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Rising Sun tightens water/sewer code, creates capacity reservation fees and raises development impact rates
Summary
Commissioners approved revisions to Chapters 8 and 9 that clarify administrative authority over water/sewer, require minimum main sizes and introduce nonrefundable capacity reservation fees; the board also adopted a new fee schedule raising per‑EDU benefit assessment fees to help recover previous infrastructure costs.
RISING SUN, Md. — The Rising Sun Board of Commissioners on Nov. 10 approved a set of measures intended to clarify the town’s authority to manage water and sewer infrastructure and to ensure developers contribute to system upgrades.
Ordinance 2025‑06 revises Chapter 8 (water, sewer and plumbing) to explicitly grant the town administrator or a designated official authority to administer and enforce the chapter, to require connections from mains to served structures (not merely to lot lines), and to authorize abatement actions when property owners fail to comply. The ordinance endorses application of the "10 state standards" for waterworks and establishes an operational preference for redundant water grids and an 8‑inch minimum public water main where appropriate to meet fire‑suppression and potable‑water quality standards.
Commissioners then approved Ordinance 2025‑07, which creates a Sewer and Water Capacity Reservation Agreement mechanism. Under the new framework, developers may pay a nonrefundable reservation fee equal to 2% of the benefit assessment total to secure an initial allocation of EDUs; an additional 5% payment can hold capacity for up to five years. The measure is intended to prevent speculative holds on system capacity while giving developers a staged way to secure a commitment.
The board also adopted Resolution 2025‑18 revising the town’s fee schedule. The resolution sets a water benefit recovery amount of $3,000 per equivalent dwelling unit (EDU), a sewer benefit recovery of $6,000 per EDU and an adequate public facilities assessment of $9,625 per EDU, producing a total benefit assessment fee of $21,544 per EDU (the administrator corrected a typographical discrepancy during discussion). Town residents connecting existing homes are eligible to amortize the charge over seven years on their water bill with a nominal administrative fee; the development community is not offered that installment plan.
Officials emphasized the policy rationale repeatedly in response to public questions: the town previously invested roughly $26 million to replace failing water and sewer infrastructure and seeks to avoid shifting those historic costs to current taxpayers. For certain projects, the town will allow developers to build required interceptor lines or other infrastructure directly in exchange for impact‑fee reductions, rather than the town carrying construction risk and financing internally.
The ordinances and resolution passed by voice vote. Commissioners ratified a related Stevens Preserve public works agreement and the Pond Valley Farms MOU—both tied to how benefit assessment fees and construction responsibilities will be managed for specific developments.
The town administrator said more information, including the updated fee schedule and the public works agreements, will be posted on the Town of Rising Sun official website.
