City of Snohomish
Excerpt from Snohomish Stormwater Ordinance
15.16.070 Construction and Maintenance of Stormwater Facilities
All stormwater facilities required under this chapter shall be constructed and maintained as set forth in the Stormwater Manual and the permits and/or approvals of the City.
Maintenance of private stormwater facilities.
- The person or persons holding title to the property and the applicant required to construct a stormwater facility shall remain responsible for the facility’s continual performance, operation, and maintenance in accordance with the standards and requirements of the Stormwater Manual, this chapter, and the permits and/or approvals of the City and shall remain responsible for any liability as a result of these duties. Language designating the responsible parties shall be printed on the face of the plat documents. The requirements of this subsection B shall apply to all new facilities constructed in the City.
- The City shall have authority to periodically enter upon the property and inspect the facilities to ensure such compliance and to issue orders requiring maintenance and/or repair. In event that the titleholders or other responsible parties do not effect such maintenance and/or repairs, the City may perform such work, and the cost thereof shall be recoverable by the City from said titleholders or other responsible parties and/or by filing a lien against the property.
- When an inspection identifies an exceedance of the maintenance standard, maintenance shall be performed in accordance with the following schedule:
- Within 1 year for typical maintenance of facilities, except catch basins.
- Within 6 months for typical maintenance.
- Within 2 years for maintenance that requires capital construction of less than $25,000.
15.16.100 Administration, Inspection and Fees
- This chapter shall be primarily administered by the Director of Public Works or a designee, hereafter referred to as the Director, with the cooperation and assistance of the Department of Planning and Development Services. The Director of Public Works and the Director of Planning and Development Services shall have the authority to develop and implement administrative procedures to administer and enforce this chapter.
- The Director may approve, conditionally approve, or deny activities regulated by this chapter.
- The Director is authorized to gain access to private property as provided by law and in this chapter, to make such inspections of stormwater facilities or source control BMPs, and take such actions as may be required to enforce the provisions of this chapter.
- Inspection prior to clearing and construction will apply to sites with a high potential for sediment damage, as identified by the applicant during civil review based on definitions and requirements of Appendix 7 of the Western Washington Phase II Municipal Stormwater permit.
- Whenever necessary to make an inspection to enforce any of the provisions of this chapter or to monitor for proper function of stormwater facilities, or whenever the Director has reasonable cause to believe that violations of this chapter are present or operating on a subject property or portion thereof, the Director or a designee may enter such premises at all reasonable times to inspect the same or perform any duty imposed upon the Director by this chapter; provided, that if such premises or portion thereof is occupied, the Director shall first make a reasonable effort to locate the owner or other person having charge or control of the premises or portion thereof and request entry. If after reasonable effort, the inspector is unable to locate the owner or other person having charge or control of the premises or portion thereof and has reason to believe an imminent hazard exists, the inspector may enter.
- Property owners shall provide proper ingress and egress to any stormwater facility to the Director or a designee to inspect, monitor, or perform any duty imposed upon the Director by this chapter. The Director shall notify the responsible party in writing of failure to comply with this access requirement. Failing to obtain a response within seven (7) days from the receipt of notification, the Director may order the work required completed or otherwise address the cause of improper access. The obligation for the payment of all costs that may be incurred or expended by the City in causing such work to be done shall thereby be imposed on the person holding title to the subject property and/or imposed against the subject property by filing a lien.
Fees for all reviews, inspections, permits and/or approvals, and appeals, which are set forth in this chapter, shall be set by resolution of the City Council. (Ord. 2440, 2022)
Additional Resources
City of Snohomish Municipal Code
City of Snohomish Stormwater Website
