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Water meter ordinance could undergo changes in NBBy Barbara Brown The outside water meter ordinance in the city of North Branch may differentiate between detached and attached housing after a local developer petitioned to change the ordinance on water meters for new construction. Larry Beach, who is building a townhouse project called Wildridge North Pointe, told the council the meter installation as required by the city would cost thousands of dollars for just a few hundred gallons of water. Beachís development, planned on 384th Trail, will have a centralized irrigation system to water lawns on the property that will be maintained by the neighborhoodís home owners association. He said that line would have an outside meter. An outside meter, or irrigation meter as it is called in the cityís ordinance, measures the amount of water used from faucets outside the home. Homeowners are charged a volume rate for water that returns to the cityís sewer treatment system. They are not charged the rate for water used outside the house that does not return to the sewer system. Beach said it would cost his company $15,000 to install outside water meters on each of the 64 townhouses planned in the development. Instead, he asked the city to charge the owners of those houses the volume sewer charge for water used at their residences to wash their cars or water flower beds. ìThe amount of water they will use will cost one or two dollars a year and that does not justify, to me, $15,000 to install the meters,î he said. The cityís ordinance says that any new construction must have permanent outside meters on buildings attached to the cityís water system. Permanent meters, which cost about $240 each, are available for free to home owners whose houses were built before the ordinance was developed because they require plumbing work to be done in the home. Temporary meters also are available, but cost about $75 according to city rules. The meters are available through the Municipal Water and Light. The city, in 1998, developed the outside meter ordinance to avoid running the water system at a deficit. Previously, water bills for the year were based on usage in January, February and March. However, some residents leave the city during the winter months and others use much more water in the summer than in the winter. Residents use more water, overall, during the spring and summer months due to lawn watering and car washing. After some discussion, the council decided to allow attorney Tom Miller and City Administrator Joe Lynch to work on changing the ordinance to better address different construction practices. Also during the meeting, the council approved a new promissory note for property purchased from Carroll and Sharalyn Olson. The city discovered it needed about 4 more acres of the Olsonís property to do the Golden Avenue project, said finance director Dave Stutelberg. Seventy-five feet of that purchase will be added to the Anderson Windows project in the North Branch Industrial Park. He told the council that the Olsonís and the city worked out a new promissory note that needed council approval. The council voted unanimously to accept the note. The council also: ©ECM Post Review |