City of Anderson

The City of Anderson has adopted the Stormwater Management Ordinance of City of Anderson, South Carolina in order to ensure the protection, maintenance and enhancement of water quality and the environment of City of Anderson and the short-term and long-term public health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of City of Anderson. The ordinance also directed the development of a Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP) to provide procedures for the City of Anderson to follow in the future. The City of Anderson is the permitting authority for all land disturbing activities and requires the land owner to maintain all on-site stormwater control facilities and all open space areas (e.g. parks or “green” areas) required by the approved stormwater control plan. The City of Anderson will only provide construction permits to projects that establish a plan to manage stormwater runoff occurring during the construction process. Post-construction stormwater regulations will also be enforced and stormwater fees will be collected and calculated by the City of Anderson. The City of Anderson, under the NPDES program, also has the authority to inspect properties for noncompliance and can issue a notice of violation (NOV) for any deficiency or infraction onsite.

Stormwater Management Ordinance

Sec. 3.6 Ownership and the City of Anderson Participation

1. Property owners and Lessees are responsible for maintaining stormwater quantity and quality facilities and all conveyance structures located on their property. Prior to the issuance of a Land Disturbance Permit, the property owner shall execute a legal document entitled “Covenants for Permanent Maintenance of Stormwater Systems”, or the lessee shall execute a legal document entitled “Covenants for Maintenance of Stormwater Systems on Leased Property” (“the Covenants”). The property owner or the lessee, as the case may be, shall record the Covenants in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Anderson County. The location of the facility, the recorded location of the Covenants document, and a note stating the property owner’s or Lessee’s responsibility shall be shown on a plat, or in the case of a Lessee, as an exhibit attached to the Lessee’s Covenants, that is also recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Anderson County. In the case of a lessee, the property owner shall be named on any Covenant and be required to conduct maintenance activities upon the termination of a lease agreement.
2. The property owner or lessee shall grant to City of Anderson a perpetual non-exclusive, transferable easement from a public street that allows for public inspection and emergency repair of all components of the drainage system, including all conveyances and all water quantity and quality control facilities. At the request of the City Manager or his designee, the property owner or lessee shall grant to the City of Anderson necessary and appropriate right-of-ways.
3. The City of Anderson shall own and maintain all drainage system components that are constructed under or collect stormwater runoff from a City-owned road.
4. Stormwater quantity and quality control facilities shall be located so that required easements can be effectively used and ownership and maintenance responsibility can be clearly defined in deeds and plats.
5. The City of Anderson shall reserve the right to accept or decline ownership and maintenance of all or part of a stormwater system.
6. The Covenants shall specify minimum maintenance requirements to be performed at necessary intervals by the property owner or lessee, as the case may be.
7. If a facility or any portion of the stormwater system is not being maintained as required, the City Manager or his designee will notify the property owner or Lessee, as the case may be, in writing. If property owner or Lessee, as the case may be, fails to repair or maintain the facility within the allotted time, the City Manager or his designee may authorize the work to be performed by the City or others. In such cases, the property owner or Lessee, as the case may be, shall reimburse the City for its direct and related expenses. If the property owner or Lessee, as the case may be, fails to reimburse the City, the City is authorized to file a lien for said costs against the property or the Lessee’s leasehold interest, as the case may be, and to enforce the lien by judicial foreclosure proceedings. The allotted time for repair or maintenance shall be a minimum of ninety (90) days, except in the case of public safety. Appeals in this case must be filed within thirty (30) days of notice.
8. A property owner or lessee may hire or contract others to perform necessary maintenance actions, but the City of Anderson will hold the person named in the Covenants as the responsible party should legal actions described in (g) be necessary.
9. When the City of Anderson through the City Manager or his duly appointed designees determines that additional storage capacity or pollution reduction beyond that required by the applicant for on-site stormwater management is necessary in order to enhance or provide for the public health, safety and general welfare, to correct unacceptable or undesirable existing conditions or to provide protection in a more desirable fashion for future development, the City of Anderson may:
   1. Require that the applicant grant any necessary and reasonable easements over, through or under the applicant’s property to provide access to or drainage for such a facility;
   2. Require that the applicant attempt to obtain from the owners of property over, through or under where the stormwater management facility is to be located, any easements necessary and reasonable for the construction and maintenance of same (and failing the obtaining of such easement the City of Anderson may, at its option, assist in such matter by purchase, condemnation, dedication or otherwise with any cost incurred thereby to be paid by the Applicant);
   3. To implement the provision of additional stormwater control, both the City of Anderson and the developer must be in agreement with the proposed facility that includes the additional storage or treatment capacity.
10. The owner of a facility that:
    1. Has been previously permitted by a different government or agency and
    2. Has a recorded Covenant for permanent maintenance of the stormwater system (issued by the governing agency)

May be required by the City of Anderson to continue operating and maintaining the facility under the existing legally binding contract.

Sec. 3.7 Maintenance, Construction, Inspection, and Notice of Termination (NOT)

Maintenance of the stormwater management system is critical for the achievement of its purpose of controlling stormwater runoff quantity and quality and the short-term and long-term public health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of the City of Anderson.

1. A permanent maintenance plan for the stormwater management system shall be included in the Land Disturbance Permit Application (grading permit). As part of the maintenance plan, the property owner or lessee of such facility shall specifically agree to be responsible for permanent maintenance. In order to transfer maintenance responsibility, a letter of acceptance by the new owner(s) accepting permanent maintenance responsibility shall be field with the City of Anderson.

DIVISION 6 MONITORING AND INSPECTIONS

Sec. 6.2 Inspections.

1. The City Manager or his designee, bearing proper credentials and identification, may enter and inspect all properties for regular inspections, periodic investigations, monitoring, observation measurement, enforcement, sampling and testing, to effectuate the provisions of this ordinance and the SWMP programs. The City Manager or his designee shall duly notify the owner of said property or the representative on site and the inspection shall be conducted at reasonable times.
2. Upon refusal by any property owner to permit an inspector to enter or continue an inspection, the inspector shall terminate the inspection or confine the inspection to areas concerning which no objection is raised. The City Manager or his designee shall document the refusal and the grounds for such and promptly seek appropriate compulsory process.
3. In the event that the City Manager or his designee reasonably believes that discharges from the property into the City of Anderson MS4 may cause an imminent and substantial threat to human health or the environment, the inspection may take place at any time and without notice to the owner of the property or a representative on site. The inspector shall present proper credentials upon reasonable request by the owner or representative.
4. Inspection reports should be maintained in a permanent file located in the Public Works Department’s office or storage facility or such other location as may be determined and directed by the City Manager.

DIVISION 7 ENFORCEMENT, PENALTIES, AND ABATEMENT

Sec. 7.1 Enforcement

1. When the City Manager or his designee determines that an owner has failed to maintain a stormwater management facility, written NOV shall be provided to the owner or the person in possession, charge or control of such property stating the nature of the violation, the amount of time in which to correct deficiencies, the date on which an inspection will be made to make sure that corrective action has been performed, and the proposed penalty structure if corrective action is not taken. It shall be sufficient notification to deliver the notice to the person to whom it is addressed, or to deposit a copy of such in the United States Mail, properly stamped, certified and addressed to the address used for tax purposes. The NOV may address the entire site or a specific portion of the site so as not to unduly impede the development of areas being managed for the control of stormwater runoff and associated pollutants.
2. When the City Manager or his designee determines that an owner of any property is causing or partially causing flooding, erosion, or non-compliance with water quality standards or this Ordinance, upon providing reasonable proof of such impacts, the City Manager or his designee can require owners to remove the proven impact in a concerted, prudent manner. A written NOV shall be issued to the owner containing the information stated above. Following the issuance of the NOV and due process, the City Manager or his designee is hereby given the authority to levy fines as described in this section.
3. The City of Anderson or its duly appointed designee including the City attorney may hereby directed to take all legal actions necessary to correct situations described in (a) and (b), including actions that are necessary to remove from the property such objectionable conditions constituting non-compliance with this Ordinance.
4. Nothing contained in this Ordinance shall impair the right or ability of the City of Anderson to exercise any and all other remedies available, of-law or in equity, including without limitation, the pursuit of injunctive relief, under emergency circumstances where there exists the danger of bodily injury or death.
5. The City of Anderson through the City Manager or its duly appointed designee may obtain injunctive relief to enjoin violations of the provisions of this Ordinance, and any person damaged as a result of such violations may, upon a proper showing of such damages, obtain payment therefore by a civil action.
6. This Ordinance may be enforced by the City of Anderson by way of any other available remedy of law or equity, to include the authorities and powers conferred to local governments by the General Assembly of South Carolina. The penalties and other remedies provided in this Ordinance are cumulative and not exclusive, and may be independently and separately pursued against the same person for the activity constituting a violation of this Ordinance. The enforcement of any remedy provided herein shall not prevent the enforcement of any other remedy or remedies in other provisions of this Code or other laws and regulations.
7. The City of Anderson shall provide due process into the enforcement of violations so as to provide owners, lessee, and other responsible parties the abilities to resolve said violations in a timely matter before facing fines and civil and criminal penalties. It is the intent of this Ordinance that violators be given appropriate due processes.

Sec. 7.2 Civil Penalties

Any person violating any provision of this ordinance shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than five hundred dollars ($500) for each violation. Each separate day of violation, constitutes a new and separate violation.

Sec. 7.3 Additional Legal Measures

1. Where the City of Anderson is fined and/or placed under a compliance schedule by the state or federal government for a violation(s) of its NPDES permit, and the City of Anderson can identify the person(s) who caused such violation(s) to occur, the City of Anderson may pass the penalty and cost of compliance to that person(s).
2. The City of Anderson may institute injunctive, mandamus or other appropriate action or proceedings at law or equity, including criminal conviction, for the enforcement of this Ordinance or to correct violations of this Ordinance, and any court of competent jurisdiction shall have the right to issue restraining orders, temporary or permanent injunctions, mandamus or other appropriate forms of remedy or relief.

Sec. 7.4 Criminal Penalties

In addition to any applicable civil penalties, any person who negligently, willfully or intentionally violates any provision of this Ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished within the jurisdictional limits of municipal court. Each day of a violation shall constitute a new and separate offense.

Sect. 7.5 Corrective Action

In the event a violation of this Ordinance has not been corrected within the applicable time period for correction, City of Anderson, or its designee (including contractors), may enter upon the lot or parcel of land and correct the violation, and the costs incurred as a result of such action (including but not limited to inspection, administration, labor, material, disposal and equipment costs) shall be collected from the bond, if in place and sufficient to cover such costs, or shall become a lien upon the property and shall be collected in the same manner as the City of Anderson taxes are collected.

Stormwater Management Utility Fee

Sec. 3-7. Billing of stormwater management utility fee.

The stormwater management utility fee may be billed monthly to users on a combined utility system bill. Non-payment may result in termination of all utility services, including of water, sewer, stormwater management, or outside fire service protection. Where a user does not have a utility account, the property owner will be billed separately on a regular cycle. Owners of vacant dwelling units and owners of unimproved real estate will likewise be billed on a regular cycle. The storm water management utility fee may also be billed on the annual tax notice and, any bill remaining unpaid for thirty (30) days after mailing shall constitute a lien upon the property, collectible in the same manner as taxes assessed against such property.

Anderson Stormwater Documents

Anderson County Stormwater Management Ordinance

Anderson County Stormwater Department

Anderson County SWMP