Victorville Municipal Code Art. III Sewer Connection and Permits Required

The owner of any building occupied or used by humans situated within the city and abutting on any street in which there is now located, or may in the future be located, a public sewer which will serve the building, is required at his/her expense to connect the building directly with the proper public sewer in accordance with the provisions of this chapter within three years from the date of the availability of such public sewer.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

Commercial, industrial and public buildings or institutions, as well as residential buildings not in compliance with the OWTS Policy, are also required to connect to the city sewer system as provided in this chapter.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

All buildings constructed after May 5, 1983 upon property within the city abutting on any street in which there is now located or may in the future be located a public sewer which will serve the building, shall, during the course of construction, be connected to the proper public sewer in accordance with the provisions of this section, and no such building shall become occupied or used until the provisions of this chapter have been complied with.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 10.02.130, individual private sewage disposal systems are considered appropriate for residential properties in compliance with the OWTS Policy, provided there is adequate depth to groundwater and acceptable soil permeability. Where a determination is made to allow private sewage disposal systems, the following are required:

(a) Private sewage disposal systems are to be located in the front yard;

(b) All private sewage disposal systems shall be so designed that additional seepage pits or subsurface drain fields, equivalent to at least one hundred percent of the required original system, may be installed if the original system cannot absorb all the sewage.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

(a) The owner of any building occupied or used by humans situated within the city and abutting on any street on which there is now located or may in the future be located a public sewer which will serve the building and which building was, as of May 5, 1983, being served by a privy, privy vault, septic tank, cesspool, seepage pit, or other private sewage disposal system intended or used for the disposal of sewage shall, upon the failure of such disposal system, at his own expense, connect said building directly with the proper public sewer within ten days from the date of such failure, and it is unlawful, thereafter, to construct or repair, reactivate or maintain any such private sewage disposal system. Whenever a public sewer becomes available within two hundred feet of a property where no public sewer was previously available, the property owner shall connect all building sewers to the public sewer upon failure of any private sewage disposal system serving the property.

(b) Upon connection to the public sewer after such failure, the property owner shall be required at his/her sole expense, to do the following:

(1) Pump out all septic tank effluent and/or sludge from the septic tanks, seepage pits, cesspools or other such facilities associated with the private sewage disposal system;

(2) Properly dispose of such septic tank effluent and/or sludge by waste hauling;

(3) Fill the pumped-out facilities with suitable materials as required by the building official.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

(a) A variance from this chapter's requirements for connecting a property to the public sewer may be obtained upon a written application therefor, directed to the city engineer, who shall have the power to grant such variance if he/she finds from the evidence presented by the applicant that there are special circumstances applicable to the individual's property, such as a building being too low to permit gravity flow to a public sewer or the topography of the land is such that said gravity flow will not occur, or that the building or proposed building is too far distant from a public sewer to make it practicable or economically feasible to connect thereto, and that strict enforcement of the provisions of this chapter would result in practical difficulty, unnecessary hardship, or results inconsistent with the general purpose and intent of this chapter, and that the granting of such a variance will not be materially detrimental to the public health, safety or welfare.

(b) The city engineer may grant the requested variance only upon making a written finding that:

(1) One or more of the special circumstances specified in subsection (a) of this section exist;

(2) There are practical difficulties or unreasonable hardships which would result from the strict enforcement of the requirements to connect a property to the public sewer; and

(3) A variance will not be materially detrimental to the public health, safety or welfare.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

On or after May 5, 1983, it is unlawful for any person to connect to, construct, install, provide, maintain, reactivate or use any means of sewage disposal from any building in the city other than by connection to a public sewer, except in accordance with the provisions of this article III and this chapter.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

(a) No building or property shall be connected to a city public sewer until a permit for the work has been obtained from the city and all fees, costs or pro-rated assessments for any publicly-constructed sewer or any privately-constructed sewer installed under a valid reimbursement agreement between the property owner and the city, have been paid in accordance with the requirements of this chapter and/or such reimbursement agreement.

(b) No person, other than employees of the city or the VWD, or persons contracted to do work for the city or the VWD, shall construct or cause to be constructed, use or caused to be used, or alter or cause to be altered, any building sewer, sanitary sewer, public sewer, trunk line sewer, manhole, inspection or sampling site, lateral line, or any other public or private sewer facilities where the existing or proposed facilities will discharge directly or indirectly into the city sewer system without first submitting any required plans and obtaining a sewer permit from the city.

(c) Any person performing such work must obtain a sewer permit from the city to ascertain that the sewer facilities specified in subsection (a) of this section, or any appurtenances thereto, have been thoroughly cleaned and have been satisfactorily constructed, altered, reconstructed or adjusted to city standards.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

(a) The city engineer may inspect, as often as he deems necessary, every main-line sewer, building sewer, sewer lateral, trunk sewer, sewage pumping plant, industrial wastewater pretreatment devices or facilities, sewer connection, interceptor, or other similar appurtenances to ascertain whether such facilities are maintained and operated in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. All persons shall permit and provide the city engineer with access to all such facilities at reasonable times.

(b) An applicant, by accepting a permit issued pursuant to this chapter, consents and agrees to entry by the city engineer upon the premises described in the permit at all reasonable times for the purposes of:

(1) Inspection, sampling, flow measurement or examination of records;

(2) Placing on the premises devices for monitoring, flow measurement or metering;

(3) Inspecting and copying any records, reports, test results or other information required to carry out the provisions of this chapter; and

(4) Photographing any waste, waste container, vehicle, waste treatment process, discharge location, or violation discovered during an inspection

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

If it appears from the application for any permit required by this chapter that the application complies with all applicable requirements and that the work to be performed thereunder is to be done according to the provisions of this chapter and this Code, the city, upon receipt of the fees hereinafter required, may issue such permit. No permit will be issued pursuant to this chapter until the applicant has paid all appropriate fees and sewer connection service charges, as established from time to time by the city council and/or the VVWRA, to cover all costs including but not limited to the cost of field inspection of the proposed construction, procuring or preparing record plans, and all overhead and indirect costs.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

(a) A sewer permit issued by the building official and/or the city engineer shall expire and become void if either of the following occur:

(1) No new work is completed within any one hundred eighty-day period; or

(2) No inspections are requested for completed work within any one hundred eighty-day period.

(b) In the event of such expiration and before work can be resumed, a new permit shall be obtained, and the fees for that permit shall be one-half the amount required for a new permit for the same work, provided no changes are required to be made or will be made in the original plans and specifications; and further provided that any suspension or abandonment of work or inspections has not exceeded one year.

(c) In order to resume work on a permit after a period of time in excess of one year, the permittee shall be subject to a new permitting process and is required to pay full permit fees.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

Sewer permits that are issued as a result of plans approved in accordance with a subdivision improvement agreement shall be valid for the length of such agreement including any subsequent agreement extensions.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

A permittee holding an unexpired sewer permit may apply for an extension under that permit for good and satisfactory reasons. The building official and/or city engineer may extend the time allowed for work to resume for a period not exceeding one hundred eighty days upon written request by the permittee. This request shall demonstrate that circumstances beyond the control of the permittee have halted work on the site. Permits shall not be extended more than once.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

Application for a sewer permit shall be made to the city on forms provided by the city and shall include all plans and other information requested by the city regarding the proposed work.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

No sewer permit will be issued until the application, plans and project details have been approved by the city as meeting all applicable city requirements and all required fees have been paid.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

No sewer permit will be issued for the construction, installation, repair or removal of any public sewer, or appurtenances thereto which will necessitate any excavation or fill, in, upon or under any public street, highway or right-of-way under the jurisdiction of another public agency, unless the applicant has first obtained a permit from the agency having jurisdiction.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

The city manager may contact, confer, and negotiate with officials of any public agency and may recommend to the city council a contract by which the city and one or more public agencies may jointly exercise any powers pertinent to the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter and any similar statute, ordinance, rule or regulation of such public agencies, common to all. Subject to the provisions of Chapter 2.28 of this Code, the city manager may enter into agreements with other public agencies for the purpose of control of industrial waste disposal and may in conjunction with such agencies issue joint permits for industrial waste disposal to satisfy the requirements of this chapter. The city manager may also recommend to the council a contract between the city and any city within the county.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

No sewer permit shall be issued for the direct connection of any lot to a public sewer which was not designed for and intended to directly serve such lot unless it has been determined by a sewer feasibility study or other means acceptable to the city engineer that there is additional capacity available in such sewer beyond that required to serve the property for which it was designed. Said study shall be submitted for review by the city engineer and a sewer permit shall not be issued until said study is approved.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

Before granting a permit for the construction of any sewage pumping plant, the city engineer shall check and approve the plans or required modification thereof as to their compliance with city, county, state and other governmental laws or ordinances, and shall require that the facilities be adequate in every respect for the use intended.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

Any person proposing to have sewage discharged from any property to a public sewer in quantities at or a rate greater than the capacity for which the sewer was designed, when proportioned to such property, and which such additional quantity will immediately overload the sewer, shall be denied a permit to connect any facilities to the sewer which will discharge more than the proportionate share allotted to the property.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

(a) Subject to the requirements of this section and the provisions of Chapter 3, Article 2 of Title 16 of this Code, the city may issue a conditional use permit if any person proposing to have sewage discharged to a public sewer in quantities at or a rate greater than the capacity for which such sewer was designed, if such additional discharge will not immediately but may in the future overload the public sewer.

(b) Such conditional use permit shall only be issued after the owner of the property agrees by a covenant satisfactory to the city engineer, to construct or to share in the cost of construction of additional sewer facilities to serve the property and increase the capacity at such future time as the city engineer determines that an overload situation exists or is imminent. The conditional use permit shall also include the following requirements:

(1) The covenant shall be recorded against the property subject to the conditional use permit and shall run with the land.

(2) The property owner shall supply a faithful performance bond guaranteeing compliance with the terms of the covenant, in a penal sum which in the opinion of the city engineer, equals the future cost of construction of sewer facilities to carry such additional discharge.

(3) The faithful performance bond shall be kept in full force and effect until such additional discharge is discontinued or until such additional sewer facilities are completed, and this obligation shall pass to succeeding owners of the property.

(4) If any owner fails to supply and keep in effect the required faithful performance bond or fails to comply with the terms of the covenant, the conditional use permit allowing such additional discharge may be revoked as set forth in Section 16-3.02.090 of Title 16 of this Code, and the continuing of such additional discharge thereafter will constitute a violation of this chapter.

(c) The provisions of this section shall also apply to any property currently connected to a public sewer, the discharge from which is later proposed to be increased substantially beyond the proportionate share of public sewer capacity allotted to the property and specified in the sewer permit. The owner of any such property who fails to obtain the required conditional use permit and begins discharging substantially more than permitted shall be in violation of this chapter and further subject to the additional charges specified in Section 10.02.300.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

Any property currently connected to a public sewer, the discharge from which is later found to have been increased substantially beyond the proportionate share of public sewer capacity allotted to the property by the sewer permit, may be subject to an additional sewer capacity fee and/or a change of customer discharger type classification for the property in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 10.01, to cover the costs of providing for adequate public sewer capacity.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17; Ord. No. 2378, § 5, 6-19-18; Ord. No. 2444, § 7, 10-17-23)

Permits issued pursuant to this chapter are not transferable from one person to another person or from one location to another location.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)

Should any portion or portions of this chapter conflict with the city's Plumbing Code, the city's Plumbing Code shall prevail.

(Ord. No. 2363, § 3, 3-21-17)