HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-09-26 - AGENDA REPORTS - ADOPTING AN ORDINACE ESTABLISHING PROVISIONS GOVER (2)Agenda Item: 11
CITY OF SANTA CLARITA
Q:° AGENDA REPORT
CONSENT CALENDAR
7,
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: 1 j4 _ "
DATE: September 26, 2017
SUBJECT: ADOPTION OF AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING PROVISIONS
GOVERNING THE IMPOSITION OF FEES FOR THE USE OF CITY
SEWERAGE FACILITIES
DEPARTMENT: Neighborhood Services
PRESENTER: Kevin Tonoian
RECOMMENDED ACTION
City Council conduct second reading and approve an ordinance amending the Santa Clarita
Municipal Code to add Chapter 15.60, establishing provisions for the use of City Sewerage
Facilities.
BACKGROUND
In connection with the Vista Canyon Project, the applicant was conditioned to construct a self-
contained wastewater treatment plant (Plant). The Plant is being constructed to serve the new
Vista Canyon development that is expected to service approximately 1,100 residential units, as
well as approximately one million square feet of retail, office, hotel, restaurant and entertainment
uses.
On September 12, 2017, the City Council approved and passed to second reading an ordinance
amending the City's Municipal Code adding Chapter 15.60, establishing provisions for the use of
City Vista Canyon Sewerage Plant. Pending Council approval, this ordinance will become
effective on October 27, 2017.
The purpose of this ordinance is to provide for the maximum public benefit from the use of
sewerage facilities of the City of Santa Clarita (City). This shall be accomplished by regulating
sewer use and wastewater discharges by providing equitable distribution of the City's costs.
The revenues derived from the application of this ordinance shall be used to defray all costs of
providing sewage service by the City, including but not limited to, administration, operation,
monitoring, maintenance, financing, capital construction, replacement and recovery, and
provisions for necessary reserves.
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ALTERNATIVE ACTION
Other action as determined by the City Council.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with this proposed action.
ATTACHMENTS
Ordinance Establishing Provisions Governing Fees for the use of City Vista Canyon Sewerage
Facilities
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ORDINANCE NO. 17 -
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF O
SANTA CLARITA, CALIFORNIA, ESTABLISHING PROVISIONS z
GOVERNING THE IMPOSITION OF FEES FOR THE USE OF 0
CITY VISTA CANYON SEWERAGE FACILITIES 0
0
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA CLARITA, CALIFORNIA, 0
DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Purpose and Policy. The purpose of this ordinance is to establish provisions
governing the imposition of fees for the use of City Vista Canyon sewerage facilities. As part of
the Vista Canyon Ranch development project, the developer was conditioned to construct a
wastewater treatment facility, which, once constructed, will be owned and operated by the City
of Santa Clarita (City). Operation and maintenance of such facility shall require ongoing
revenue. California Health and Safety Code sections 5471 et Seq. authorize the imposition of
fees and charges upon the users of such facilities. The revenues to be derived from the
application of this Ordinance shall be used to defray all costs of providing sewage service by the
City, including, but not limited to, administration, operation, monitoring, maintenance, financing,
capital construction, replacement and recovery, and provisions for necessary reserves.
SECTION 2. The Santa Clarita Municipal Code is hereby amended to add Chapter 15.60,
Sewer Fees, to read as follows:
FEES AND SEWER CAPACITY DETERMINATION
15.60.10 Authority
The fees and charges referred to in this Ordinance are adopted pursuant to Sections 5470 and
5471 of the Health and Safety Code of the State of California.
15.60.20 Dermitions
The following definitions shall relate to all occurrences of the terms listed below.
a) "Annual Sewer System Charge" shall mean the fee or charge levied pursuant to this
Chapter.
b) "Department" shall mean the Department of Public Works of the City of Santa Clarita
c) "Equivalent Benefit Unit (EBU)" shall mean the unit of measure that is based on the flow
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characteristics of an average single family residence in terms of sewage quantity and
constituent quality. O
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d) "Director" shall mean the Director of Public Works. t
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e) "Fiscal Year" shall mean the period from July 1 to the following June 30, both inclusive. ¢
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f) "Person" shall mean any person, firm, company, corporation, political subdivision,
municipal corporation, City, the State of California, the United States of America or any
department or agency thereof.
g) "Premise" shall mean any lot, piece or parcel of land, building or establishment.
h) "City Vista Canyon Sewerage System" shall mean all facilities and appurtenant
equipment utilized in the collection, transportation, pumping, treatment and final disposal
of wastewater within the City and connected to the Vista Canyon wastewater treatment
plant.
i) "Vista Canyon Waste Water Sewer Fee District" shall mean the area described in the
engineer's report prepared pursuant to provisions of the Health and Safety Code, Division
5, Part 3 Chapter 6 Article 4, "Sanitation and Sewerage Systems" to calculate fees to
support long term operations of the Vista Canyon Sewer System.
j) "Vista Canyon Wastewater Standby District" shall mean the area described in the
engineer's report prepared pursuant to provisions of the Uniform Standby Charges
Procedures Act Title 5, Division 2, Part 1, Chapter 12.4 of the California Government
Code to calculate fees to support long term operations of the Vista Canyon Sewer
System.
k) "Wastewater" shall mean all residential, commercial and industrial liquid wastes
authorized for discharge into any collection system operated by the City.
15.60.30 Establishment of Annual Sewer Service Charge
a) Establishment of Annual Sewer Service Charge. There is hereby levied and assessed
upon each premise in the City that discharges sewage directly or indirectly into the Vista
Canyon Sewer System, and upon each person owning, letting, or occupying such premise
an Annual Sewer Service Charge.
b) The Annual Sewer Service Charge is based on the City's annual cost for operation and
maintenance of the City Vista Canyon Sewerage System, treatment and disposal of
wastewater and capital improvement projects. These costs are equally divided among the
number of Equivalent Benefit Units (EBU's) connected to the Vista Canyon Sewer
System.
c) Assignment of Equivalent Benefit Units (EBU's) - Each parcel shall be assigned
Equivalent Benefit Units in accordance with the factors shown below:
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Land use
EBU Faxon
Nngie FamIN Residential
1.00 EBU per Dwelling Unit
Single FamRy ResidentialCondo
0]S EBU per Dwelling Unit
Multi -Family Residential - Apartment
0.60 EBU per Dwelling Unit
Non' Residential' Office
0.]S EBU per 1,0]05F
Non Msldental Read
0.38 EBU per 1,000 SF
Nom Residential - Hotel
0.47 EBU per Room
Non-Residential-RecGunnt
a.BS EBU pa,1000 SF
15.60.40 Paym®t o[Anuual Sewer Service Charges
a) Premis es i dentift ed within the Vista Canyon Wastewater Sewer Fee District and
Wastewater StanrAy Di sin or Engineer' s Report will be subject to an Annual Sewer
Charge collected on the Los Angeles County tax roll in the same manner as, by the same
persons as, and at the same [meas, together with and not separately from, the ad valorem
real property tax beginning on July 1, 2018.
b) Premis es will be l evied and assess edflat ough the Wastewater StanrAy Di sin or unlit such
tine as each premise discharges sewage directly or indirectly into the Qty Vista Canyon
Sewerage System.
Government agencies not receiving tax bills will be invoiced in September for their
Annual Sewer Service Charge
d) If a use increases, and therefore the Annual Sewer Service Charge increases, the inital
year difference is paidwith issuance of Building Permit Thereafter, the Aminal Sewer
Service Charge shall be collected with the ad valomm property tax or invoiced ifthe use
is a governmental agency. A the event Building Permit is not issued for the increased
use the Annual Sewer Service Charge shall be collected either with property taxes when
the use is a private business or invoiced when the use is a governmental agency.
) The City Manager shall annually cause to be prepared and filed with the City Clerk the
report described in Section 5473 of the California Health and Safety Code
The City Connell shall consider said report ata public hearing noticed and concluded
pursuant to Sectors 5473.1 through 5473.2 of the California Health and Safety Code
following which hearing it may take actor or the report, pursuant to Sector 5473 3 of
that Code and may directthat the Qty Clerk file the report and the charges contained
therein with the Los Angeles County Auditor pursuant to Sector 54734 of that Code
g) Upon the approval and filing of charges, such charges shall be subject to the provisions of
Section 5473.5 through 54739 of the California Health and Safety Code and other
applicable law.
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h) In the event the City cannot, or does not, complete action pursuant to Article 3.2 through
3.4 of this code to levy the Annual Sewer Service Charge against a parcel for a fiscal
year, the City may collect such Annual Sewer Service Charge for that year with respect to
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that parcel by mailing a bill to the owner of the parcel, provided that the report and
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hearing process required by the Health and Safety Code have been complied with. Any
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charge billed in this manner shall be due and payable upon presentation, but no earlier
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than December 1 of the fiscal year for which the charge is imposed. If a charge billed in
this manner is not paid within thirty (30) days of the due date, then on the first day of
each calendar month thereafter a late fee of two (2) percent of the amount of the
delinquent Annual Sewer Service Charge shall be added and become due. If any such
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charge remains outstanding at the time the report is prepared for a subsequent fiscal year
pursuant to Section 3.2, the delinquent charge (and accrued late fees) may be included on
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such report and collected on the tax roll along with the charges for that fiscal year. w
i) In the event the owner of a parcel subject to the Annual Sewer Service Charge believes
that the estimation of sewer use calculated by the City pursuant to Article 3.2 for that
parcel for a fiscal year does not accurately reflect the amount of effluent introduced into
the Sewerage System via the parcel's connection to the Sewerage System, then the owner
may file a written appeal of the determination (and the Annual Sewer Service Charge
against the parcel) with the appeals City Manager (or his or her designee). Such written
appeal must be filed before December 31st of the fiscal year and must include evidence
that (i) due to the unique or unusual nature of water use on the parcel, the estimation
method substantially overestimates the sewer usage of the parcel relative to other parcels
with similar actual sewer use, and (ii) use of the standard estimation method is manifestly
unfair under the circumstances. If the appeals City Manager determines that each of the
previous -stated criteria is true, based on the written appeal and on other evidence
available to the appeals City Manager, then the appeals City Manager will reduce the
Annual Sewer Service Charge for that parcel for that fiscal year to the amount he or she
determines to reflect an accurate estimate of sewer use and shall either transmit a correct
charge to the county or issue a refund in the amount of the reduction. The appeals City
Manager's determination shall be final.
15.60.50 Severability
Severability of Provisions. If any section, subdivisions, sentence, clause or phrase of this
Ordinance is, for any reason, held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such invalidity or
unconstitutionality shall not affect the validity or constitutionality or the remaining portions of
this Ordinance; it being hereby expressly declared that this Ordinance, and each section,
subsection, sentence, clause and phrase hereof, would have been prepared, proposed, adopted,
approved and ratified irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections,
sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid or unconstitutional.
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SECTION 3. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force thirty (30) days after its
passage.
PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED this day of
ATTEST:
CITY CLERK
DATE:
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
CITY OF SANTA CLARITA
ss.
MAYOR
2017.
I, Mary Cusick, City Clerk of the City of Santa Clarita, do hereby certify that the
foregoing Ordinance 17- was regularly introduced and placed upon its first reading at a
regular meeting of the City Council on the day of 2017. That thereafter, said
Ordinance was duly passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council on the day
of 2017, by the following vote, to wit:
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS:
AND I FURTHER CERTIFY that the foregoing is the original of Ordinance and
was published in The Signal newspaper in accordance with State Law (G.C. 40806).
CITY CLERK
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