Commission directs staff to revise mandatory connection rules in water and sewer ordinance

The Harris Planning Commission continued a review of proposed revisions to the city's water and sewer connection ordinance on March 2, 2025, and directed staff to revise the ordinance with the discussed changes and return a new draft for further review.

Proposed updates discussed included clarifying utility-availability notification procedures, defining failure-to-comply enforcement mechanisms and a possible penalty or fee, and specifying triggers that would require mandatory connection. Commissioners identified several potential triggers: transfer of property ownership, subdivision of property, failure of a well or septic system, and new residential or commercial construction. The commission also discussed adding provisions addressing well failure versus septic failure and clarifying rules for potable versus non-potable wells.

Commissioners discussed requiring septic system compliance verification every three years for properties that continue to use private septic systems when city utilities are available, and they considered possible inspection authority and periodic compliance verification. The Commission directed staff to revise the ordinance draft to reflect those items and return it to the Planning Commission for further review prior to scheduling a public hearing; a public hearing is tentatively anticipated for April 2026.

No formal ordinance vote occurred at the meeting; the action was a direction to staff to update the draft ordinance. The revised draft will be subject to further commission review and a future public hearing.