Grover Beach city officials are considering changing the local municipal code to get rid of a sewage annoyance.
At its July 24 meeting, the Grover Beach City Council discussed repealing an ordinance to set a citywide requirement for residences and businesses to connect to the city sewer system. Once adopted, the ordinance would require 115 properties still using septic tanks to switch to the sewer in two years.
City Attorney David Hale told the City Council that case law in California references a public agency’s ability to use police power to enforce the transition from septic tanks to the sewer system because of the former’s potential for groundwater contamination.
“They’re much more susceptible to polluting the aquifer, to the extent that an agency defines, as we have within this ordinance, that septics are a public nuisance,” Hale said. “We can implement these ordinances for the most part when we have the basis to do so.”
The majority of the properties that would need to make the switch are south of Farroll Road—an area that wasn’t included in city’s sewer system when the City Council adopted the current sewer ordinance in 1965. It was left out because most of the land was privately owned at the time and wasn’t yet subdivided and developed. Instead, property owners treated their wastewater with private septic tanks and leach field systems under far more lenient standards, especially since this was before the adoption of the state Water Resources Control Board’s policy for on-site wastewater treatment.
Growing concerns about groundwater contamination due to the age of the private septic tanks prompted Grover Beach to include everyone in its city sewer plan. Between 2009 and 2020, the city spent $1.8 million to construct new sewer mains in the region south of Farroll Road.
But making the switch is expensive for property owners. For a residence, the total cost for a three-fourths of an inch water meter connection—which includes a series of impact fees and hiring a contractor for septic tank abandonment and sewer connection—falls between $15,000 and $20,000 as a one-time fee. To buy property owners more time to meet those costs, city staff recommended extending the deadline to connect by two years. Moreover, 35 of 115 properties using septic tanks don’t have a city sewer line within 200 feet that would connect to the Grover Beach sewer system. Those properties can wait until the city builds another sewer main meant to serve them.
But the price point troubled one Grover Beach resident.
“It’s like extortion, we’re being told we have to do it. If you guys are going to pay for it, that’s cool with me … but it’s coming out of my pocket,” resident Randall Myrick said during the public comment period. “If we don’t have the money now, what makes you think we’d have it two years from now?”
Residents and businesses worried about financial hardships may be able to get grant funding to cover some of the costs. Deputy City Manager Kristin Eriksson told New Times on Aug. 2 that the city is looking into a state grant called the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. That grant has $350 million set aside for septic-to-sewer projects.
Once the remaining properties connect to the city sewers, the existing septic tanks can be abandoned by filling them with gravel. A representative from the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board also mentioned that property owners who wanted to continue using their septic tanks could apply for a permit with them. But Grover Beach officials aren’t concerned about this possible loophole.
“Staff is not concerned about property owners applying to [the board] for a permit as [the board] would require that applicants meet the requirements of the [the board’s] Onsite Wastewater Treatment System Policy, which would ultimately lead to the same outcome as compliance with the city’s proposed sewer ordinance,” Eriksson said. Δ
This article appears in Aug 3-13, 2023.