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HomeMy WebLinkAboutO-2010-018 Adopting Water Conservation Rule ORDINANCE NO. 2010-018 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF DANIA BEACH, FLORIDA, PROVIDING FOR LOCAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WATER CONSERVATION RULE FOR LANDSCAPE IRRIGATION OF THE SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT; PROVIDING FOR: DEFINITIONS; THE LANDSCAPE IRRIGATION SCHEDULE; EXCEPTIONS TO THE SCHEDULE; VARIANCES FROM THE SPECIFIC DAY OF THE WEEK LIMITATIONS; THE APPLICABILITY OF THE ORDINANCE; ENFORCEMENT OF THE ORDINANCE; PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF THE ORDINANCE; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS; FURTHER, PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the South Florida Water Management District has responsibility and sole authority under Chapter 373, Florida Statutes, for regulating the consumptive use of water; and WHEREAS, the South Florida Water Management District has amended Chapter 40E- 24, of the Florida Administrative Code ("F.A.C."), requiring year-round water conservation for landscape irrigation; and WHEREAS, Chapter 40E-24, F.A.C., applies to all users as defined in Subsection 40E- 24.101(9), F.A.C., including permitted users under Chapters 40E-2 and 40E-20, F.A.C.; and WHEREAS, Chapter 40E-24, F.A.C., applies to all landscape irrigation regardless of whether the water comes from ground or surface water, from a private well or pump, or from a public or private utility; and WHEREAS, Rule 40E-24.501(3), F.A.C. provides that a local government may adopt an ordinance to locally enforce the year-round landscape irrigation water conservation measures; and WHEREAS, Rule 40E-24.301(1), F.A.C., authorizes local governments to enforce alternative landscape irrigation conservation measures, and indicates that such governments shall be considered to be in substantial compliance with Chapter 40E-24, F.A.C., upon the enactment of an ordinance establishing landscape irrigation measures which achieve water conservation and which allow no more cumulative days and time for landscape irrigation; and WHEREAS, Section 166.021, Fla. Stat., grants municipalities broad powers to perform municipal functions and render municipal services and allows them to enact such legislation as is necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its residents; and WHEREAS, on February 1, 2010, the South Florida Water Management District issued the City of Dania Beach Consumptive Use Permit No. 06-00187-W for the public water supply use; and WHEREAS, the City of Dania Beach's wellfield withdrawals are restricted to 1.1 million gallons per day, pending approval of a safe yield study, due to public health and safety concerns associated with the potential for saline water intrusion. In order to meet existing demands, the City purchases water through a bulk sales agreement with the County; and WHEREAS, these significant public water supply limitations necessitate implementation of aggressive demand management strategies within the City of Dania Beach in order to maintain compliance with Consumptive Use Permit No. 06-00187-W; and WHEREAS, it is the desire of the City Commission of the City of Dania Beach to adopt an ordinance in accordance with Rule 40E-24.201, F.A.C.; and, WHEREAS,the City Commission of the City of Dania Beach finds and declares that the adoption of this ordinance is appropriate, and in the public interest of this community; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF DANIA BEACH, FLORIDA: Section 1. That subsection (h), entitled "Irrigation" of Section 26-53 (entitled "Plant Material and Installation Requirements), of Chapter 26 (entitled "Vegetation") of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Dania Beach is repealed. Section 2. That Section 27-37, entitled "Permanent Restrictions for Lawn and Landscaping Irrigation" of Chapter 27, "Water and Sewer", is repealed and in its place, a new Section 27-37 is created to read as follows: WATER CONSERVATION RESTRICTIONS FOR LANDSCAPE IRRIGATION (a) INTENT AND PURPOSE It is the intent and purpose of this Section to implement procedures that promote water conservation through the more efficient use of landscape irrigation. (b) DEFINITIONS For the purpose of this Section the following terms, phrases, words, and their derivatives shall have the meaning given below. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the 2 ORDINANCE#2010-018 present tense include the future, words in the plural include the singular, and words in the singular include the plural. (1) "Address" means the "house number" (a numeric or alphanumeric designation) that, together with the street name, describes the physical location of a specific property. This includes "rural route" numbers but excludes post office box numbers. If a lot number in a mobile home park or similar community is used by the U.S. Postal Service to determine a delivery location, the lot number shall be the property's address. If a lot number in a mobile home park or similar residential community is not used by the U.S. Postal Service (e.g., the park manager sorts incoming mail delivered to the community's address), then the community's main address shall be the property's address. If a property has no address it shall be considered"even-numbered". (2) "Athletic play area" means all golf course fairways, tees, roughs, and greens, and other athletic play surfaces, including, football, baseball, soccer, polo, tennis and lawn bowling fields. (3) "Consumptive Use Permit (CUP)" means a permit issued pursuant to Chapter 40E-2 or 40E-20, F.A.C., authorizing the consumptive use of water. (4) "Even Numbered Address" means an address, ending in the numbers 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, or rights-of--way or other locations with no address, or the letters A-M. (5) "Existing landscaping" means any landscaping which has been planted and in the ground for more than ninety (90) days. (6) "Landscaping" means shrubbery, trees, lawns, sod, grass, ground covers, plants, vines, ornamental gardens, and such other flora, not intended for resale, which are situated in such diverse locations as residential landscapes, recreation areas, cemeteries, public, commercial, and industrial establishments, public medians, and rights-of-way except athletic play areas as defined in subsection 40E-24.101(2), F.A.C. (7) "Low Volume Hand Watering" means the watering of landscape by one person, with one hose fitted with a self-canceling or automatic shutoff nozzle. (8) "Low Volume Irrigation" means the use of equipment and devices specifically designed to allow the volume of water delivered to be limited to a level consistent with the water requirement of the plant being irrigated and to allow that water to be placed with a high degree of efficiency in the root zone of the plant. The term also includes water used in mist houses and similar establishments for plant propagation. Overhead irrigation and flood irrigation are not included. (9) "Landscape Irrigation' means the outside watering of shrubbery, trees, lawns, grass, ground covers, plants, vines, ornamental gardens, and such other flora, not intended for resale, which are planted and are situated in such diverse locations as residential landscapes, recreation areas, cemeteries, public, commercial, and industrial establishments, public medians, and rights- of-way except athletic play areas as defined in subsection 40E-24.101(2), F.A.C. 3 ORDINANCE#2010-018 (10) "Micro-irrigation" means the application of small quantites of water on or below the soil surface as drops or tiny streams of spray through emitters or applicators placed along a water delivery line. Micro-irrigation includes a number of methods or concepts such as bubbler, drip, trickle,mist or microspray, and subsurface irrigation. (11) "New landscaping" means any landscaping which has been planted and in the ground for ninety (90) days or less. (12) "Odd Numbered Address" means an address ending in the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 or the letters N-Z. (13) "Reclaimed Water" means wastewater that has received at least secondary treatment and basic disinfection and is reused after flowing out of a wastewater treatment facility as defined by Rule 62-40.210, F.A.C.. (14) "User" means any person, individual, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, company, agent, employee or other legal entity whether natural or artificial, the United States of America, and the State and all political subdivisions, regions, districts, municipalities, and public agencies of them, which directly or indirectly takes water from the water resource, including uses from private or public utility systems, uses under water use permits issued pursuant to Chapter 40E-2 or 40E-20, F.A.C., or uses from individual wells or PUMPS. (15) "Wasteful and unnecessary" means allowing water to be dispersed without any practical purpose to the water use; for example, excessive landscape irrigation, leaving an unattended hose on a driveway with water flowing, allowing water to be dispersed in a grossly inefficient manner, regardless of the type of water use; for example, allowing landscape irrigation water to unnecessarily fall onto pavement, sidewalks and other impervious surfaces; allowing water flow through a broken or malfunctioning water delivery or landscape irrigation system. (c) YEAR-ROUND LANDSCAPE IRRIGATION RESTRICTIONS (1) The City adopts an alternative landscape irrigation schedule which is in substantial compliance with the rules of the South Florida Water Management District (the "District"), Chapter 40E-24.201, F.A.C., and subsequent additions or corrections to it, which are set out as follows: (A) It shall be the duty of each user to keep informed as to the landscape irrigation conservation measures presented within this section, which affect each particular water use. (B) In addition to the specific conservation measures enumerated below, all wasteful and unnecessary water use as defined in Section 27-37(b)(15), is prohibited. 4 ORDINANCE#2010-018 (C) The following requirements or exceptions shall apply to all users: (1) Landscape irrigation shall be prohibited daily between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., except as otherwise provided in this Section. (2) Irrigation of new landscaping shall comply with the following provisions: i. On the day the new landscaping is installed, the new landscaping may be irrigated once without regard to the normally allowable watering days and times. Irrigation of the soil immediately prior to the installation of the new landscaping is also allowable without regard to the normal allowable watering days and times. ii. The ninety (90) day period begins the day the new landscaping is installed. The new landscaping shall be installed within a reasonable time from the date of purchase, which may be demonstrated with a dated receipt or invoice. iii. Irrigation of new landscaping which has been in place for thirty (30) days or less may be accomplished on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. iv. Irrigation of new landscaping which has been in place for thirty-one (31) to ninety (90) days may be accomplished on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. V. Irrigation of the new landscaping is limited to areas containing the new landscaping only. An entire zone of an irrigation system shall only be utilized for landscape irrigation under this paragraph if the zone in question is for an area that contains at least 50% new landscaping. If a zone contains less than 50% new landscaping, or if the new landscaping is in an area that will not typically be irrigated by an irrigation system, only the individual new plantings are eligible for additional irrigation under this paragraph. Targeted watering may be accomplished by low volume hand watering, or any appropriate method which isolates and waters only the new landscaping. (3) Landscape irrigation systems may be operated during restricted days and times for cleaning, maintenance, and repair purposes with an attendant on site in the area being tested. Landscape irrigation systems may routinely be operated for such purposes no more than once per week, and the run time for any one test should not exceed 10 minutes per zone. (4) Landscape irrigation for the purpose of watering-in fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides, where such watering-in is recommended by the manufacturer, or by federal, state or local law, or best management practices, shall be allowed under the following conditions: i. Such watering-in shall be limited to one application 5 ORDINANCE#20I0-018 unless the need for more than one application is stated in the directions for application specified by the manufacturer; and ii. Such watering-in shall be accomplished during normally allowable watering days and times set forth in Paragraphs 1, 2, and 6, unless a professional licensed applicator has posted a temporary sign containing the date of application and the date(s) of needed watering-in activity. (5) Any plant material may be watered using low volume irrigation, micro-irrigation, low-volume hand watering methods, and rain barrels, or cisterns without regard to the watering days or times allowed pursuant to this section. (6) Irrigation of existing landscaping shall comply with the following provisions: i. Even addresses, installations with irrigation systems that irrigate both even and odd addresses within the same zones, such as multi-family units and homeowners' associations, and rights-of-way or other locations with no address as defined in Section 27-37(b)(4), shall have the opportunity to accomplish necessary landscape irrigation only on Sundays. ii. Odd addresses as defined in Section 27-37(b)(12), shall have the opportunity to accomplish necessary landscape irrigation only on Saturdays. (2) In the absence of a declaration of a water shortage condition or water shortage emergency within all or any part of the City by the Governing Board or Executive Director of the District, the landscape irrigation restrictions or other measures adopted by the District applicable to the City or any portion of it, shall be subject to enforcement action pursuant to Section 6 below. Any violation of the provisions of Chapter 40E-24.201, F.A.C., shall be a violation of this section. (d) DECLARATION OF WATER SHORTAGE OR WATER SHORTAGE EMERGENCY (1) The City adopts the rules of the District, Chapter 40E-21, F.A.C., and subsequent additions or corrections to them and they are adopted and incorporated as if fully set out at length. (2) The declaration of a water shortage condition or water shortage emergency within all or parts of the City by the Governing Board or Exeucitve Director of the District shall invoke the provisions of this article. Upon such a declaration all water use restrictions or other measures adopted by the District applicable to the City, or any portion of it, shall be subject to enforcement action pursuant to this article. Any violation of the provisions of Chapter 40E-21, F.A.C., or any order issued pursuant to it, shall be a violation of this Section. 6 ORDINANCE#2010-018 (e) VARIANCES (1) A variance from specific day or days identified in sub-section (c) 6 above may be granted if strict application of the restrictions would lead to unreasonable or unfair results in particular instances, provided that the applicant demonstrates with particularity that compliance with the schedule will result in substantial economic, health, or other hardship on the applicant requiring a variance or those served by the applicant. Where a contiguous property is divided into different zones a variance may be granted so that each zone may be irrigated on days different than other zones of the property. However, no single zone may be irrigated more than one day per week. An application for a variance shall be reviewed and approved by the Director of the City's Public Services Department. If denied, an appeal may be taken to the City Commission and a hearing shall be held on the matter. (2) The City recognizes any and all variances issued by the District to those users who operate and maintain smart irrigation systems which meet the requirements of Section 373.62(7), Florida Statutes. (f) APPLICATION OF ORDINANCE The provisions of this Ordinance shall apply to each user within the boundaries of the City of Dania Beach. (g) ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS Law enforcement and code compliance officials are authorized to enforce the provisions of this Section. (h) PENALTIES (1) Violation of any provision of this article shall be subject to the following penalties: (a) For a first violation, a written warning; and a fine not to exceed $25.00; (b) For a second violation, a fine not to exceed $50.00; (c) For a third violation, a fine not to exceed $100.00; (d) For a fourth violation, a fine not to exceed $250.00; (e) For a fifth violation, a fine not to exceed $500.00; and (f) For subsequent violations, a fine of$500.00, plus possible arrest. (2) Each day in violation of this Section shall constitute a separate offense. Enforcement officials may provide violators with no more than one written warning. In addition to the civil penalties, the City may take any other appropriate legal action, including but not limited to injunctive action to enforce the provisions of this Section. Section 3. Subsection (h) entitled "Irrigation", of Section 26-53 of the City Code of Ordinances, which Section is entitled"Plant Materials and Required Installation", is repealed. 7 ORDINANCE#2010-018 Section 4. If any section, sentence, clause, or phrase of this Ordinance is held to be invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction, then the holding shall in no way affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Ordinance. Section 5. That all ordinances or parts of ordinances and all resolutions or parts of resolutions in conflict with the provisions of this Ordinance are repealed. Section 6. That this Ordinance shall take effect immediately upon its passage and adoption. PASSED on first reading on July 27,2010. PASSED AND ADOPTED on second reading on August 10, 2010. "o C. K. McELYEA AYOR—COMMISSIONER ATTEST: LOUISE STILSON, CMC ' CITY CLERK pjEO , APPROVED AS TO FO AN CORRECTNESS: THOMAS SBRO CITY ATTORNEY 8 ORDINANCE#2010-018