Article 17 — Illicit Discharge and Illegal Connection Ordinance

The purpose of this ordinance is to protect the public health, safety, environment and general welfare through the regulation of non-stormwater discharges to the City of Lawrenceville’s separate storm sewer system to the maximum extent practicable as required by Federal law. This ordinance establishes methods for controlling the introduction of pollutants into the City of Lawrenceville’s separate storm sewer system in order to comply with requirements of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit process. The objectives of this ordinance are to:

The provisions of this ordinance shall apply throughout the incorporated area of the City of Lawrenceville.

This ordinance is not intended to modify or repeal any other ordinance, rule, regulation, or other provision of law. The requirements of this ordinance are in addition to the requirements of any other ordinance, rule, regulation, or other provision of law, and where any provision of this ordinance imposes restrictions different from those imposed by any other ordinance, rule, regulation, or other provision of law, whichever provision is more restrictive or imposes higher protective standards for human health or the environment shall control.

If the provisions of any section, subsection, paragraph, subdivision or clause of this ordinance shall be adjudged invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, such judgment shall not affect or invalidate the remainder of any section, subsection, paragraph, subdivision or clause of this ordinance.

The City of Lawrenceville’s Director of Planning and Zoning or his designated representative shall administer, oversee and enforce the provisions of this Ordinance. In addition, the City of Lawrenceville’s Water Department shall have the authority to oversee and enforce the provisions of this Ordinance.

which occurs by chance and without planning or thought prior to occurrence.

employees and/or representatives.

facility designed or used for collecting and/or conveying stormwater, including but not limited to any roads with drainage systems, highways, streets, curbs, gutters, inlets, catch basins, piped storm drains, pumping facilities, structural stormwater controls, ditches, swales, natural and man-made or altered drainage channels, reservoirs, and other drainage structures, and which is:

U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.), and any subsequent amendments thereto.

and Sedimentation Control Act or NPDES General Construction Permits. These include construction projects resulting in land disturbance. Such activities include but are not limited to clearing and grubbing, grading, excavating, and demolition.

Zoning Department or his or her designated representative.

to the City of Lawrenceville’s separate storm sewer system, except as exempted in Section 3 of this ordinance.

Permits as defined in 40 CFR, Section 122.26 (b)(14).

Stormwater Discharge Permit means a permit issued by the Georgia EPD under authority delegated pursuant to 33 USC § 1342(b) that authorizes the discharge of pollutants to waters of the United States, whether the permit is applicable on an individual, group, or general area-wide basis.

system that is not composed entirely of stormwater.

individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, city, county or other political subdivision of the State, any interstate body or any other legal entity.

Planning and Zoning Department.

Pollutants may include, but are not limited to: paints, varnishes, and solvents; petroleum hydrocarbons; automotive fluids; cooking grease;

detergents (biodegradable or otherwise); degreasers; cleaning chemicals;

non-hazardous liquid and solid wastes and yard wastes; refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter, or other discarded or abandoned objects and accumulations, so that same may cause or contribute to pollution;

floatables; pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers; liquid and solid wastes;

sewage, fecal coliform and pathogens; dissolved and particulate metals;

animal wastes; wastes and residues that result from constructing a building or structure; concrete and cement; and noxious or offensive matter of any kind.

physical, chemical or biological properties by the addition of any constituent and includes but is not limited to, a change in temperature, taste, color, turbidity, or odor of such waters, or the discharge of any liquid, gaseous, solid, radioactive, or other substance into any such waters as will or is likely to create a nuisance or render such waters harmful, detrimental or injurious to the public health, safety, welfare, or environment, or to domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational, or other legitimate beneficial uses, or to livestock, wild animals, birds, fish or other aquatic life.

whether improved or unimproved including adjacent sidewalks and parking strips.

reservoirs, ponds, drainage systems, springs, wells, and other bodies of surface and subsurface water, natural or artificial, lying within or forming a part of the boundaries of the State of Georgia which are not entirely confined and retained completely upon the property of a single person.

and drainage consisting entirely of water from any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation.

management facility or device that controls stormwater runoff and changes the characteristics of that runoff including, but not limited to, the quantity and quality, the period of release or the velocity of flow.

Department.

Board of Appeals

No person shall throw, drain, or otherwise discharge, cause, or allow others under its control to throw, drain, or otherwise discharge into the City of Lawrenceville’s separate storm sewer system any pollutants or waters containing any pollutants, other than stormwater.

The following discharges are exempt from the prohibition provision above:

The construction, connection, use, maintenance or continued existence of any illegal connection to the City of Lawrenceville’s separate storm sewer system is prohibited.

Any person subject to an industrial or construction activity NPDES stormwater discharge permit shall comply with all provisions of such permit. Proof of compliance with said permit may be required in a form acceptable to the Director prior to allowing discharges to the City of Lawrenceville’s separate storm sewer system.

The Water Department’s employees and/or representatives, in addition to the Director, shall be permitted to enter and inspect properties and facilities at reasonable times as often as may be necessary to determine compliance with this ordinance.

proper identification and clearance before entry into its premises, the owner or operator shall make the necessary arrangements to allow access to representatives of the Water Department and/or the Director.

and/or representatives, in addition to the Director, access to all parts of the premises for the purposes of inspection, sampling, photography, videotaping, examination and copying of any records that are required under the conditions of an NPDES permit to discharge stormwater.

any property or facility such devices as are necessary to conduct monitoring and/or sampling of flow discharges.

operator to install monitoring equipment and perform monitoring as necessary, and make the monitoring data available to them. This sampling and monitoring equipment shall be maintained at all times in a safe and proper operating condition by the owner or operator at his/her own expense. All devices used to measure flow and quality shall be calibrated to ensure their accuracy.

property or facility to be inspected and/or sampled shall be promptly removed by the owner or operator at the written or oral request of the Water Department and/or the Director and shall not be replaced. The costs of clearing such access shall be borne by the owner or operator.

this ordinance.

Zoning Department have been refused access to any part of the premises from which stormwater is discharged, and the Water Department and/or the Planning and Zoning Department is able to demonstrate probable cause to believe that there may be a violation of this ordinance, or that there is a need to inspect and/or sample as part of a routine inspection and sampling program designed to verify compliance with this ordinance or any order issued hereunder, or to protect the overall public health, safety, environment and welfare of the community, then representatives of the Water Department and/or the Director may seek issuance of a search warrant from any court of competent jurisdiction.

Notwithstanding other requirements of law, as soon as any person responsible for a facility, activity or operation, or responsible for emergency response for a facility, activity or operation has information of any known or suspected release of pollutants or non-stormwater discharges from that facility or operation which are resulting or may result in illicit discharges or pollutants discharging into stormwater, the City of Lawrenceville’s separate storm sewer system, State Waters, or Waters of the U.S., said person shall take all necessary steps to ensure the discovery, containment, and cleanup of such release so as to minimize the effects of the discharge.

Said person shall notify the authorized enforcement agency in person or by phone, facsimile or in person no later than twenty-four (24) hours of the nature, quantity and time of occurrence of the discharge. Notifications in person or by phone shall be confirmed by written notice addressed and mailed to the Director within three

In the event of such a release of hazardous materials, emergency response agencies and/or other appropriate agencies shall be immediately notified.

Failure to provide notification of a release as provided above is a violation of this ordinance.

It shall be unlawful for any person to violate any provision or fail to comply with any of the requirements of this Ordinance. Any person who has violated or continues to violate the provisions of this Ordinance may be subject to the enforcement actions outlined in this section or may be restrained by injunction or otherwise abated in a manner provided by law.

In the event the violation constitutes an immediate danger to public health or public safety, the City of Lawrenceville, via any of its departments, agents, employees and/or representatives, is authorized to enter upon the subject private property, without giving prior notice, to take any and all measures necessary to abate the violation and/or restore the property. The City of Lawrenceville is authorized to seek costs of the abatement as outlined in Section 17.7.5.

Whenever the Director finds that a violation of this ordinance has occurred, he or she may order compliance by written notice of violation.

Upon receipt of an owner or operator’s Notice of Appeal pursuant to Section 17.7.2(1)(f), the Director may then reverse his decision or affirm the decision by forwarding the written notice of appeal to the Zoning Board of Appeals. A notice of appeal shall state the specific reasons why the decision is alleged to be in error, and the Director shall prepare and send to the Zoning Board of Appeals and the appellant a written response to such notice of appeal within thirty (30) working days of his receipt of the notice of appeal.

All appeals shall be heard by the Zoning Board of Appeals under their normal course of business procedures. The hearing shall be within forty-five (45) business days after receipt of the Director’s written response to such notice of appeal. The Department of Planning and Zoning shall certify the Zoning Board of Appeals’ decision within thirty (30) days after the applicable decision.

The concurring vote of three (3) members of the Zoning Board of Appeals shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision or determination of the Director.

Any party who is dissatisfied with the decision of the Zoning Board of Appeals may appeal to any court of competent jurisdiction within thirty

If the violation has not been corrected pursuant to the requirements set forth in the Notice of Violation, or, in the event of an appeal, within fifteen (15) days of the decision of the Board of Appeals upholding the decision of the Director, then the City of Lawrenceville, via any of its departments, agents, employees and/or representatives, may enter upon the subject private property and are authorized to take any and all measures necessary to abate the violation and/or restore the property. It shall be unlawful for any person, owner, agent or person in possession of any premises to refuse to allow the City of Lawrenceville or its designated agent(s) to enter upon the premises for the purposes set forth above.

Within thirty (30) days after abatement of the violation, the owner of the property will be notified of the cost of abatement, including administrative costs. The property owner may file a written protest objecting to the assessment or to the amount of the assessment within fifteen (15) days of such notice. If the amount due is not paid within thirty (30) days after receipt of the notice, or if an appeal is taken, within thirty (30) days after a decision on said appeal, the charges shall become a special assessment against the property and shall constitute a lien on the property for the amount of the assessment.

Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall become liable to the City of Lawrenceville by reason of such violation.

In the event the alleged violator fails to take the remedial measures set forth in the notice of violation or otherwise fails to cure the violations described therein within 15 days, or such greater period as the Director shall deem appropriate, after the City of Lawrenceville has taken one or more of the actions described above, the Director may impose a penalty not to exceed $1,000 (depending on the severity of the violation) for each day the violation remains unremedied after receipt of the notice of violation.

For intentional and flagrant violations of this ordinance, the City of Lawrenceville Police Department, upon a showing of probable cause that such a violation has occurred, may issue a citation to the alleged violator requiring such person to appear in the City of Lawrenceville Municipal Court to answer charges for such violation. Upon conviction, such person shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $1,000 or imprisonment for 60 days or both. Each act of violation and each day upon which any violation shall occur shall constitute a separate offense.

In addition to the enforcement processes and penalties provided, any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any of the provisions of this ordinance is a threat to public health, safety, welfare, and environment and is declared and deemed a nuisance, and may be abated by injunctive or other equitable relief as provided by law.

The remedies listed in this ordinance are not exclusive of any other remedies available under any applicable Federal, State or local law and the City of Lawrenceville and any of its departments may seek cumulative remedies.

The City of Lawrenceville may recover attorney’s fees, court costs, and other expenses associated with enforcement of this ordinance, including sampling and monitoring expenses.