The Provincetown Water & Sewer Board held a public hearing on Thursday, December 21, 2000 in the Judge Welsh Hearing Room, Provincetown, Town Hall, 260 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA 02657, pursuant to Chapter 157 of the Acts of 2000, and adopted the following regulations for the connection of properties located within the service area of the Provincetown municipal sewer system.
REGULATIONS FOR THE CONNECTION OF PROPERTIES LOCATED WITHIN THE SERVICE AREA OF THE PROVINCETOWN MUNICIPAL SEWER SYSTEM
Section 1. Purpose. The Water and Sewer Board promulgates these regulations to provide for the scheduling and connection of certain properties to the Town’s centralized municipal sewer treatment facility.
Section 2. Authority. The regulations are enacted by the Provincetown Water and Sewer Board under authority of Chapter 157 of the Acts of 2000, An Act Authorizing the Town of Provincetown to Operate a Sewer System. These regulations shall be effective upon their adoption by the Water and Sewer Board and publication in a newspaper of general circulation within the Town of Provincetown, and shall remain effective until modified or amended by the Water and Sewer Board.
Section 3. Definitions
Service Area: The Service Area shall mean all properties to the seaward of a line represented on the map available at the Provincetown Board of Health and entitled Wastewater Service Area. All properties in the Service Area are also identified on a list available from the Board of Health and adopted by the Selectmen and the Water and Sewer Board of the Town of Provincetown. Said map and list may undergo periodic revisions to reflect decisions by the Water and Sewer Board or the Board of Health. The final version of the list and map shall be made available at the Board of Health Office on February 1, 2001. The Service Area is the same as the “final area of final concern” as set forth in Chapter 157 of the Acts of 2000.
Green Property: A parcel shown in green on the Service Area map which currently can accommodate a fully compliant Title V system.
Yellow Property: A parcel shown in yellow on the Service Area map which currently can accommodate a Title V system with an innovative Title V system.
Red Property: A parcel shown in red on the Service Area map which currently has a certified Title V septic system that is not in failure, but if such system should fail, the property is too small to accommodate a Title V system in accordance with the 1995 revisions, even with a variance from setback requirements or an innovative system.
Blue Property: A parcel shown in blue on the Service Area map which the Board of Health has determined must connect to the sewer system upon its availability.
Section 4. Requirements to Connect to Municipal Sewer Upon Its Availability
A. The Board of Health has provided the Water and Sewer Board with a list and Service Area map and has designated each property as a Green, Yellow, Red, or Blue Property.
B. The Water and Sewer Board shall require a property within the Service Area identified as a Blue property to connect to the municipal sewer upon its availability if the owner of said property cannot demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Board of Health the existence of a Certified Title 5 Septic System and the owner cannot demonstrate that a septic system in compliance with 310 CMR 15.000 et seq. can be constructed, except that:
1. Variances to the requirements of setbacks from property lines, cellar walls and slab foundations, and swimming pools may be allowed for construction of a replacement system under the conditions stated in 310 CMR 15.410: Variances Standard of Review, after a public hearing before the Board of Health.
2. If the property is landward of the Velocity Zone as defined in 310 CMR 15.002 and in excess of 100 feet landward of the historic high water line, the property owner may avail themselves of the provisions for leaching-area reductions afforded any Alternative Septic System having Remedial Use Approval granted by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. In these situations, no reductions in the vertical separation to the high groundwater elevation shall be allowed.
Section 5. Option to Connect to the Town’s Sewer System. All owners of land in the Service Area identified by the Board of Health as a Red, Yellow, or Green Property on the Service Area map may, at the owner’s option, connect to the Town’s sewer system only if said owner notifies the Water and Sewer Board of the owner’s intent to connect therewith prior to commencement of final design and construction of said sewer system in compliance with the applicable procedure set forth below.
Section 6. Notification Procedures
A. The Board of Selectmen shall send a letter by certified mail to every owner of lots located within the Service Area. The Board of Selectmen shall also, 14 days after the mailing of the certified letters, cause (a) notice of the location, availability of the Service Area map, (b) a list of Blue Properties, (c) a list of Red, Yellow and Green Properties, and (d) notice of the opportunity for Red, Yellow and Green Properties to connect to the municipal sewer upon its availability, to be published in a newspaper of general circulation within the Town of Provincetown.
B. Blue Property. The notice sent to the property owner shall state that the Board of Health has determined that connection to the sewer system upon its availability is mandatory.
C. Yellow and Green Property. The notice sent to the property owner shall include a form on which the owner of said property shall indicate whether the owner intends to connect to the municipal sewer system upon its availability. If the Water and Sewer Board receives no response to the letter within thirty (30) days of the mailing thereof, such failure to respond shall (1) constitute the owner’s rejection of the opportunity to connect to the municipal sewer system and (2) said owner shall forfeit its right to connect to the Town’s sewer system pursuant to section 2 of Chapter 157 of the Acts of 2000.
The notice shall contain the following language:
"Failure to respond to this notice within 30 days of the mailing hereof shall constitute a rejection of the opportunity to connect to the municipal sewer upon its availability, and shall further constitute a forfeiture of the owner’s right to connect to the Town’s sewer system pursuant to section 2 of Chapter 157 of the Acts of 2000.
"Yellow and Green Property owners should be aware that if they choose not to connect to the municipal sewer system upon its availability, a strong possibility exists that due to the system’s limited capacity there will be no future opportunity to connect to the system.
The letter should also direct that the owner response form must be returned to the Water and Sewer Board at the Provincetown Town Hall.
D. Red Property. The Water and Sewer Board shall also send a letter to the Red Property owners which will include a form on which the owner of said property shall indicate whether the owner intends to connect to the municipal sewer system upon its availability. The letter will inform the owners of Red Properties that once the existing septic system fails, the owners will be required to connect to the Town’s sewer system. However, Red Property owners shall be given the option to connect to the sewer system upon its availability prior to the failure of the existing septic system.
The letter should also direct that the owner response form must be submitted to the Water and Sewer Board at the Provincetown Town Hall.
Section 7. Subsequent Connections
A. After commencement of operations of the sewer system, additional connections shall be permitted within the Service Area by the Water and Sewer Board, subject to available capacity, only upon certification by the Board of Health that:
1. The on-site subsurface sewage disposal system on land abutting upon a private or public way in which a common sewer has been laid cannot comply with the provisions of 310 CMR 15.000, et seq.
2. In the case of new construction, expansion of an existing structure, a change in use, or increases in flow from said land, such expansion, change in use, or increase in flow does not result in sewage flow in excess of the amount of Board of Health regulations flow capacity or actual flow resulting from a legal use of said land, whichever is greater, which existed on the effective date of this act as determined by the Board of Health.
B. Those owners of land within the Service Area abutting upon a private or public way in which a common sewer has been laid who choose to opt out of connection to the common sewer pursuant to Section 2 of Chapter 157 of the Acts of 2000, and who do not qualify for connection pursuant to Section 7(A), shall only be permitted to connect to the common sewer as capacity of the sewer system allows and at the sole discretion of the Water and Sewer Board in accordance with criteria as follows:
1. Property identified as Red Property on the final map of the Service Area may not connect to the municipal sewer until such time as the Board of Health determines that the septic system has failed. Such determination shall be verified by a Certified Septic System Inspector on a form approved by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection; or
2. Property identified as a Yellow and Green Property on the Service Area map who have opted not to connect to the municipal sewer pursuant to section 5 of these regulations, shall not be allowed connection to the municipal sewer in the future unless sufficient capacity for the municipality exists as determined by the Department of Environmental Protection.
C. In the event that the owner of any property identified as Green or Yellow Properties (where such property is located outside of the Service Area) desires to connect to the Town’s sewer system in the future, such request shall be made to the Water and Sewer Board. Pursuant to Section 2 of the Chapter 157 of the Acts of 2000, sewer service to such property will require an amendment to the Service Area map, after a public hearing and upon approval of the Department of Environmental Protection, and will be subject to available capacity within the sewer system.
D. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Chapter 157 of the Acts of 2000 or in these regulations, the Water and Sewer Board may at any time permit extensions, new connections or increases in flow to the sewer system, subject to capacity, to serve municipal buildings, public restrooms, laundromats, or, subject to approval of town meeting, other public service uses.
Section 8. Hearing Procedure. Any property owner who contests the property classification or any other determination made by the Water and Sewer Board pursuant to these regulations may appeal to the Water and Sewer Board and request a hearing prior to seeking judicial relief pursuant to Section 5 of Chapter 157 of the Acts of 2000. If the issue in such administrative appeal is whether the property in question was correctly classified, the Water and Sewer Board shall request that the Board of Health review the determination made with respect to such property and report its findings to the Water and Sewer Board. The Water and Sewer Board shall have no jurisdiction to determine whether the Board of Health’s classification was appropriate.
Section 9. Severability. If any provisions of this regulation or the application thereof are held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the invalidity shall be limited to said provision and the remainder of the regulation shall remain valid and effective. Any part of this regulation subsequently invalidated by state law shall automatically be brought into conformity with the new or amended law and shall be deemed effective immediately, without recourse to a public hearing.
Custodio J. Silva, Jr.
Chairman, Water & Sewer Board