§ 110-119. Service commitments.

(a)

Existing service commitments. All service commitments issued by the county prior to the effective date of the ordinance from which this article derives shall be automatically terminated if not used within one year from the date the ordinance from which this article derives takes effect unless the holder of the service commitments has renewed the service commitments by complying with subsection (b) of this section regarding new service commitments, including the payment of the service commitment fee.

(b)

New service commitments. Upon receipt of a complete service application and a determination that service application and a determination that service is available, the county will issue an intent to serve letter which grants conditional approval of service, subject to this article for a period of six months. The conditions under which the county grants such conditional approval and subsequent plan approval are summarized as follows:

(1)

Within six months of the issuance of the conditional approval, the applicant must submit construction drawings for the project to the county for review and approval. Upon approval of the construction drawings, the applicant is notified in writing that copies of the approved plans and state department of environmental protection permit forms are available for pickup upon receipt of the service commitment fee set forth in subsection (b)(3) of this section.

(2)

Construction plan approval by the utilities department is valid for a period of 12 months. If construction has not begun within 12 months, the applicant must reapply for service. If construction has not begun within six months and changes in the county's specifications have occurred, plans must be resubmitted for approval.

(3)

The service commitment fee is a nonrefundable payment equal to 100 percent of the impact fee in existence for the development or project at the time the service commitment is issued. Payment of the service commitment fee does not entitle the connection of the development to the project without paying impact fees in existence at the time of connection; however, the service commitment fee will be applied toward the impact fee in existence at the time the development is so connected to the system.

(4)

Only for single family detached residential developments with 25 or more units, the county may allow payment of the service commitment fee pursuant to the following installment program. Ten percent of the service commitment fee for a specific development or phase of development shall be due and payable at the time the county executes a sewer collection system permit application for the state department of environmental protection and 40 percent of the service commitment fee shall be due and payable either upon approval of construction plans by the county for the specific development or phase of development and upon issuance of the sewer collection system permit by the state department of environmental protection or within nine months after the county executes the sewer collection system permit application, whichever occurs first. The remaining 50 percent shall be due and payable either upon issuance of a building permit for a structure or unit which would exceed 50 percent of the development units specified on the application executed by the county or 18 months after the initial ten percent service commitment fee payment, whichever occurs first. This subsection shall apply to any service commitments issued between September 28, 2005 and October 1, 2010.

(Code 1970, § 26-90; Ord. No. 87-10, § 10, 3-24-87; Ord. No. 88-22, § 1, 8-2-88; Ord. No. 91-06, § 1, 4-23-91; Ord. No. 93-19, § 1, 9-8-93; Ord. No. 96-16, § I, 8-6-96; Ord. No. 99-17, § 3, 9-28-99; Ord. No. 02-30, § 2, 11-26-02; Ord. No. 06-28, 9-11-06)