sewer lines, and the capacity of the wastewater treatment plants, and an increase in charges must be levied against any user, based on the extent of such use. Sec. 24-214. – Deferral of Payment of Capacity Expansion Charges for Economic Development Purposes. (1)The Board hereby establishes a deferral program that allows the payment of water and sewer capacity expansion charges over time for those non-residential projects which have been determined to qualify as an Economic Development Project by the Okaloosa County Economic Development Council. (2) Eligibility. In order to qualify for the deferral program, the non-residential business must have applied for and received an Economic Development Ad Valorem Tax Exemption by the County either prior to or concurrently with the approval of the deferral. In addition, the non-residential business must be certified by the Economic Development Council of Okaloosa County as a high impact economic development project within a target industry business as established under the provisions of section 288.106, Florida Statutes. A high impact economic development project shall be a project which creates one hundred (100) new high impact jobs and/or will provide a capital investment of at least ten million dollars ($10,000,000). (3) Terms of the deferral shall be as follows: a. The payment of the water and sewer capacity expansion charges, which would normally be required to be paid in advance of the issuance of a building permit and the setting of the water meter, shall be deferred. Only the water and sewer capacity expansion charges shall be eligible for deferral and not the cost of expansion of any lines or infrastructure necessary to provide service to the project. The County is authorized, but not obligated, to enter into additional agreements to address the provision and funding of necessary capital infrastructure to serve a project based upon the specific circumstances of a particular project. b. In lieu of payment prior to construction, the business shall be allowed to pay the water and sewer capacity expansion charges on their utility bill once service is instituted and shall be paid over a period of three years in equal monthly payments. The deferred payment plan shall apply to the total charges in such amounts as respectively set out in Appendix A-User Charge Tables for Okaloosa County Water and Sewer User Charge Ordinance except for an up-front charge of ten percent of the total amount deferred, including interest, recording and cancellation fees, and agreement preparation costs. c. Prior to approval of the deferral program for the property, the owner must enter into an agreement with the County, which is approved by the board, requiring that they will pay the amounts of the water and sewer capacity expansion charges and that in the event, they fail to pay the full amount in any given month, water service will be cut off/locked in accordance with existing cut off practice, including due dates, past due dates and cut off dates. If the monthly charges are not paid for three months after the first due date, that the property owner consents that the remaining amount owed and any administrative costs involved may be assessed against the property and collected on the ad valorem tax bill as a non-ad valorem assessment against the property. Secs. 24-2154. - 24-230. - Reserved. Subdivision II. - Wastewater Treatment Sec. 24-231. - Findings; revenue. Sec. 24-232. - Connection mandatory; permit termination. Sec. 24-233. - Prohibited discharges generally; application for service, etc. Page 42 of 118  Sec. 24-234. - Discharge; consent and permission required; prohibited discharges enumerated. Sec. 24-235. - Discharge alternatives. Sec. 24-236. - Federal standards applicable; reporting requirements. Sec. 24-237. - Local discharge limits. Sec. 24-238. - Enforcement; penalty. Sec. 24-239. - Interceptors. Sec. 24-240. - Pretreatment or flow-equalizing facilities. Sec. 24-241. - Significant industrial or commercial users. Sec. 24-242. - Discharge of sewage into storm sewer prohibited. Sec. 24-243. - Permit required for discharge of cooling and/or condensing water. Sec. 24-244. - Compliance requirements. Sec. 24-245. - Industrial charges and regulations. Sec. 24-246. - Services for below grade users. Secs. 24-247—24-260. - Reserved. Sec. 24-231. - Findings; revenue. The Board does hereby officially find and declare that each year it spends a substantial sum for the continued operation of its wastewater treatment plants, and that this service is essential to the health and welfare of the Users and to the Board and is necessary to prevent pollution of bayous, local waterways and waterbodies. It further declares and finds that they cannot perform this service unless it obtains revenue for that purpose. Sec. 24-232. - Connection mandatory; permit termination. Where no water service is made available by the Board and sewer service is available, sewer treatment service will be provided at the prevailing rates. The Board may, at its discretion, terminate any such person's permit to discharge such waste or sewage into the lines of the Board. Where both water service and sewer service are available, connection to both is mandatory. Failure to connect does not relieve the customer from required billing. Sec. 24-233. - Prohibited discharges generally; application for service, etc. No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any stormwater, surface water, ground water, roof run-off, sub-surface drainage, cooling water or unpolluted industrial process water into any sewer line. Any person, firm, corporation, or other legal entity desiring to obtain service from the Board shall make written application to the Board for such service and shall in such application state all pertinent facts incident to the operations of the Applicant, including a statement of whether or not the Applicant obtains and uses water for industrial purposes from the Board, the estimated volume of sewage proposed to be included within the service of the Board, the estimated average amount of B.O.D., of suspended solids, and the percentage of fats and other defined materials to be disposed of. The Board shall determine whether or not it can or shall render the service and shall fix the terms and conditions on which the service shall be provided. The Owner or his Agent shall make application on a special form furnished by the Board. The permit application shall be supplemented by any plans, specifications, or other information considered pertinent in the judgment of the Board. A permit and inspection fee as specified in Appendix A shall be paid at the time the application is filed. All costs and expenses incidental to the installation and connection of the building sewer shall be borne by the Owner. The Owner shall indemnify the Board from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer. 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 the rear building Page 43 of 118 through an adjoining alley, courtyard, or driveway, the front building may be extended to the rear building. The Board does not and shall not assume any obligation or responsibility for damage caused by or resulting from any such single connection aforementioned. Old building sewers may be used in connection