Council considers ordinance tweak to give homeowners flexibility on mandatory sewer hookups

City staff proposed an amendment to the municipal code’s mandatory sewer-connection requirement to allow the city discretion to address hardship cases where immediate connection to a public sewer would be impractical or excessively costly for a property owner. The ordinance language under consideration would permit staff and council to open a dialogue on alternative solutions such as holding tanks or temporary measures when sewer access is adjacent but technically infeasible.

Why it matters: Under the existing code language, a parcel adjacent to an operational public sewer must connect. Staff said strict application of that rule can impose unexpectedly large costs on homeowners when the sewer alignment, depth or diameter makes a hookup impractical or prohibitively expensive.

Staff described common scenarios: failing septic systems where the nearest public sewer is across the road or at a depth/diameter that would require significant private construction costs. The proposed amendment would create a formal process to consider alternatives and hardship exceptions on a case-by-case basis. Council members thanked staff for bringing the recommendation and a motion to proceed was introduced in the meeting; the transcript does not record a final vote or ordinance adoption during the session.