VERO BEACH — The City Council voted Tuesday night to schedule a public hearing on an ordinance that would require septic tank inspections and provide for a cost-effective way for residents with septic tanks to hook up to sewer service.
The goal of the ordinance is for the City of Vero Beach to “capture” a full 99 percent of the wastewater effluent being produced by homes and businesses in the city, in an effort to improve the health of the Indian River Lagoon.
Should it be approved, which appears likely based upon the unanimous support of the City Council up to this point and the political importance being placed on protecting the lagoon, the ordinance would accomplish three things:
First, it would require that property owners who currently run on septic systems have those systems pumped out and inspected at least every five years. The city knows and has plotted on maps, though Health Department records, the location of all the septic tanks and will notify property owners about the new requirement, should it be approved.
Second, it would establish a way for homeowners to hook up to Vero’s sewer system without having to dig up and remove their septic tanks via a hybrid Septic Tank Effluent Pump or STEP system.
The cost of the STEP system is estimated to be roughly $6,000 to $7,000, which city staff says is expected to be significantly less than removing the tank and hooking up to a sewer line.
And lastly, the ordinance would provide for monitoring and control of private wastewater collection systems that are hooked onto Vero’s sewer utility. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has charged the city and other governments with sewer systems with this task, but the ordinance would set out how that would be accomplished locally.
Details of the proposed ordinance can be found on the City of Vero Beach website.
The STEP system works by hooking up to the existing septic tank to remove the liquid waste or effluent, thereby preventing that waste from backing up or from running off into the Indian River Lagoon or into the water supply.
During the 2014 session of the Florida Legislature, Vero officials attempted to get a law passed that would allow the hybrid STEP systems, as statutes on the books only permitted septic or sewer systems, but not a mix of the two. The legislative attempt failed, but later the same thing was accomplished through an administrative act by Gov. Rick Scott’s office.
Vero water and sewer utility Director Rob Bolton said his department had planned to only implement a pilot program, but once the bureaucratic red tape was cut through, that plan was expanded to include 1,500 homes in the Bethel Creek area at the north end of the city limits bordering the Town of Indian River Shores.
According to a memo from Bolton the City Council approved $500,000 for implementation of the STEP program in both the 2014-15 and the 2015-16 budgets, for a total of $1 million. Running the lines to service the STEP system is estimated to cost $900,000.
Residents who hook up to the sewer system via a STEP mechanism would then be billed both a sewer capacity charge and a per-gallon charge for the use of the system.
Over the next year or so, the City will design and install the pipes and pumps needed to reach and support the extra customers, which Bolton said are located from Cache Cay northward.
Residents who sign up within the first 12 months of the program will receive a credit of $2,290 for early adoption of the STEP system. The $2,290 basically represents the equivalent of the sewer impact fee paid by someone building a new home.
The cost of hooking up can be financed, interest-free over a 10-year period. Residents who sign up within the first 12 months and pay cash can also get a $1,100 credit.
“It probably makes more sense to take the cash discount up front,” Bolton said.
Details of the Step Up and Save Credit can be found on the City of Vero Beach website.
In addition to establishing the STEP system, the ordinance being considered on Nov. 4 would require inspections of septic tanks and drainfields within the city in five-year intervals. The five-year period would begin on Jan. 1, 2016, so residents with septic tanks would be required to have a pump out and an inspection by Jan. 1, 2021.
Inspections would be conducted by the licensed septic tank technician and a report submitted to City Hall within 10 days. If the system is found to be failing, the homeowner would be required to hook onto the city’s sewer or STEP system.
The Florida Legislature in 2010 passed House Bill 550, which would require inspections of all septic tanks across the state, but conservative activists objected that this would place too onerous a burden on property owners lobbied to reverse the law. In 2012, they were successful and in the two years in-between the law had been basically ignored and not enforced.
Since then, citizens and governments along the Indian River Lagoon corridor have become increasingly concerned about the loss of sea grass habitat in the lagoon and about nutrient runoff, which some experts say is made worse by septic tank effluent.
The Bethel Creek area was identified in part due to its environmentally sensitive location between the Indian River Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean and, in part, due to the older age of many of the septic systems in that neighborhood. That area had been identified by the Health Department as being a problem spot with regard to septic tank failures.
The public hearing will be held during the Nov. 4 regular city council meeting at 9:30 a.m. on election day, in council chambers at City Hall.
