Title
LATECOMER AGREEMENT - ALTER STREET SEWER EXTENSION NO 1
COUNCIL INITIATIVE ADDRESSED:
Provide sustainable water quality & environmental infrastructure
CITY ATTORNEY REVIEW: REQUIRED
SUMMARY STATEMENT:
Alter Street is a dead-end private road off of 40th Avenue south of Ocean Beach Highway, outside of Longview city limits. There are 15 homes along the street, 13 of which used septic sewer systems. The septic systems along the street have begun failing and property owners are requesting sewer service from the City (Alter Street is within the City’s sewer service area). Serving all of the properties on the street would require installation of 517 feet of sewer main.
A private property owner constructed the first 97 feet of sewer main to provide service to their property, and has requested a Latecomer Agreement with the City. A Latecomer Agreement is a mechanism that allows a property owner or developer who installed utility improvements, to recover a portion of the costs of those improvements from other property owners who later develop property in the vicinity and use the improvements. The Latecomer Agreement is valid for twenty (20) years and requires the City to collect a proportionate fee from those who later connect to the facility, and remit those fees to the person who paid for the original installation of the facility.
State law requires the City to execute a Latecomer Agreement when that individual, at their own expense, installs public utilities that are then available to other properties. In this case, other property owners on Alter Street must connect to the newly installed sewer main if they choose to connect to the City’s sewer system. Staff expects all 13 properties to eventually connect to the sewer system as their septic systems fail because they are not likely to be permitted to install new septic systems due to the small lot sizes and high groundwater conditions. Staff anticipates two or more additional Latecomer Agreements ...
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