Town of Fishkill, NY Building Sewers and Connections

§ 118-22 Permit required.

No person shall uncover, make any connection with or opening into or use, alter or disturb any public sewer or appurtenance thereof without first obtaining a written permit from the Superintendent in accordance with the regulations as established by the Town.

§ 118-23 Notification.

The Superintendent shall be notified at least 48 hours (two workdays) before the beginning of any work upon building sewers or connections.

§ 118-24 Classes of building sewer permits.

There shall be two classes of building sewer permits: Class 1 for residential and Class 2 for establishments producing commercial or industrial wastes. In either class, the owner or his agent shall make application on a special form furnished by the Town. The permit application shall be supplemented by any plans, specifications or other information considered pertinent in the judgment of the Superintendent.

§ 118-25 Responsibility for costs; indemnification of Town.

[Amended 10-11-1994 by L.L. No. 9-1994]

All costs and expenses incidental to the installation and connection of a building sewer from the public sewer to the building drains shall be borne by the owner of the property being served. The owner shall defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Town and its applicable special sewer improvement district for any loss or damage that is caused by the owner's installation, maintenance or repair of the building sewer.

§ 118-26 Building sewer connections.

Each building in the area served by a public sewer, when connected, must be connected separately and independently with the sewer through the building connection branch directly opposite the building or nearest in the downstream direction.

Grouping of buildings on one building sewer will not be permitted, save by special act of and by the Town Board, except where one building stands at the rear of another on an interior lot and no sewer is available or can be constructed to the rear building through an adjoining alley, courtyard or driveway. Under such conditions, the building sewer from the front building may be extended to the rear building and the whole considered as one building sewer.

§ 118-27 Use of old building sewers.

Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, on examination and tested by the Sewer Inspector to meet all requirements of this chapter.

§ 118-28 Building sewer construction.

The building sewers shall be constructed in accordance with the applicable provisions of the requirements and specifications as established by the Town.

§ 118-29 Safety precautions; restoration.

All excavations for building sewer installations shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights so as to protect the public from hazard.

Streets, driveways, sidewalks and other public property disturbed in the course of the work shall be restored in a manner satisfactory to the Town.

§ 118-30 Other required permits.

All necessary permits for the opening of the Town, county, state and village streets or highways shall be obtained from the State, County, Town or Village Highway Department, as the case may be, in advance of the issuance of any building sewer permit.

§ 118-31 Building sewer repairs; right of entry; reimbursement of expenses.

[Amended 10-11-1994 by L.L. No. 9-1994]

Building sewers shall be serviced and repaired by the owners of the property being served to a point having a distance of one foot from the edge of the pavement of the street in which the connecting public sewer is located. Service and repairs of building sewers within the paved areas of public right-of-way shall be served by the Town or the appropriate sewer improvement district, except in the case of building sewers utilizing private individual pumping systems, in which case the property owner shall be responsible for such services and repairs in a fashion approved in advance by the Town or improvement district. Evidence of willful damage to building sewers being served by the Town or the improvement district shall be a violation of this chapter.

The property owner's installation of a building sewer and the parcel's continuing use of the public sewer collection facilities shall bestow upon the Superintendent, or that person's agents and servants, a continuing right of entry upon the building owner's property to access and make repairs to the building sewer where such repairs have not been made by the owner and the building sewer's condition threatens the health, safety and welfare of the community. In the event that the Town or its improvement district is required to make such repairs, due to the owner's default, the Town shall be entitled to reimbursement of all reasonable and necessary design, construction, engineering, legal and related expenses incurred as a result. In the event of the owner's failure to reimburse the Town for these expenses, the Town shall have the following options:

(1)

It may commence suit against the owner to recover such costs, as well as to recover its reasonable and necessary attorneys' fees in prosecuting such claims; or

(2)

The Town may charge such sums against the owner's real property by adding such expenses to and making them a part of the next annual real property tax assessment role of the Town. Such charges shall be levied at the same time and in the same manner as Town assessed taxes and shall be paid to the Town supervisor to be applied in reimbursing the funds from which the costs were defrayed; prior to charging such assessments, the owner of the real property shall be provided written notice at the last known address of record, by certified mail/return receipt requested, of an opportunity to be heard before the Town Board and object to the proposed real property assessment at a date to be designated in the notice, which date shall be no less than 30 days after its mailing.

§ 118-32 Completion of work.

Persons must report to the Superintendent, in writing, within 24 hours after the completion of any work by them, every connection or disconnection made between any building and the sewer system aforesaid or between any building connection and said sewer system.