BES PUBLIC WORKS ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATIVE RULES

Binding City Policy

BCP-ENB-4.22

Link to Full Text of Administrative Rules (PDF Document, 104 kb). What follows is an excerpt from the introduction to the administrative rules:

Commentary

Applicability

These administrative rules describe the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) authorities to implement an enforcement program to assure compliance with various public works and development related City codes and associated programs. Violations commonly result in modification or failure to obtain a permit to construct or modify public sewer and stormwater improvements (facilities).

In addition a number of specific facility components in the surrounding area can also be impacted by facility modification actions – such as inlets clogged by erosion, manhole grates damaged, etc.

Purpose

BES owns and maintains a wide variety of public sewer and drainage improvements within the public right of way and in public easements. These improvements may drain into other jurisdictional systems or waters of the state that are regulated by other entities, like the local drainage districts. These rules only govern actions on City owned and operated systems. Most of these facilities were constructed at the time of the development under a permit from the City. Common facility types are:

• Public sanitary sewer lines, both laterals and mains;

• Drainage sewers, both laterals and mains;

• Surface drainage conveyance facilities such as drainage ditches; and

• Stormwater management and disposal facilities such as bioswales, greenstreets, ponds, basins and sumps.

There are also secondary facility components that are prone to damage or vandalism including

• Vegetation and trees within surface facilities;

• Inlets, grates and curbing to route water to facilities;

• Pretreatment bays, basins, vaults or manholes; and

• Facility specific signage, fencing and access roads.

BES is seeing an increase in the number of facilities and facility components illegally modified during the building permit process and throughout the life of a property. Most common are moving manholes along sewer lines, realigning ditches and modifying/filling in green street facilities. These rules are needed to detail how BES shall respond to such illegal modifications. These rules are also needed to support more explicit code language being added in an Engineering Code package in the Fall of 2009.

Regulatory Authority

These rules are authorized by City Code Title 17.32. These are permitting regulations – a permit is required for a modification to any public facility. These rules are based on the fact that any modification to a public facility without a permit is a violation. In some cases, such as modification to specific program elements, a simple written authorization from BES is required- i.e. for plant substitution in greenstreet facilities.

Link to Full Text of Administrative Rules (PDF Document, 104 kb).

HISTORY

Ordinance No. 183397, passed by City Council December 9, 2009 and effective January 8, 2010.