[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Monroe 10-7-1968
by Local Law No. 1, 1968. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The title shall be known as Local Law No. 1 of 1968, providing standards
for the construction, installation and maintenance of communal water systems
and the dedication thereof to the Town of Monroe, and may be referred to as
the "Communal Water Systems Law."
For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any water system or waterworks made, constructed or installed after
the effective date of this chapter, including the source, treatment works,
transmission mains, distribution system and storage facilities and meters,
if any, which is designed to, intended to or will, in fact, furnish water
to a subdivision or dwellings within a garden apartment project, whether or
not the source for such system is or will be a surface or subsurface source
of a combination of both, whether or not such a system is or will be owned
individually, by a corporation or association and whether or not such a system
or any of its appurtenances are wholly or partly located outside the Town
of Monroe.
A communal water system or extension thereto shall be deemed completed
when it has been constructed and installed in accordance with the maps, plans
and specifications as approved by the Town Engineer or a period of three years
has elapsed since such system was first placed into service, whichever event
shall first occur.
A building arranged, intended or designed to be occupied by one or
more families independently of each other on the premises, including prefabricated
buildings and mobile homes.
Any pipes, pumps, mains or other distribution facilities, including
any meters, that are, or are intended to be, joined with or connected to a
communal water system so as to form one system with a common source of supply.
A housing development where a number of dwelling units are constructed
and operated as a single project, which may include the construction of streets
and the installation of utilities. The houses may include one-family, two-family
and multifamily dwellings, either attached or detached.
A communal water system or extension thereof shall be deemed placed
into service when it does in fact supply water to one or more dwellings within
a subdivision or garden apartment project or other area designed to be serviced
by such system or extension thereto.
A tract of land which is hereafter divided into five or more lots
or parcels along an existing or proposed street, highway, easement or right-of-way
for sale or for rent as residential lots or residential building plots, regardless
of whether the lots or plots to be sold or offered for sale, or leased for
any period of time, are described by metes and bounds or by reference to a
map or survey of the property or by any other method of description.
The "Town" of Monroe, Orange County, New York.
The attorney retained by the town.
The Municipal Engineer retained by the town.
No person, firm, corporation or association shall make, install, construct, extend, modify or operate, or allow to be made, installed, constructed, extended, modified or operated, a communal water system or extension thereof until maps, plans and specifications for such a system or extension thereof, prepared by an engineer duly licensed by the State of New York, shall have first been submitted in duplicate to the Town Engineer and approved by him. The Town Engineer's approval shall be endorsed upon all such maps, plans and specifications submitted to him and such endorsement shall be evidence of such approval. Approval pursuant to this section shall not be granted by the Town Engineer prior to compliance with §§ 54-9 and 54-10 of this chapter.
The rules and specifications adopted by the town for the construction
and installation of communal water systems shall be the basis upon which all
maps, plans and specifications for such systems or extensions and modifications
thereof shall be reviewed by the Town Engineer for approval. All such systems
and extensions thereof shall be installed and constructed in accordance with
the maps, plans and specifications as approved by the Town Engineer.
The Town Engineer or anyone under his supervision, upon the showing
of the proper credentials and in discharge of his duties, may enter upon the
site upon which any communal water system or extensions thereof is being installed,
constructed, extended or modified at any reasonable hour of the day, for the
purpose of making inspections thereof.
The Town Engineer or anyone under his supervision is hereby authorized
to conduct such inspections of the site or sites upon which any communal water
system or extension thereof is located or is being installed or constructed,
from time to time as he may deem necessary, for the purpose of seeing that
the installation or construction of such a system or extension is in conformity
with the maps, plans and specifications submitted and approved pursuant to
this chapter, or that such system is being maintained and operated and is
functioning as required by this chapter.
Whenever the Town Engineer has reasonable grounds to believe that the
installation, construction or extension of any communal water system is not
in conformity with the maps, plans and specifications approved by him, he
shall notify the owner or the owner's agent, or the person, firm or corporation
performing the installation, construction or extension of such a system, and
order all such installation and construction of such system stopped, and any
such person shall forthwith stop all such installation, construction or extension
until such stop order has been rescinded. Such notice and order shall be in
writing, may state the conditions, if any, upon which the work may be resumed
and may be served upon a person to whom it is directed either by delivering
it personally to him, or by posting the same upon a conspicuous portion of
the site upon which such communal water system is located or by sending a
copy thereof by ordinary mail to his last known address.
The Town Engineer may revoke approval of any maps, plans and specifications previously granted pursuant to § 54-3 of this chapter, where he finds there has been any false statement or misrepresentation as to a material fact in the maps, plans and specifications or any other data submitted therewith, or where the person or persons to whom a stop order has been issued fails or refuses to comply with such order or where he finds that the approval was granted in error and should not have been so granted.
At a time prior to approval of the maps, plans and specifications for
a communal water system or extension thereto by the Town Engineer as required
by this law, or prior to any installation or construction or extension of
such a communal water system or any part thereof if such approval is not required,
title to the realty or interest therein upon which said system or extension
thereof and its appurtenances are to be located, together with title to all
those pipes, pumps, mains and storage facilities necessary for its operation,
shall be irrevocably offered to the town without cost to the town. Such an
offer shall be made by filing with the Town Clerk a written offer of dedication
acceptable in form to the Town Attorney.
The owner or owners of real property within a subdivision or garden
apartment project to be supplied by a communal water system or extension thereof
shall, at a time prior to approval of the plans and specifications for such
system or extension thereof as required by this law, or at a time prior to
any installation or construction or extension of such a communal water system
or any part thereof if such approval is not required, present a petition in
due form to the Town Board of the Town of Monroe, pursuant to applicable provisions
of the town law, for the formation and establishment or extension of a water
district to include such subdivision or garden apartment project and acquisition
by the town of such a completed communal water system.
At a time when the Town Board shall determine that it is in the public
interest to extend any water storage and distribution district, or water supply
district or other water supply and/or distribution system maintained or operated
by the Town of Monroe, to include a water district formed pursuant to this
chapter, it shall accept the offer of dedication of the communal water system
and set a date at which time the town shall take actual possession and control
of such system or extension or both. The town shall not take possession or
control of a communal water system or extension unless it is completed. If
the town has entered into an agreement with a sewerage disposal corporation,
as defined in the Transportation Corporations Law, whereby the town is entitled
to purchase or otherwise acquire a sewerage disposal system and disposal plant
together with their appurtenances, and such disposal system and plant services
a subdivision or garden apartment project that is or will be supplied by a
communal water system or extension thereof, the town shall not accept the
offer of dedication for such a system until or at the same time as it purchases
or otherwise acquires such a sewerage disposal plant and disposal system.
Upon such a taking, the owner of any communal water system or extension
thereof shall deliver to the town good and marketable title thereto, subject
only to those covenants, restrictions and reservations which are of record.
The owner of the communal water system shall furnish at his expense such searches
of title or title policy and surveys as may reasonably be required by the
Town Attorney.
A.
Any owner of a communal water system shall, prior to
the approval of the maps, plans and specifications required by this chapter,
post a performance bond satisfactory to the Town Attorney covering the cost,
as estimated by the Town Engineer, of the installation and construction of
such a system or extension thereof as shown on such maps, plans and specifications.
The maximum term of such bond shall be three years, but may be extended upon
petition to the Town Board. Upon the completion of such a system or extension
thereof, the Town Engineer shall make a final inspection of such system or
extension thereof and its appurtenant parts, and he shall report to the Town
Board whether or not in his judgment the system or extension thereof, as installed
and constructed, conforms with the maps, plans and specifications approved
by him. If the system is in conformity with such maps, plans and specifications,
the Town Board, by resolution, shall release the performance bond. In the
event that such communal water system or extension thereof has not been installed
and constructed in conformity with such maps, plans and specifications within
the term of such bond, the Town Engineer shall notify the owner or operator
of such system in what respect the installation or construction of the communal
water system does not conform with the maps, plans and specifications approved
by him. If such defects are not corrected within a reasonable time after the
giving of such notice, the Town Board may:
(1)
By resolution declare such performance bond to be in
default and may collect the sum remaining payable thereunder, and with the
proceeds thereof the town shall install or complete the installation or extension
of the communal water system in accordance with the maps, plans and specifications
approved by the Town Engineer, or
B.
After such a communal water system or extension shall
have been placed into service and prior to acceptance by the town, the owner
or operator of any communal water system or extension thereof shall post a
maintenance bond satisfactory in form to the Town Attorney, which shall be
in an amount equal to 10% of the performance bond. The maximum term of such
bond shall be two years. After the expiration of the term of such a bond,
if the same has not been declared in default, the Town Board shall, by resolution,
release such bond.
After a communal water system or extension thereof shall have first
been placed into service and prior to acceptance by the town of the offer
of dedication required by this chapter, such system and any extensions thereof
shall be maintained and operated in good working order and shall function
in such a manner so as not to jeopardize the health and safety of anyone who
is serviced by such system. If in the judgment of the Town Engineer such a
system or extension thereof is not operated and maintained in good working
order or does not function as required by this section, he shall notify the
owner of such a system or his agent or the operator thereof of that fact and
order such owner, agent or operator to remedy any defect and/or to maintain
or operate the system so that it functions in accordance with the provisions
of this section. Such notice and order shall be in writing and served upon
such owner, his agent or the operator of such system personally or by mailing
the same by ordinary mail to his last known address. If such order is not
complied with within 10 days from the date of its service, the Town Engineer
shall so report to the Town Board of the town and the Town Board may act by
adopting one or a combination of the following procedures:
A.
By resolution declare to be in default any maintenance bond held by it pursuant to § 54-13 of this chapter and collect the sum remaining payable thereunder, and with such proceeds remedy any defect in the system or maintain and operate the system so that the same shall function in accord with the provisions of this chapter.
B.
May by resolution accept the offer of dedication of such system and immediately take possession of such system and all its appurtenances without any liability therefor and without regard to any limitations contained in § 54-11 of this law, whether or not such system or extension is completed as defined herein and without the necessity of any further legal proceedings.
C.
May by resolution authorize the correction of any defect
in such system by the town, the cost and expense for which the owner or operator
of such system shall be liable.
Prior to the acceptance by the town of the offer of dedication required
by this chapter, any rates, rents, charges or rules made or demanded by the
owner or operator of a communal water system for water or any services rendered
or to be rendered shall be just and reasonable and in accordance with the
terms of the Public Service Law, and any matters relating to such rates, rents,
charges or rules shall be governed by the applicable provision of that law.
The provisions of this chapter may be waived or modified upon a written
application by any interested party to the Town Board of the town. Before
a waiver or modification shall be allowed, there shall be a sufficient showing
to the Town Board that such is justified and that the public health, safety
and welfare of the community will not be jeopardized by such a waiver or modification.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent any owner or owners of real property so entitled from presenting a petition to the Town Board of the town, pursuant to Article 12 of the Town Law, to extend any district previously formed pursuant to § 54-10 of this chapter to include real property owned by them, or from preventing the Town Board from proceeding pursuant to Article 12A of the Town Law to extend such district.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to relieve the owner or operator
of any communal water system from obtaining any necessary approval for such
system from either the New York State Water Resources Commission or the New
York State Department of Health, or any other department or agency of the
United States, the State of New York or the County of Orange.
[Amended 6-5-1972 by L.L. No. 10-1972]
It shall be unlawful for any waterworks corporation, person, firm, corporation
or association to make, construct, install, operate, or allow to be made,
constructed, installed or operated, a communal water system or extension thereof
in violation of any provision of this chapter. Any such violation shall be
punishable by a fine not exceeding $250 or imprisonment for not more than
15 days or both, for each violation. Each and every day a violation continues
shall be deemed a separate violation. Nothing in this section shall be construed
to prevent the town from instituting a civil action to compel compliance with
or restrain or enjoin any violation of this chapter.
