2018 -- S 2085

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LC003348

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2018

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO AN AMENDMENT OF CHAPTER 330 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS OF 1997

ENTITLED "AN ACT TO CREATE A SEWER AUTHORITY FOR THE TOWN OF

COVENTRY AND TO AUTHORIZE SAID TOWN TO PLAN, CONSTRUCT, FINANCE,

OPERATE AND MAINTAIN SEWAGE WORKS"

     

     Introduced By: Senators Raptakis, and Kettle

     Date Introduced: January 18, 2018

     Referred To: Senate Housing & Municipal Government

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

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     SECTION 1. Section 1 of Chapter 330 of the public laws of 1997 as amended entitled,

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"An Act to Create A Sewer Authority For The Town Of Coventry And To Authorize Said Town,

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To Plan, Construct, Finance, Operate And Maintain Sewage Works" is further amended to read as

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follows:

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     Sec.1. The Town of Coventry is authorized and empowered in accordance with the

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provisions of this act, to plan, lay out, construct, finance, operate and maintain sewage works for

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a part or the whole of its territory and for such purposes to take by eminent domain or otherwise

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any lands, water rights, rights-of-way, or easements, public or private, in said town necessary for

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accomplishing any purpose mentioned in this act. Such sewage works may include sewers and

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sewer service connections, pumping stations, sewage treatment works, sewage disposal works,

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and other works essential to the proper collection and disposal of the sewage of said town.

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     As used in this act, unless the context otherwise requires:

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     "Preliminary plans" shall mean engineering reports which shall conform to all applicable

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state and federal guidelines and shall include detailed scope and area to be considered with

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recommendations, preliminary and feasibility investigation, environmental assessment, cost

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studies, economic comparisons of alternatives and all application and pre-application work and

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other work necessary or desirable before undertaking working plans.

 

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     "Working plans" shall mean final design plans of facilities, detailed construction

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drawings, specifications, detailed estimate of cost of construction, and shall include all other

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engineering work which may be required or advisable for actual construction of sewage works.

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     "Town" means the Town of Coventry.

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     "Council" means the town council of the Town of Coventry.

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     "Highways" means any state or other highway and any public street, alley, park, parkway,

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driveway, bridge or public place.

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     "Sewage works" means all constructions for collection, transportation, pumping,

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treatment and final disposal of sewage.

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     "Common sewer" means a sewer in which all abutters have equal rights of entrance and.

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use.

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      "Force main" means a sewer wherein sewage is moved by pressure.

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     "Sewer service connection" means a pipe to convey sewage and wastes from a building to

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a common sewer.

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     "Sewage" shall mean wastewater, water-carried wastes, or a combination of them,

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discharged into and conveyed by sewers or intended or customarily so discharged and conveyed.

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Sewage may be further classified as follows:

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     "Sanitary sewage" shall mean the common wastewater and water-carried wastes from

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human dwellings and from toilet and lavatory fixtures, kitchens, laundries, and similar facilities

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of business and industrial buildings. In general, sanitary sewage shall not include storm water

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from roofs, yards, streets or open spaces, water from land surfaces or brooks, clean waste

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overflows from springs, wells, or subsoil drainage, large volumes of clean water from air

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conditioning or other cooling or condensing facilities, clean wastewater from hydraulically

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operated contrivances and those wastes included within the definition of "industrial wastes" next

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following.

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     "Industrial wastes" shall include the liquid or water-carried wastes of any industrial

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process not clearly included within the definitions of sanitary sewage, storm water, cooling water

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or subsoil drainage herein. In general, wastewaters carrying any quantity of oils, grease, fats,

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abrasives, chemicals, residues of manufacturing processes, wastes from commercial food

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preserving or canning, from slaughterhouses or meat processing plants, and similar substances,

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whether dissolved, in suspension, or mechanically carried by water, shall be considered as

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industrial wastes.

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     "Storm water" shall include the runoff or discharge of rain and melted snow or other

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clean water from roofs, surfaces of public or private lands or elsewhere. For most purposes within

 

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the scope of this act, storm water shall not include the flow of any natural brook, rivulet or stream

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even if the source of such water is storm runoff from land or other property once that runoff has

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entered the channel of such brook or natural watercourse. In general, storm water shall include

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only water which is sufficiently clean and unpolluted to admit of being discharged, without

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treatment or purification, into any natural open stream or watercourse without offense.

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     "Cooling water" shall include the clean wastewater from air conditioning, industrial

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cooling, condensing and similar apparatus and from hydraulically powered equipment. In general,

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cooling water will include only water which is sufficiently clean and unpolluted to admit of being

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discharged, without treatment or purification, into any natural open stream or watercourse without

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offense.

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     "Seepage" or "subsoil drainage" shall include water from the soil percolating into subsoil

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drains and through foundation walls, basement floors, or underground pipes or from similar

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sources.

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     "Lateral sewer" means a sewer which does not receive the sewage from any other

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common sewer.

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     "Submain sewer" means a sewer into which the sewage from two (2) or more lateral

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sewers is discharged.

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     "Main sewer" means a sewer into which the sewage from two (2) or more submain

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sewers is discharged.

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     "Land" means and includes any land, including building and other improvements thereon,

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estate, riparial or other right, easement, interest or waterway.

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     The Town of Coventry may provide for the construction of sewers and for other sewage

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works for said town and may raise funds therefor by borrowing or otherwise, and for that purpose

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may issue bonds or notes of the town in accordance with the provisions hereinafter stated or

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under other authority.

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     The town council shall provide that annual charges shall be made upon the owners of the

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lands using the sewage works and that sewer assessments shall be made upon the owners of lands

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for which the use of sewage works is available. The receipts from annual charges and sewer

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assessments shall be appropriated for and applied to the payment of the charges and expenses

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incident to the planning, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of the sewage works,

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and to the payment of principal costs for any bonds or notes issued for sewage works. Prior to the

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town of Coventry appropriating any monies from its regular town tax to fund its obligations under

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any agreement relating to the wastewater system sewers or projects, an all-day referendum must

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be held, and the town must receive approval from the registered voters prior to the utilization of

 

LC003348 - Page 3 of 5

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any regular town tax funds for such obligations.

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     Nothing in this act shall limit or affect the rights or obligations of the town of Coventry,

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including obligations of the town acting by and through its financial town meeting or its town

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council, to appropriate monies from its regular town tax to fund its obligations under the

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intermunicipal agreement in wastewater services between the town of West Warwick and the

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town of Coventry, as amended and restated from time to time, and the Loan and Trust Agreement

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among the Rhode Island economic development corporation, the town of Coventry and J.P.

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Morgan Trust Company, National Association dated as of December 31, 01213, as amended from

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time to time.

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     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO AN AMENDMENT OF CHAPTER 330 OF THE PUBLIC LAWS OF 1997

ENTITLED "AN ACT TO CREATE A SEWER AUTHORITY FOR THE TOWN OF

COVENTRY AND TO AUTHORIZE SAID TOWN TO PLAN, CONSTRUCT, FINANCE,

OPERATE AND MAINTAIN SEWAGE WORKS"

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     This act would amend the town of Coventry's sewer system enabling legislation to allow

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town to appropriate monies from its regular town tax to fund wastewater system projects or

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sewers only after voter approval resulting from an all-day referendum.

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     This act would take effect upon passage.

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