Hughson Municipal Code § 13.04.600 Intent and purpose

It is the intent and purpose of this article to provide for the suspension of building permits and further land development within the city when the volume or strength of sewage generated by such development will cause the loadings at the wastewater treatment plant to meet or exceed the plant's operational capacity.

(Ord. 87-09 § 1, 1987)

After the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter, all land development approvals and applications for such approvals in the city shall provide notice to the applicant for or recipient of such approval that no vested right to a building permit shall accrue as the result of the granting of such approval when and if the city manager makes a determination that the cumulative sewage treatment demand on the wastewater treatment plant represented by approved land uses within the city will cause the total sewage treatment demand to meet or exceed the plant's capacity to treat such sewage adequately and within the discharge standards imposed on the city by the approval authority. Conditions designed to reduce the sewage associated with any land use approval may be imposed by the approval authority.

(Ord. 87-09 § 1, 1987)

All land development approvals and applications therefor shall be accompanied by the following language:

(Ord. 87-09 § 1, 1987)

The city manager may suspend, condition, or deny any or all building permits as follows:

A. The city manager shall develop land use/effluent coefficients for calculating the sewage effluent of general plan uses. The land use/effluent coefficient for each general plan use shall be the city manager's best estimate of the volume of sewage which will be generated by that use at the time of occupancy. Such coefficient may be revised by the city manager from time to time and shall be assigned in the city manager's discretion. The decision of the city manager with respect to land use/effluent coefficients to be assigned to specific general plan uses shall be final. For purposes of this part, and using such land use/effluent coefficients or an estimate based on an actual land use represented by a specific proposal, the city manager shall assign to each application for a land development approval or a building permit an estimate of the sewage effluent which will be generated by such application. The city manager shall also assign an estimated time of occupancy for the land use contemplated by such application for a land development approval or building permit.

B. Calculations of estimated effluent and date of occupancy shall be updated by the city manager from time to time as more reliable data becomes available.

C. Whenever the sewage treatment demand represented by approved building permits reaches the operational capacity of the wastewater treatment plant, the city manager shall direct the building official of the city to suspend the issuance of building permits except as hereinafter provided.

D. Such suspension shall remain in effect until the city manager has determined that additional treatment capacity is available by virtue of either recalculated data which is determined to be more reliable than previous data or the completion of additional capital facilities at the wastewater treatment plant which adds treatment capacity to the plant.

E. During the period of suspension, the building official shall continue to receive applications for building permits, which applications shall be logged in chronological order.

F. When additional capacity is determined to be available as hereinabove specified, the city manager shall direct the building official to proceed to issue building permits until the sewage estimated to be generated by such building permits reaches the operational capacity of the wastewater treatment plant. The building official shall proceed to approve building permits in chronological fashion, approving the oldest applications first, unless the city council adopts another method of assigning priority to the issuance of building permits after suspension.

G. Any suspension of building permits pursuant to this part shall not apply to any building permit for the replacement, remodeling, or renovation of existing structures (or structures existing within six months of the application for a building permit), where the estimated sewage effluent for such proposed land use will not increase beyond the prior use of the land on which the construction represented by such building permit is proposed to be established. No replacement, remodeling, or renovation shall be approved pursuant to this exemption where the land use represented by such building permit will have the effect of discharging sewage in excess of the sewage generated by the number of living units or living unit equivalents existing on the property immediately prior to such replacement, remodeling, or renovation, or within six months of the date of application for such building permit.

(Ord. 87-09 § 1, 1987)