Elkhorn to clean up sump pump ordinance

By Kellen Olshefski

Proposed updates to the City of Elkhorn’s ordinance regarding sump pump discharge are geared toward better defining when homeowners are required to connect and provide pathways to help them handle it.

Under the ordinance as it currently stands, all homeowners within the City of Elkhorn are required to connect their sump pumps to the storm sewer system, unless the project is deemed not feasible. However, “feasible” is a term City officials have said is not defined within the ordinance.

“Is digging up the roadway, do we think that’s a feasible cost for a resident to occur? Probably not,” Department of Public Works Operation Manager Matt Lindstrom said. “That’s not anything that we want to see happen.”

Under the proposed updates, Elkhorn property owners would be required to connect to storm sewers, laterals and storm water catch basins unless storm water systems are not available within their property’s frontage and out of the roadway, meaning behind the curb and, in many cases, between the curb and sidewalk.

For new construction, property owners will be required to connect within 6 months of the completion of construction.

“We’re actually making it less restrictive, saying that you still have to connect, but only if we’re able to provide you a means to connect,” Lindstrom said. “Before we said, ‘You have to connect.’”

As an example, Lindstrom noted a previous case near West Side Elementary School, where there was constant sheeting of water from the sump pumps that would cross the road and freeze during the colder months.

Lindstrom explained that to remedy that situation, the City installed a pipe behind the curb and gutter (in the terrace side) that ran from the catch basin in front of the homes along the street, giving those homeowners an opportunity to connect.

“That would be a situation where, according to this change – if adopted – we would expect them to connect,” he said.

Additionally, the ordinance would apply to homeowners who already have connections that might have become clogged over the years. Those homeowners, according to Lindstrom, would be required to maintain and clean that lateral, and then reconnect their sump pump to the system.

Overland discharge would still be allowed for those residents who do not have a connection available. Discharge to terrace (or grassy areas) will be allowed year-round for those homeowners, while discharge over hard surfaces – such as driveways, sidewalks and roadways – will only be permitted between April 1 and Nov. 1.

While the associated costs of connecting will certainly be a concern among residents and one voiced by some councilmembers, City Administrator James Heilman noted he is looking to create a funding mechanism through the sanitary sewer department that would offer “very low” interest loans to help homeowners bear the cost of the connection.

“My thought on this is that it was already required, but to me, it was a horrible ordinance,” Heilman said. “It didn’t give people an option.

“What I’m saying is we need to find ways to give them those options and to help them finance it if they need it,” he added.

The updates to the ordinance, which have not yet been approved by the City of Elkhorn Common Council, are proposed to go into effect in April 2020.

The Committee of the Whole voted in favor of recommending the updated ordinance to the full Council at its Nov. 25 meeting.

While not on the agenda for the Dec. 2 meeting, the topic is expected to come before the full Council for final approval in the near future.

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