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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1977-12-06; City Council; 5242-1; Sewer Permit - The Highland CompanyCITY OF CARLSBAD AGENDA BILL NO. 5242-Supplement #1 Initial: Dept.Hd. DATE: December 6, 1977 C. Atty.V/23 DEPARTMENT; City Attorney C. Mgr. R Subject: SEWER PERMITS - REQUEST TO UTILIZE EXISTING SEWER PERMITS ON DIFFERENT LOTS: TANGLEWOOD. APPLICANT: THE HIGHLAND COMPANY Statement of the Matter • The City Council, at your November 1, 1977 meeting, directed the City Attorney to prepare the necessary documents to provide for the transfer of 52 existing sewer permits from one group of lots to another group of lots within the Tanglewood Specific Plan Planned Community Development. A memorandum to the City Manager discussing my view of the necessary code amendments to accomplish the Council's direction is attached. An ordinance amending the building permit mora- torium to allow the transfer is also attached. Exhibits City Attorney's memorandum to City Manager dated November 14, 1977. Ordinance No. Recommendation If the City Council wishes to approve the transfer of the 52 permits, your action is to introduce Ordinance No. %j J £ In addition, by motion, you should reaffirm your approval of the transfer to be effective upon the effective date of the ordinance. Council a c 11o n 12-6-77 Ordinance #8076 was introduced for a first reading, amending Section 18.05.020 of the Municipal Code to allow the transfer of sewer permits in certain circumstances. 12-20-77 Ordinance #8076 was given a second reading and adopted. 5> 50 M 5 <m o § oS <CO >- 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 03 -I 18 13 K < 0> d " - | 14C3°ii^- O5 £ * ^ 15 16 17 18« 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 ORDINANCE NO.8076 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING TITLE 18, CHAPTER 18.05, OF THE CARLSBAD MUNICIPAL CODE BY THE AMENDMENT OF SECTION 18.05.020 TO ALLOW THE TRANSFER OF SEWER PERMITS IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. The City Council of the City of Carlsbad, California does ordain as follows: SECTION 1: That Title 18, Chapter 18.05, Section 18.05.020 of the Carlsbad Municipal Code is amended by the addition of Subsection 11 to read as follows: "11. The City Council may approve the transfer of sewer connection permits from one building site to another building site in accordance with the provisions of this section. Such a transfer may only be approved if the Council finds that the sewer permit is being transferred to a similar type of structure to be built on a lot located within the same development as the original lot. The application for a transfer of a sewer permit pursuant to this section shall constitute an offer by the developer to surrender the building permit for which the sewer permit was originally issued. Upon City Council approval of the transfer, the original building permit shall be void and of no further force and effect. If construction has commenced pursuant to the original building permit, such construction shall be removed and the site restored to the satisfaction of the City Engineer. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 13.08.080, the transferred sewer permit shall remain valid and it may be made available for issuance in connection with a new building permit as approved by the City Council as part of the transfer. City Council approval of a transfer shall constitute authority on the part of the City Manager to determine that sewer service is available, to issue ~.t h e new building permit and to transfer the sewer permit, Nothwithstanding the provisions of Section 13.08.080, a sewer permit transferred pursuant to this section shall be void and of no further force or effect unless the building permit is obtained and construction is commenced within 120 days of the City Council's approval of the transfer. After commencement of construction, pursuant to the building permit, the validity of the building permit and sewer permit shall be determined in accordance with Section 13.08.080 and the Uniform Building Code." EFFECTIVE DATE: This ordinance shall be effective thirty days after its adoption, and the City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this ordinance and cause it to be published at least D 8 x cc< 8 O U. I-z UlU ai O 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 * 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 once in the Carlsbad Journal within fifteen days after its adoption. INTRODUCED AND FIRST READ at a regular meeting of the Carlsbad City Council held on the 6th day of December , 1977 and thereafter PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of said City Council held on the 20th day of December , 1977 by the following vote, to wit: AYES: Councilmen Frazee, Lewis, Packard, Skotnicki and CounciIwoman Casler NOES: None ABSENT: None 'ROBERT C. FRAZEE, ATTEST : MAFpARfiT E. ADAMS^, city clerk (SEAL) 2, MEMORANDUM DATE: November 14, 1977 TO: City Manager FROM: City Attorney SUBJECT: TRANSFER OF SEWER PERMITS - TANGLEWOOD AGENDA BILL 5242 In accord with the City Council's direction I have reviewed the Municipal Code to determine what amendments, if any, would be necessary to accomplish the City Council's deter- mination to allow the transfer of the subject sewer permits. The facts of the matter are essentially as set out in the exhibits to Agenda Bill 5242 and they will not be repeated. Additional facts were ascertained during a meeting with the Public Works Administrator and the City Engineer. In particular, thirty-three of the sewer permits are to be transferred to lots within the same subdivision which has already received final map approval, while nineteen permits are to be transferred to an area in Unit 2, a new subdivision which has not as yet been finalled. Municipal Code Section 13.08.085 (a) provides that a sewer permit may only be issued after issuance of a valid building permit. The subdivision laws, building code and zoning ordinances provide that a building permit can only be issued for a legal, buildable lot. A sewer permit authorizes connection, of the structure for which the building permit is issued, to the sewer system. Section 13.08.085 (c) provides that sewer permits are null and void if the building permit for the structure, for which the connection is to be made, exp i re s. It is clear that the existing code very specifically ties a sewer permit to a particular building permit and the building permit to a particular lot. There is no provision in the law allowing transfer of sewer permits or building permits. If the fifty-two building permits, which the developer currently holds, are allowed to lapse, the sewer permits would expire. New building permits could not be obtained on the old lots due to the moratorium ordinances since sewer would not be available. Building permits for new lots could not be obtained City Manager -2- November 14, 1977 for the same reason. Building permits for nineteen of the new lots could not be obtained until the final map was approved and recorded. The Public Works Administrator has suggested an administrative solution to the problem whereby the City Manager would deter- mine to issue the building permits pursuant to Municipal Code Section 18.05.020 (2). The Manager's determination that sewer would be available for the new building permits would be based on the Council's action approving the transfer. A problem with this solution is that Section 13.08.080 ties the sewer permit and its validity to the validity of the building permit for a particular lot and does not allow transfers. Further, if the original building permits lapse, the sewer permit lapses. It is not possible to have the same sewer permit assigned to two different building permits at the same time. In order to implement the administrative decision, it would be necessary for the subdivider to continue work on the original building permits, which he has no wish to pursue, in order to keep his sewer permits alive until the subdivision can be completed and the building permits issued on the new lots. For both of these reasons it seems to me the administrative solution is not advisable. It is my recommendation that the Council's direction can best be accomplished by an amendment to Section 18.05.020 (the basic building permit moratorium section) to add a new exception. That exception would provide that the City Council could approve the transfer of a sewer permit from one building site to another, making it available to allow the issuance of another building permit provided that such a transfer could only be approved within the limits of one development. The amendment would provide further that the City Council's approval of such a transfer would give the City Manager authority to determine that sewer service was available for the new building site and authorize the issuance of a build- ing permit. The amendment would also provide that notwith- standing the provisions of Section 13.08.080 a transferred sewer permit would not become void if the original building permit was void and its validity would be tied to the new building permit. The developer's application for transfer of a sewer permit would constitute an offer to surrender the original building permit. The City Council's approval of the transfer would make the original building permit void. The developer would be obligated to clear the site of the original permit, if any construction had occurred, and return City Manager -3- November 14, 1977 it to its condition prior to issuance of the permits, to the satisfaction of the City Engineer. The original building permit can remain valid for 120 days. If near the end of that period construction is commenced, as the Council has determined to be the case here, additional periods of time may be gained. If a transfer is approved, a new permit would be issued giving the developer another 120 days to start construction. This compounding of 120 day periods could allow a developer to tie up sewer permits for long periods of time in advance of need to the detriment of others who are prepared to go ahead immediately. In addition, the Tanglewood appeal presents special problems in that nineteen of the building permits cannot be issued until the final map is approved. In the absence of a special time limit for transferred permits, the only time limit on the sewer permits would be those that apply to the map itself. In both cases there would be no time limit within which the new building permit must be obtained. If this is a concern, a provision could be added to the amend- ment providing for special time limits for commencing con- struction pursuant to a transferred permit. The ordinance which I have prepared for the Council's consideration contains such a provision, Which would allow the transferred sewer permit to remain valid only if the new building permit is obtained and construction commenced within 120 days of the City Council's approval of the transfer. If this problem is not a concern, that provision of the ordinance could be stricken at the time of introduction. VINCENT F. BIONDO, JR. City Attorney VFB/mla