Voted April 11, 2000, Article 10; Approved by the Attorney General July 5, 2000; posted July 18, 2000.
1. Establishment of Service Area
There is hereby established within th
e town a wastewater collection and treatment system entitled “Tisbury Wastewater Collection and Treatment System” (the “System”) comprised of land situated in a geographical area bounded and described on a plan of land entitled “Figure 1: Phase IV Centralized Service Area” drawn by Stone Environmental, Inc. on file with the Town Clerk (the “Service Area”). The inhabitants of said geographical area shall be served by a municipal wastewater collection and treatment system provided by the Town within the territorial limits of said system. A property owner in said geographical area may elect to use an individual on-site subsurface sewage disposal system otherwise complying with all federal, state, and local regulations in preference to the System at his own expense. Such election
shall not affect the assessment of betterments. No property shall be connected to both the system and an individual on-site subsurface sewage disposal system. Such prohibition shall not restrict the use of sewage disposal systems not requiring a discharge to groundwater and otherwise complying with all federal, state, and local regulations.
2. Extension and Expansion of Service Area
The System may be extended and expanded to serve an increased land area outside the perimeter of the Service Area only following the approval of a majority vote at a Special or Annual Town Meeting. This by-law and any amendments shall apply to all extensions and expansions.
3. Construction, Operation, and Management
The Board of Selectmen shall be responsible for the construction of the System, pursuant to the Second Modified Final Judgment entered in Suffolk Superior Court Civil Action No. 94-4363, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its Department of Environmental Protection v. Town of Tisbury.
The Department of Public Works shall be responsible for the operation, management, and maintenance of the System, in accordance with Chapter 599 of the Acts of 1989. The Board of Public Works Commissioners will issue connection permits, set user fees, and act upon applications for abatements. The Board of Public Works Commissioners may adopt and amend rules and regulations for the operation and management of the System provided that said rules and regulations shall be in accordance with a comprehensive, town-wide wastewater management plan presented to and approved by the town prior to the commencement of operation of the system.
Such rules and regulations shall be the subject of a public hearing, notice of which has been filed with the Town Clerk for posting at the Town Hall and the Public Works Facility, and advertised in a local newspaper at least fourteen days beforehand and again at least seven days beforehand. Written notice of the public hearing shall be sent to the responsible party of each parcel within the Service Area as determined by the Town Collector’s sewer billing records not less than fourteen days beforehand. In the event that a public hearing on rules and regulations is held prior to the creation of billing records, written notice of the public hearing shall be sent not less than fourteen days beforehand to the owner of record of each parcel within the Service Area as determined by the Board of Assessors current
records.
A copy of all rules and regulations shall be available for public inspection at the Public Works Facility and the Town Clerk’s office during normal business hours.
All billing systems and records shall be maintained by the Town Collector, who shall issue all bills and collect all payments.
4. Permitting - Design Wastewater Flow Rate
The maximum design wastewater flow rate for a System connection from an existing lot within the Service Area shall be the greater of (1) sixty-seven percent (67%) of the amount permitted under Commonwealth of Massachusetts Regulations at 310 CMR 15.000 (Title 5 of the State Environmental Code) as they exist on the day that a connection permit is granted or (2) the calculated wastewater use as listed in Table 1 of this bylaw on file with the Town Clerk on the date of its adoption.
In the event that a lot within the Service Area is subdivided, the maximum design wastewater flow rate for a System connection from the resultant lots shall be the greater of (1) sixty-seven percent (67%) of the amount permitted for each lot under Commonwealth of Massachusetts Regulations at 310 CMR 15.000 as they exist on the day that a connection permit(s) is granted for the lot(s), or (2) the calculated wastewater use as listed in Table 1 of this bylaw on the date of its adoption divided proportionally among the lots on the basis of their respective area.
Any connection from a lot within the Service Area whose design wastewater flow rate exceeds the greater of (1) sixty-seven percent (67%) of the standards set by 310 CMR 15.000 on the date the connection permit is granted or (2) the calculated wastewater use as listed in Table 1 of this by-law shall be permitted only by a majority vote of a Special or Annual Town Meeting expressly authorizing such connection and subject to the availability of such capacity.
5. Operating Budget, User Fees and Annual Appropriation
The Board of Public Works Commissioners shall determine the operating budget, user fees, and annual appropriation request, if any, for the System.
Prior to submitting its annual appropriation request, if any, the Board of Public Works Commissioners shall determine its schedule of user fees. User fees shall be set so as to generally reflect the costs of processing the content of the waste stream, and may include a schedule of fees based on user categories. Such fees shall be the subject of a public hearing, notice of which has been filed with the Town Clerk for posting at the Town Hall and the Public Works Facility, and advertised in a local newspaper at least fourteen days beforehand and again at least seven days beforehand. Written notice of the public hearing shall be sent to the responsible party of each parcel within the Service Area as determined by the Town Collector’s sewer billing records not less than fourteen days beforehand. In the event that a public
hearing on user fees is held prior to the creation of billing records, written notice of the public hearing shall be sent to the owner of record of each parcel within the Service Area as determined by the Board of Assessors current records.
The Director of Public Works shall submit annually to the Board of Public Works Commissioners for their approval a summary of revenue and expense estimates in accordance with M.G.L. Chapter 44, Section 53F ½ Enterprise Funds for the approval of Town Meeting.
6. Betterments
The Board of Selectmen shall determine and assess betterments in accordance with the provisions of Chapters 80 and 83 of the Massachusetts General Laws, or any other enabling authority, for the payment of the capital costs of the initial construction of the System, provided that any such betterments shall not, in the aggregate, exceed fifty percent of the capital costs of such System, and that the balance of any such capital costs shall be raised through other available funds of the Town. The Board of Public Works Commissioners shall determine and assess betterments in accordance with the provisions of M.G.L. Chapters 80 and 83, or any other enabling authority, for the payment of the capital costs thereafter.
Pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 83 section 15, the determination and assessment of betterments for extensions of the System beyond its limits as of the date of the adoption of this by-law, and the costs of general benefit facilities including, but not limited to pumping stations, trunk mains, and force mains, shall be separated from the costs of special benefit facilities, including but not limited to the mains serving adjacent properties. The Board of Public Works Commissioners shall determine and assess such betterments in accordance with the provisions of M.G.L. Chapters 80 and 83, or any other enabling authority.
7. Costs Borne By Owners
All costs and expenses incidental to the installation and connection of the building sewer from the owner’s property line or easement line shall be borne by the owner. The Town shall install that portion of the collection system from the interceptor or main trunk line to the owner’s property line or easement line, whichever is in effect, at the Town’s expense. In all buildings in which any building drain is too low to permit gravity flow to the collection system, sanitary sewerage carried by such building drain shall be lifted, at the owner’s expense, by means approved by the Town Plumbing Inspector and discharged to the collection system.
8. Severability
Should any portion of this by-law be determined to be invalid for any reason and such determination is upheld, such determination shall not affect the remaining provisions of this by-law which shall remain in full force and effect, and to this end the provisions of this by-law are hereby declared to be severable.
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