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.
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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
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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
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