The Lacey Planning Commission on Jan. 22 reviewed proposed revisions to the city’s development guidelines for water and sewer infrastructure that staff say are aimed at improving system reliability and clarifying requirements for new accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

Tom (city presenter) told commissioners the draft would allow occasional reductions to the standard 42‑inch cover over water mains with public works director approval, provided ductile‑iron pipe is used in shallow segments. "So with approval of the public works director, you will be able to perhaps reduce the cover over a line," Tom said, adding that ductile iron is specified where strength is required and that cost tradeoffs mean PVC will still be common for many projects.

The draft also would require valves on service lines 2 inches and larger so crews can isolate large commercial or industrial services, and it would formalize procedures for temporary blow‑offs and end‑of‑main sampling during flushing and commissioning. Staff warned that flushing larger mains can produce "a couple hundred thousand gallons" that must be routed so nearby streets or yards are not flooded.

Commissioners discussed metering for ADUs. Tom said property owners can tie an ADU onto the existing house service at no extra cost but that a separate meter is allowed and would incur full connection fees. He also reported that larger water meters now have lead times of roughly four months, up from about 10 weeks during earlier years, and advised earlier ordering during project design.

The draft sets operational and siting standards for STEP (septic tank effluent pump) systems, including minimum setbacks (generally 5 feet from property lines, 7 feet from foundations for riser access) and prohibitions on placing tanks inside fenced or joint utility trench areas where maintenance access would be blocked. Operations staff explained modern polyethylene and fiberglass tanks have larger footprints than older concrete tanks, complicating retrofits where driveways or foundations already exist.

Staff also proposed a policy for costly conversions from on‑site septic to sewer for failing systems: if the cost to connect exceeds 15% of the building’s value, the city would consider an exception pathway that relies on three independent bid estimates to verify cost. "The amount we came up with was 15% of the value of the building of the structure," Tom said.

Commissioner Spencer raised concerns about equity, asking whether it was "not equitable to have everybody else bear the cost" when ratepayers fund maintenance of city‑owned STEP or grinder systems. City operations staff responded that day‑to‑day maintenance of city‑owned systems is paid from the sewer rate pool and that only in cases where the council grants a variance to allow a developer to deviate from a gravity requirement would the city be taking on an unusual subsidy.

City staff and commissioners discussed whether the planning commission should recommend that the city council limit further expansion of STEP and grinder systems and favor gravity sewer where feasible, noting STEP systems are already numerous in the Urban Growth Area and pose long‑term maintenance and replacement costs for ratepayers. Staff estimated the city maintains thousands of on‑site septic/STEP systems and hundreds of lift stations and identified several multi‑year replacement and lifecycle costs tied to those assets.

Next steps: staff will release the draft for about a month of internal and public review, brief the city council around March 12 and, if schedule and comments allow, bring the guidelines to a public hearing on March 26.

The commission did not take a formal vote on policy direction at the Jan. 22 meeting; staff asked commissioners for comment and said they will return with any revisions after the public review period.