All of the following requirements in this article shall be met
in full by any developer, individual or corporation whose total development
or building project consist of more than three one-family units of
housing or any business or commercial project regardless of size,
and any house or business built more than 100 linear feet from any
existing utility service connection. ("Utilities" or "utility systems"
shall mean, for the purpose of this article, all water, sewage or
electrical lines and road/street systems within the boundaries of
the Town.)
A.
The purpose of this article is to define responsibilities of any
and all developments, building projects or investment projects, both
financially and physically, built within the boundaries of the Town,
and to include any development or project outside the Town boundaries,
which, by prior agreement with the Town, intends to use any or all
of the Town utility systems as part of its development complex.
B.
The reasoning behind this article is that any developer, development,
building program or investment project must carry its own load, both
financially and physically, completely on its own, so as not to penalize
the existing taxpayers of the Town in any way, for the design, construction
and completion of any project, and to protect and conserve the existing
margin of reserve, in capacities or use, of the existing utility systems.
C.
The Town encourages developers and investors to invest in our area
and the Town will assist in any way it can, under the guidelines or
this article, in the initiation and through to completion of any project
that has the prior approval of construction from the Planning and
Zoning Board.
A.
Builders
and developers are one-hundred-percent responsible for the following:
(1)
Cost of all materials, labor and installation for "on-project" utilities
systems.
(2)
Cost, including possible modification to existing Town utilities
systems, for extending any utility system of the Town for connection
to the individual project of the builder or developer.
(3)
Cost for additional treatment facilities at the sewage disposal plant,
if the Town Engineer estimates that the additional load to the plant
is of substantial quantity to absorb the cushion of reserve as exists
at this particular time.
(4)
Cost of all additional pumping stations, lift stations or other auxiliary
systems that may be needed to deliver the effluent to the disposal
system, or water and streetlights to the development from existing
lines.
(5)
Cost of any modification to existing utility systems, to enlarge
their carrying or handling capacity to accommodate the extra load
imposed on existing utility systems by any project.
B.
All projects must be reviewed and approved by Town Engineer, prior
to installation, for all utility installations.
C.
If the developer so desires, and has made an agreement or contract
with the Town prior to completion of the development:
(1)
The Town may assume the billing and collection of any front-foot
benefit charge the developer may impose on the individual plot owners
in its subdivision, to reimburse to it over a period of time, for
its cost in the installation of that particular utility, provided
that the front-foot benefit charged by the developer does not exceed
the current front-foot benefit charged by the Town at that particular
time.
(a)
All costs of billing and collecting front-foot benefits shall
be charged against the developer or development management, per each
billing, and shall be subtracted from that total amount collected
before the remaining sum is released to the person or persons designed
by the development management to receive the same.
(b)
Front-foot benefit charges have no relation to nor do they eliminate
the usage charge imposed by the Town. The usage charge is levied against
each one-family housing unit connected to the Town utility systems
and is used for operation and maintenance of the entire utility complex.
This charge, or any amendment thereof, will be imposed on each one-family
unit, in any location, that is connected to a Town utility system,
in any building project or development, whether it is within the Town
boundaries or outside the Town boundaries and receiving service by
the Town utility systems.
(2)
Similar contracts with the Town by the developer for collection of
water billings may be made.
(3)
All monies collected for usage funds, either for water or sewage,
shall be Town-owned monies and used for the particular purpose of
defraying the expense of operation and maintenance of the particular
utility for which they are collected.
(4)
The Town will assume no responsibility or be connected in any way
with any utility system or parts of utility systems that have not
been reviewed and approved by the Town Engineer, prior to construction,
or have not been dedicated to the Town through the proper process
of law and recorded in the records of the Clerk of Court in Calvert
County.
D.
The developer or builder may, at his option, continue to own, operate
and maintain his own system as installed for the project but he must
at all times be subject to all of the Town rules and ordinances governing
the existing Town utility complex. All parts of his system shall be
maintained at all times to the level of service and operational efficiency
as required by the Town Engineer. The usage charge shall at all times
be collected by the Town and become Town monies.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Original § 5-115, Annexation, which
immediately followed this section, was repealed 6-16-1994 by Ord.
No. O-94-4.
