Ord 159ORDINANCE NO. 159
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF PO~AY, CALIFORNIA
ADOI~ING AS AN URGENCY MEASURE AN INTERIM
ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING CITY OF PO~AY
STAI~DARDS FOR SEPTIC SYSTEMS
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF POWAY DOES HERV. RY ORDAIN AS FOLLONS:
S~CTION 1. Findings and Declaration of Intent.
The City of Poway has an overriding interest in planning and regulating the
use of property within the City. Implicit in any plan or regulation is the
City's interest in mintaining the quality of life and the character of the
City's neighborhoods. Without adequate facilities for sewage disposal, sections
of the City can quickly deteriorate, with tragic consequences to social,
enviror~ental, and econcmic values.
A concentration of individual structures in certain areas of the City
disposing of sewage into septic systems will cause such areas of the City to
deteriorate and result in a threat to public health, safety and welfare. It is
the City's intent to protect and prc~ote the health, safety and general welfare
of the c~,,~unity by instituting a comprehensive ordinance for the issuance of
building permits for the construction of any structure which may use for the
disposal of sewage a septic system. It is the further intent of the City to
assure the cc~immtability between the proposed structure or facilities and the
particular site and other existing and potential uses within the general area.
Without the additional requirements imposed in Section 2, the building of
additional structures using septic syst~ns constitutes a current and i~,,~diate
threat to the public health, safety, and welfare of the ccm~nunity.
S~CTION 2. City Requirements
A. The City shall review and approve all septic system applications prior
to s~ti'ttal to the San Diego County Health Department.
B. No septic system shall be installed on a parcel of land less than one
acre in size.
No septic system shall be installed within 200 feet of an intermittent
stream unless the entire system, including leach lines, are a minimum
of ten (10) vertical feet above the high water line.
S~CTION 3. Urgency and Taking Effect.
This ordinance is an urgency ordinance and is for the in~nediate preservation
of the public peace, health and welfare. The facts constituting the urgency are
these: Several building permits have been approved since the existing ordinance
was adopted. Great concern has been expressed by citizens of Poway about the
Ordinance No. 159
Page 2
adverse i~pact of these approvals without adequate restrictions. A permanent
ordinance will not become effective sooner than thirty (30) days after its
adoption. It would be destructive of the proposed regulations if, during the
period prior to the effective date of the permanent ordinance, parties seeking
to evade the operation of these regulations in the form as may be adopted should
be permitted to operate in a manner which might progress so far as to defeat in
whole or in part the ultimate objective of those regulations.
This ordinance shall take effect inmlediately, and, in accordance with
Government Code Section 65858, shall be of no further force or effect on the
date that the above-mentioned permanent ordinance becomes operative, or forty-
five (45) days from the adoption hereof whichever is sooner, except as it may be
extended as provided by said Section 65858. Before the expiration of fiftccn
(15) days after its passage, it shall be published once with the names and mem-
bers voting for and against the same in the Poway News Chieftain, a newspaper of
general circulation published in the City of Poway.
PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City Council, of the City of
Poway, California, held the 19th day of Febr~mry, 1985, by the following roll
call vote:
KRUSE, ORAVBC, SHEPARDSON, TARZY, ~ERY
Robert C. Emery, Mayor
Marjor'~e K. Wahlsten, City Clerk