Chico Municipal Code Art. IX Financing of Sewer System Fees and the Cost of Sewer Laterals

The council finds that the concentration of nitrates which presently exist in the groundwaters underlying the city is a significant threat to the public health and welfare; that a reduction in the concentration of nitrates in the groundwaters underlying the city would occur if the owners of property within the city's sewer service area using or proposing to use private sewage disposal systems were encouraged to connect such properties and the buildings and structures located thereon to the city's sewer system; and that the connection of property within the city's sewer service area to the city's sewer system can best be encouraged if the city provides to the owners thereof a means of financing the water pollution control plant capacity fees, trunkline capacity fees, and sewer main installation fees which become due and payable upon connection of such property to the city's sewer system, and also provides a means of financing the cost of the sewer laterals which must be constructed and installed in order to connect such property to the city's sewer system. The council also finds that the water pollution control plant capacity fees, trunkline capacity fees, and sewer main installation fees provided for by Title 15 of this code are used exclusively for the payment of costs of local improvements to land to accomplish and facilitate connections to the city's sewer system and that such connections directly and specially benefit the land so connected to the extent of such fees, as the council may set them from time to time.

(Ord. 1586 §11 (part))

A. The city manager is authorized, on behalf of the city, to enter into agreements with property owners whereby the city will permit the water pollution control plant capacity fees, trunkline capacity fees, and sewer main installation fees provided for by Title 15 of this code to be paid in installments over a period not to exceed five years and the property owners will agree to make such payments and encumber their property with covenants, running with the land, which consent to the imposition of an assessment lien to cover the remaining balance (and interest accrued and to accrue thereon) of such fees together with an appropriate share of the incidental costs of assessment district proceedings and waiving all rights of protests, objection, and litigation against such assessment and such proceedings.

B. As to property owners who have entered into agreements as described in subpart A of this section, the city may, from time to time and in its discretion, form assessment districts which consist only of the properties subject to such agreements for the purpose of paying the outstanding principal balances together with accrued interest of the sewer system fees due under such agreements, plus the incidental costs associated with the assessment district proceedings.

(Ord. 1586 §11 (part))

At the time an assessment district is formed for the purpose of constructing and installing sewer mains, the council may, in its resolution of intention initiating such assessment district proceedings, also authorize the construction and installation of any sewer laterals which may be necessary to connect a building or structure on property located within the boundaries of the assessment district to the city's sewer mains, provided that the owner of such property has filed a written request for the construction and installation of such sewer laterals within the time set forth in such resolution. When so authorized, the council shall cause the construction and installation of a sewer lateral on any property within the assessment district whose owner has requested same in a similar manner as that provided for the construction and installation of the sewer mains and shall also cause an assessment lien to be levied against such property in an amount equal to the cost of constructing and installing such sewer lateral, in a similar manner as that provided for the assessment of the benefits to be derived from such property from the construction and installation of the sewer mains.

(Ord. 1586 §11 (part))