Village aldermen will amend two ordinances affecting the required connection of properties to the Salado Sewer System and the Impact Fees on new development. The first reading of the amended ordinances will be conducted at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 17.
The Village will amend the Impact Fees for Wastewater Ordinance by adding the following paragraph D to Section 14: “Applicability, Exceptions and Exemptions: D. A property in the initial service area is not required to pay impact fees for the improvements existing on the property as of October 17, 2019.”
The Ordinance 2018-12 is also amended to increase the Impact Fee per Living Unit Equivalent (LUE) from $3,750 to $5,152,
The Village will also conduct the first reading of an ordinance amending its 2018 Mandatory Connection Ordinance (2018-13) to elminate the criminal penalties and potential civil fines of $100 to $5,000 per day for those who fail to connect to the wastewater system as required in the ordinance.
On Oct. 3, aldermen voted unanimously to direct staff to remove the provisions in the ordinance that allow the village to fine a property owner up to $5,000 per day for each day a property is not connected to the Village’s new wastewater system.
The amended ordinance will continue to allow injunctive relief for the Village to prevent specific conduct that violates the Ordinance or to require specific conduct that is necessary for compliance with this Ordinance.
The ordinance also allows “other available relief.”
The ordinance states that the Village administrator may provide written notice to the person owning the property that upon failure of the property to connect to the Village’s Sewer System within 30 days from the date of the notice, the Village will connect the property to the Village’s Sewer System and “will charge the cost and expense of connecting such property to the owner of the property” and may “institute suit against the owner to collect the costs.”
The ordinance gives the Village authority to place a lien against the property for such costs and authorizes the Village to “undertake other measures within the Village’s authority to recover the costs.”
The Impact Salado “group firmly believes the actions of our Alderman Council on October 3 to begin the process of rescinding the impact fees they originally imposed on existing properties was the right thing to do,” Impact Saldao member Will Lowery stated in an email this morning (Oct. 17). “However, please keep in mind, votes can change. Until two readings of the proposed amendments are read and passed by two separate votes, nothing has officially changed. “
“The group firmly believes that had group members and fellow citizens not participated in public comments on October 3rd, the Alderman Council would not have changed their position,” Lowery added. “Our attorney was present for the meeting, and was amazed by the impact local citizens had on the Alderman Council, and was touched by the sincerity and respect every single person who spoke conveyed.”
Lowery encourages citizens to get involved in the meeting today and to “encourage our elected officials to complete the process of rescinding impact fees for existing properties.”