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Lorain advisory board sets standards for sewer extensions outside city limits: engineer review, inspections, fees, ownership
Summary
The Lorain SWAB board unanimously adopted several recommendations to govern sewer extensions outside city limits, including mandatory city-engineer review, city inspection paid by developers, enforcement of in-city construction and testing standards, developer-paid construction costs, and retention of city ownership of connected sewers.
The Lorain SWAB board unanimously approved a package of recommendations that would govern sewer extensions outside the city’s corporate limits if the city agrees to allow such ties into its sanitary system.
The board’s recommendations, approved as separate report items, include: a requirement that the city engineer evaluate the hydraulic and structural effects of any proposed extension; enforcement of the same pipe, construction, and testing standards that the city requires inside the city; city-conducted inspections and acceptance testing (with the developer paying inspection costs); and a recommendation that the construction cost be borne by the developer and/or adjoining community rather than the City of Lorain utilities. The board also recommended the city retain legal ownership of sewers that tie to the city system and set tap-in, capital-improvement, and permit fees for outside connections at least equal to — and preferably higher than — city rates to avoid incentivizing out-of-city builds.
Board members explained the precautions as protection against inflow and infiltration and against sending uncompensated extra stormwater to the city’s treatment works. Chair Pat McGannan described the risk: leaks and poor joints allow stormwater into the sanitary system “which we have to treat” and “didn’t go through anybody’s meter, so, therefore, we’re treating that extra water for free.” He asked that the city engineer — rather than only the utilities director or administration — be the reviewer because of engineering expertise.
Resident Gerald Phillips described technical steps an engineer would need to evaluate, including existing plant capacity, peak flows, line sizes, and master-plan drawings: “You definitely need an engineer,” he said, noting that thorough line diagrams and flow calculations are necessary before expansion.
The board also recommended that laterals (property connection pipes from the main to a building) be inspected by city staff to city standards, even when constructed outside the city limits, and that any inspections be paid for by the developer. The board cited a recent county project (Amherst Township) that resulted in additional structures built to protect Lorain — for example, an orifice-controlled receiving structure that limits flow into the city when peak flows exceed safe levels — as an example of why strict review is necessary.
On service bundling, the board recommended that a developer or property that seeks city sewer service should also be required to take Lorain water service where feasible, so that the city captures water-sales revenue when it provides sewer service. Board members said the revenue from water customers helps keep rates lower for all customers.
Each recommendation was adopted by voice vote; the minutes record the motions as passing unanimously but do not list individual vote counts. The motions did not set enforcement mechanisms beyond recommending that agreements clarify maintenance, cleaning responsibilities, inspection payment, ownership retention, and permit authority; the board suggested that the city engineer and legal department draft language for any future intergovernmental or developer agreements.
The board will forward the consolidated recommendations to the administration and asked that proposed sewer-extension agreements come to SWAB for review before final approval.
