Planning board recommends ordinance to update sanitary sewer policies; vote unanimous

The Safety Harbor Planning and Zoning Board voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt a city-initiated amendment to the comprehensive plan — recorded as Ordinance 2024-06 — updating the city’s sanitary sewer policies to comply with state legislation enacted in 2023.

The amendment, presented by Carol Strickland, Community Development Director, revises several policy sections to require coordination with the City of Clearwater on plant improvements, use the capital improvement program to identify long-term projects and funding, and perform an analysis of areas with concentrations of septic systems where 50 or more residential lots are not served by sewer.

"The purpose of this is it is a required amendment, based upon a legislation that was enacted in 2023, which directed local governments to revise certain policies," Strickland said, describing the state-driven changes and noting the Department of Environmental Protection requested revisions when the board previously submitted the amendments in 2024. "We did have a phone conference with the reviewer at the Department of Environmental Protection and she suggested taking this approach with the amendment."

The amendments cited in the staff presentation include Policy 115 (coordination with Clearwater to implement improvements to the northeast advanced wastewater treatment plant), Policy 118 (correcting deficiencies and providing area extensions to remove active septic tanks), Policy 132 and Policy 134 (using the capital improvement program to identify projects and funding), a new Policy 136 (directing analysis of areas with 50 or more lots not served by sewer), Policy 142 (language cleanup for solid waste references), and Policy 213 (drainage-plan best management practices to reduce pollutant load).

Strickland said the city has not yet identified any specific areas that meet the 50-lot septic standard but that the state requires the city perform the analysis so it can plan sewer extensions where needed. She also noted work by Public Works on a vulnerability study of pump stations and other infrastructure vulnerable to storm events, a study the state requires and one prompted by recent hurricane-related lift-station failures.

"That vulnerability study will look at pump stations and other infrastructure that's vulnerable to damage from storm events and make specific recommendations," Strickland said, adding the sewer system is funded through an enterprise fund and that revenue sufficiency would need to be addressed in a future rate study if projects are bonded or otherwise financed.

Board members asked whether the City of Clearwater would mirror the code changes; Strickland said Clearwater had made similar commitments under the state statute. She also said the Department of Commerce (formerly the Department of Economic Opportunity) is the principal reviewer that coordinates reviews with other agencies and that the Department of Environmental Protection raised prior objections.

After discussion, a motion to adopt Ordinance 2024-06 was made and seconded. The board chair called the vote; all members present voted in favor and the motion passed unanimously.

The board’s recommendation will be transmitted to the state after the City Commission holds its first public hearing on the item; staff said further tweaks requested by the state could be made before final adoption by the commission.