§ 50-76. Ownership and the City of Anderson participation.

(a)

Property owners and lessees are responsible for maintaining stormwater quantity and quality facilities and all conveyance structures located on their property. Prior to the issuance of a land disturbance permit, the property owner shall execute a legal document entitled "Covenants for Permanent Maintenance of Stormwater Systems", or the lessee shall execute a legal document entitled "Covenants for Maintenance of Stormwater Systems on Leased Property" ("the covenants"). The property owner or the lessee, as the case may be, shall record the covenants in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Anderson County. The location of the facility, the recorded location of the covenants document, and a note stating the property owner's or lessee's responsibility shall be shown on a plat, or in the case of a lessee, as an exhibit attached to the lessee's covenants, that is also recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Anderson County. In the case of a lessee, the property owner shall be named on any covenant and be required to conduct maintenance activities upon the termination of a lease agreement.

(b)

The property owner or lessee shall grant to City of Anderson a perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable easement from a public street that allows for public inspection and emergency repair of all components of the drainage system, including all conveyances and all water quantity and quality control facilities. At the request of the city manager or his designee, the property owner or lessee shall grant to the City of Anderson necessary and appropriate rights-of-way.

(c)

The City of Anderson shall own and maintain all drainage system components that are constructed under or collect stormwater runoff from a city-owned road.

(d)

Stormwater quantity and quality control facilities shall be located so that required easements can be effectively used and ownership and maintenance responsibility can be clearly defined in deeds and plats.

(e)

The City of Anderson shall reserve the right to accept or decline ownership and maintenance of all or part of a stormwater system.

(f)

The covenants shall specify minimum maintenance requirements to be performed at necessary intervals by the property owner or lessee, as the case may be.

(g)

If a facility or any portion of the stormwater system is not being maintained as required, the city manager or his designee will notify the property owner or lessee, as the case may be, in writing. If property owner or lessee, as the case may be, fails to repair or maintain the facility within the allotted time, the city manager or his designee may authorize the work to be performed by the city or others. In such cases, the property owner or lessee, as the case may be, shall reimburse the city for its direct and related expenses. If the property owner or lessee, as the case may be, fails to reimburse the city, the city is authorized to file a lien for said costs against the property or the lessee's leasehold interest, as the case may be, and to enforce the lien by judicial foreclosure proceedings. The allotted time for repair or maintenance shall be a minimum of 90 days, except in the case of public safety. Appeals in this case must filed within 30 days of notice.

(h)

A property owner or lessee may hire or contract others to perform necessary maintenance actions, but the City of Anderson will hold the person named in the covenants as the responsible party should legal actions described in subsection (g) be necessary.

(i)

When the City of Anderson through the city manager or his duly appointed designees determines that additional storage capacity or pollution reduction beyond that required by the applicant for on-site stormwater management is necessary in order to enhance or provide for the public health, safety and general welfare, to correct unacceptable or undesirable existing conditions or to provide protection in a more desirable fashion for future development, the City of Anderson may:

(1)

Require that the applicant grant any necessary and reasonable easements over, through or under the applicant's property to provide access to or drainage for such a facility;

(2)

Require that the applicant attempt to obtain from the owners of property over, through or under where the stormwater management facility is to be located, any easements necessary and reasonable for the construction and maintenance of same (and failing the obtaining of such easement the City of Anderson may, at its option, assist in such matter by purchase, condemnation, dedication or otherwise with any cost incurred thereby to be paid by the applicant);

(3)

To implement the provision of additional stormwater control, both the City of Anderson and the developer must be in agreement with the proposed facility that includes the additional storage or treatment capacity.

(j)

The owner of a facility that:

-

has been previously permitted by a different government or agency, and

-

has a recorded covenant for permanent maintenance of the stormwater system (issued by the governing agency)

may be required by the City of Anderson to continue operating and maintaining the facility under the existing legally binding contract.

(Memo of 1-28-2013, § 3.6, 8-13-2007)