City to educate public about pipes

Barbara Diamond

City officials are considering an ordinance to root out problems in

the sewer system -- at the expense of private property owners.

The council gave five nods on Tuesday -- but did not vote -- for

an “awareness program” to make private property owners aware of

deficiencies in the laterals -- the pipes from kitchens, bathrooms

and laundries to the city mains. Council members also reached

consensus on a fine schedule for negligent disregard of the

notifications that causes spills, and a requirement to videotape and

report on the condition of laterals in remodels that must have design

review.

Voting was postponed until next month, when a revised ordinance

will come back to the council.

Although the proposed ordinance most affects private property

owners -- they own the laterals, and repairs can be costly -- only

three members of the general public spoke at the meeting.

“People who bought homes here a long time ago cannot afford these

repairs or fines,” Gene Atherton said. “The city has the obligation

to finance this.”

Realtors were at the meeting in abundance to urge the council to

delete a staff recommendation to require a video inspection and

report on the condition of laterals when a property is sold. More

than 20 Realtors attended, but only a few spoke during the 16-minutes

of public comment in the one-hour-and-10-minute hearing.

“We don’t want to be the bad guys here,” Realtor David Schaar

said. “We just disagree with the point-of-sale requirement.”

The council delayed the requirement for at least a year.

“This is kind of an reward system,” Mayor Cheryl Kinsman said.

“You came down, and you didn’t take too long -- so you get rewarded.

We will review the ordinance in a year and see how it goes.”

The Laguna Board of Realtors offered $5,000 to help the city

educate the public about the proposed ordinance, which was made a

priority by the council on Tuesday.

“I still run into people who don’t know anything about it,”

Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson said.

The proposal is to notify owners of private homes, multi-unit

residences, businesses and remodels that require design review, of

problems discovered during city sewer projects. The notices would

include a list of qualified plumbers with whom the city will work to

ensure no concentration of clean-outs or repairs that could do more

harm than good.

“If we frighten people into running out and cleaning their

laterals [at one time], all the mains in the city would be clogged,”

Councilwoman Toni Iseman said, warning against untended consequences

of well-intentioned decisions.

Roots pushed out of private laterals during cleaning into city

mains are the major cause of spills in here, said David Shissler,

director of the Water Quality Department.

Property owners would have a 180-day grace period after

notification to make a “good faith” effort to make their laterals

functional. Routine cleaning is an acceptable effort, although the

water quality staff recommends permanent repairs as the best

approach.

Notified owner of nonfunctioning laterals that cause spills could

be fined maximums from $10-per-gallon of spill all the way up to

$10,000 for a beach closure.

Councilman Steve Dicterow included changes in the proposed

ordinance to make it clear that no fines would be imposed unless the

property owner was properly notified of problems.

The revised ordinance is scheduled to come back to the council at

the July 20 meeting. A second reading of the ordinance would be

scheduled and, if approved, go into effect 30 days later. The program

would officially start Jan. 1.