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City of Clearwater

The City of Clearwater has enacted a Stormwater Ordinance in order to establish minimum stormwater management requirements and controls to protect and safeguard the general health, safety, and welfare of the public residing in watersheds within this jurisdiction. The City of Clearwater 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 Clearwater will only provide construction permits to projects that establish a plan to manage stormwater runoff occurring during the construction process. The City of Clearwater, 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. Property owners are responsible for the maintenance of any stormwater facilities or practices located on the property. The City of Clearwater has the authority to inspect stormwater facilities and practices in order to ascertain that they are properly maintained and functioning.

Stormwater Fee

Non-residential shall be charged on the basis of the impervious area of the property in accordance with the following:

Calculate ERU

ERU=Total amount of impervious area (Sq. Feet) divided by 1830 (Sq. Feet).

A minimum value of 1.0 ERU shall be assigned to each non-residential property. ERU’s shall be rounded to the nearest tenth (0.1) of a unit.

ERU – (Equivalent residential unit) shall mean the statistical average impervious area for residential parcels within the city. The numerical value of one ERU shall be 1830 square feet of impervious area

Impervious Area means that a part of any parcel of land that has been modified in a manner which results in the reduction of the land’s natural ability to absorb and hold rainfall, including but not limiting any area which has been paved, graveled or compacted, or covered with a structure. The term excludes uncovered areas such as lawns, landscape areas, gardens, farming areas or stormwater pond areas.

The ERU value will be multiplied by the rate of $14.15. This will be the monthly stormwater fee. (For example, a property with 2660 square feet of impervious area would pay $28.30 every month)

Illicit discharges.

(1) General prohibitions. Except as provided in subsection (3) or as may be in accordance with a valid NPDES permit, any discharge to the stormwater system that is not composed entirely of stormwater is prohibited.

(2) Specific prohibitions. Any discharge to the stormwater system containing any sewage, industrial waste or other waste materials, or containing any materials in violation of federal, state, county, municipal, or other laws, rules, regulations, orders or permits, is prohibited.

(3) Authorized exceptions. The following discharges are exempt from the general prohibition set forth in subsection (1) of this section: Flows from firefighting, water line flushing and other contributions from potable water sources, landscape irrigation and lawn watering, irrigation water, diverted stream flows, rising groundwaters, direct infiltration to the stormwater system, uncontaminated pumped groundwater, foundation and footing drains, water from crawl space pumps, air conditioning condensation, springs, individual residential car washings, and flows from riparian habitats and wetlands.

(4) Illicit connections. No person may maintain, use or establish any direct or indirect connection to the stormwater system that results in any discharge in violation of this section. This prohibition applies to connections made prior to the effective date of this article, regardless of whether made under a permit, or other authorization, or whether permissible under laws or practices applicable or prevailing at the time the connection was made.

Spills and dumping.

As soon as any person has knowledge of any discharge to the stormwater system in violation of this article, such person shall immediately notify the City Environmental Management Group (EMG) by telephone, and if such person is directly or indirectly responsible for such discharge, then such person shall also take immediate action to ensure the containment and clean-up of such discharge and shall confirm such telephone notification in writing to the EMG within three calendar days.

Inspections and monitoring.

(1) Authority for inspections. Whenever necessary to make an inspection to enforce any of the provisions of this article, or regulation or permit issued hereunder, or whenever an authorized official has reasonable cause to believe there exists any condition constituting a violation of any of the provisions of this article, or regulation or permit issued hereunder, any authorized official may enter any property, building or facility at any reasonable time to inspect the same or to perform any duty related to enforcement of the provisions of this article or any regulations or permits issued hereunder; provided that (1) if such property, building or facility is occupied, such authorized official shall first present proper credentials and request permission to enter, and (2) if such property, building or facility is unoccupied, such authorized official shall make a reasonable effort to locate the owner or other person having charge or control of the property, building or facility, and shall request permission to enter. Any request for permission to enter made hereunder shall state that the owner or person in control has the right to refuse entry, and that in such event that entry is refused, the authorized official may enter to make inspection only upon issuance of a search warrant by a duly authorized magistrate. If the owner or person in control refuses permission to enter after such request has been made, the authorized official is hereby authorized to seek assistance from any court of competent jurisdiction in obtaining entry. Routine or area-wide inspections shall be based upon such reasonable selection processes as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this article, including but not limited to random sampling and sampling in areas with evidence of stormwater contamination, non-stormwater discharges, or similar factors.

(2) Authority for monitoring and sampling. Any authorized official may install and maintain such devices as are necessary to conduct sampling or metering of discharges to the stormwater system. During any inspections made to enforce the provisions of this article, or regulations or permits issued hereunder, any authorized official may take any samples deemed necessary.

(3) Requirements for monitoring. The director may require any person engaging in any activity or owning any property, building or facility (including but not limited to a site of industrial activity) to undertake such reasonable monitoring of any discharge to the stormwater system and to furnish periodic reports.