The Town Council, after consultation with the Director of Public
Works, shall determine the Cedar Heights Service Area of the Hemlock
Road Sewer Pump Station. The service area shall include all the lots
generating sanitary sewage and pumped by said pump station.
In the interest of public health and safety and pursuant to
RIDEM permit to alter freshwater wetlands (Application No. 05-0374),
the Town of East Greenwich is authorized to order any dwelling units
that are to be serviced by the sanitary sewer pump station located
on Hemlock Drive within the Cedar Heights Service Area to connect
the sewage of such premises to the East Greenwich sanitary sewer collection
system. Upon the service of any such order, or copy thereof, to connect
the sewage as aforesaid, such owner or occupant of said dwellings
shall comply within the following schedule:
A.
Dwelling units with pending failures or cesspools shall tie in within
90 days.
B.
Dwelling units that have had replacement OWTS systems installed 10
years prior to the date of the connection order shall tie in no later
than 10 years from the date of the notice of connection order.
C.
Residents over age 65 may make application to the Director of Public
Works for exception to the tie-in requirement unless their OWTS system
has failed, in which case they shall be required to tie in.
D.
All other dwelling units shall tie in no later than five years from
the date of the connection order.
In case the owner or occupant to whom any such order is directed neglects or refuses to comply therewith within the schedule outlined in § 197-38, the owner shall be fined not less than $100 and no more than $500 for each subsequent 24 hours. If the owner neglects or refuses to comply therewith and in case such neglect or refusal shall continue for 60 days after the service of such an order, the Town may cause such connection to the sewer system. If the noncompliant owner or occupant is found to be in violation following enforcement proceedings in the appropriate forum, the noncompliant owner or occupant shall be liable to reimburse the Town for the cost of the connection. If the owner's noncompliance is what caused the Town to connect under this section, then the cost of connection shall become a lien upon the owner's property, collectable in the same manner as a lien for unpaid taxes. Additionally, the noncompliant owner or occupant shall be liable to the Town for the costs of enforcement, including attorneys' fees, if a violation is ultimately found. The pendency of any appeal from any such order shall not affect the power of the Town, after the expiration of said period of 60 days, to cause such connection to be made.
At the time a property is connected to the public sewer, all
sewage outlets for the property must be connected to one lateral which
is connected to the public sewer, and all devices for the reception
of sewage (cesspool, privy vault, tanks, individual sanitary disposal
systems, etc.) on such land must be filled up and destroyed.
The assessment program will be structured so that each assessment
includes a principal and interest amount set by the Town, with said
principal and interest payments due through the twenty-year term of
the program. A participant can choose to pay the entire remaining
principal balance during that period without any interest penalty.
In addition, a participant may make other periodic principal payments
throughout the term of the bond, if so desired.
A.
The sewer assessment cost is calculated by establishing the actual
total of the project cost (design, construction, construction administration,
and borrowing cost) which is divided by the actual number of affected
properties contained in the project area.
B.
The assessment for the residential, commercial, governmental and industrial users shall be based on EDUs as defined in § 197-4.
C.
Vacant residential or commercial land shall be assessed as one single
family residential user (1 EDU). If, at the time the vacant land is
developed and those improvements result in greater than a single family
residence, the Town will reassess that property. The additional assessment
shall be imposed for a twenty-year period.
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NOTE: 197-42 THROUGH 197-47 WERE NOT CHANGED - JUST RELOCATED
TO END
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The assessments shall name the owners assessed, describe their
estates and state the amounts of the assessment, but no error or omission
in the name or description shall invalidate the assessment if either
the owner or the estate is substantially identified.
A copy of such assessments shall be recorded with the Town Clerk
as a public record. From the date of delivery to the Town Clerk, the
assessment and interest accruing thereon shall constitute a lien upon
the respective estates on a parity with the lien for Town taxes, until
paid in full. The Collector of Taxes of the Town shall have the same
rights to enforce such liens against the estates and to collect such
assessments and interest from the owners as he has in the case of
Town taxes.
Prior to or forthwith after the delivery to the Town Clerk of
a copy of the assessment, the Collector of Taxes shall cause notice
to be sent to the owner of each estate assessed. The notice shall
substantially identify the estate assessed, state the amount of the
assessment and refer to the remedy available under this article. The
notice shall be mailed, postpaid, and directed to the last known address
of the addressee. If there are owners whose addresses are unknown,
a similar notice covering the assessments against their estates shall
be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town, and
such published notice may be a single collective notice for all such
owners. No irregularity in the notice required by this section shall
excuse the nonpayment of the assessment or affect its validity or
any proceedings for the collection thereof, if there is substantial
compliance with the provisions hereof. No deficiency in the notice
to the owner of an estate assessed shall excuse the nonpayment by
others of the assessments against their estates or affect the validity
thereof or any proceedings for the collection thereof.
Any person aggrieved by any such assessment or corrected assessment may, within 90 days after the mailing or publication of notice to him, file a petition for relief against the Town as respondent in the Superior Court, and the Clerk shall thereupon issue a citation to summon the Town, and such petition and citation shall be subject to the provisions of R.I.G.L. § 44-5-29. If the Court finds such assessment invalid in whole or in part, it shall give judgment reducing the amount thereof accordingly. The filing of such a petition shall not relieve the estate involved from the lien provided for in § 197-37 or prevent the assessment becoming due as provided in the following section, but the final judgment of the court reducing such assessment in whole or in part shall reduce such lien and the amount due accordingly. The remedy provided in this section shall be exclusive, and no action or proceeding questioning the validity of any such assessment shall be begun after the expiration of the ninety-day period.
If an assessment is partially or wholly invalid, the Town Council
may make a corrected assessment to replace the invalid assessment
or portion. The corrected assessment shall be made in the same manner
as an original assessment. The first installment of a corrected assessment
shall be sufficient to compensate without interest for all installments
which would have become due then or theretofore if the corrected assessment
had been made at the time of the original assessment. The corrected
assessment shall bear interest from the date notice of the corrected
assessment had been made at the time of the original assessment. The
corrected assessment shall bear interest from the date notice of the
corrected assessment is delivered to the Town Clerk.
A.
Assessments for a project may be payable over a period of 10 or 20
years, as determined by the Town Council. If such owner elects to
pay such assessment by installments, then the assessment shall be
paid in annual equal installments upon May 1 in each year and shall
bear interest from June 1 until paid in full at the rate of 8% per
annum. The whole assessment against any owner or estate may be paid
without interest at any time prior to the due date of the first installment
thereof. The whole unpaid balance of any such assessment, together
with the interest accrued thereon to the date of payment, may be paid
at any time.
B.
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, the tentative amount of
an assessment may be increased by the Town Council by a reasonable
amount in lieu of interest where it is assumed that the assessment
will be paid in annual installments over either 10 or 20 years, and
the assessment shall be made in the aggregate amount of the tentative
assessment plus such interest charge, and such assessment shall be
payable in equal annual installments on May 1 of each year, and amounts
not paid on or before May 31 shall bear interest at the rate of 8%
from June 1. If any such installment is paid in full before the expiration
of such period, there shall be an equitable adjustment of the interest
charge so that interest will be paid on the unpaid balance of the
tentative assessment for the period up to such payment in full.
