2021 -- H 5688

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LC001401

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO COVENTRY SEWER AUTHORITY

     

     Introduced By: Representatives Serpa, Chippendale, Noret, Nardone, and Morgan

     Date Introduced: February 24, 2021

     Referred To: House Municipal Government & Housing

     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 by Chapters

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119 and 140 of the Public Laws of 2006, and Chapters 286 and 300 of the Public Laws of 2019, is

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hereby amended to read as 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 the town necessary for

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

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service connections, pumping stations, sewage treatment works, sewage disposal works, and other

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works essential to the proper collection and disposal of the sewage of the 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 that shall conform to all applicable state

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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 drawings,

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

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that 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,

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parkway, 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

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to 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 of

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

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

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from springs, wells, or subsoil drainage; large volumes of clean water from air conditioning or other

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cooling or condensing facilities; clean wastewater from hydraulically operated contrivances; and

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those wastes included within the definition of "industrial wastes" next 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 the water is storm runoff from land or other property once that runoff has

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

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water that is sufficiently clean and unpolluted to admit of being discharged, without treatment or

 

LC001401 - Page 2 of 5

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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 that 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

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subsoil 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 that does not receive the sewage from any other common

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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

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thereon, 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 the 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 under

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other authority.

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

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

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lands for which the use of sewage works is available. The town of Coventry may charge the owners

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of lands using the sewage works, monetary interest charges in excess of those interest charges

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actually paid by the town for the funds it has borrowed for sewage works' purposes, up to a

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maximum of one-half of one percent (.05%) of the interest charges paid by the town. The excess

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interest charges shall only be used for administrative purposes. The town of Coventry shall not

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assess upon the owners of land the costs associated with repaving the roadway upon completion of

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any sewage works within the town.

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     The receipts from annual charges and sewer assessments shall be appropriated for and

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applied to the payment of the charges and expenses incident to the planning, construction,

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financing, operation, and maintenance of the sewage works, and to the payment of principal costs

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for any bonds or notes issued for sewage works. Nothing in this act shall limit or affect the rights

 

LC001401 - Page 3 of 5

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or obligations of the town of Coventry, including obligations of the town acting by and through its

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financial town meeting or its town council, to appropriate monies from its regular town tax to fund

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its obligations under the intermunicipal agreement in wastewater services between the town of West

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Warwick and the town of Coventry, as amended and restated from time to time, and the

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     Loan and Trust Agreement among the Rhode Island economic development corporation,

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the town of Coventry and J.P. Morgan Trust Company, National Association dated as of December

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1, 2003, as amended from 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 COVENTRY SEWER AUTHORITY

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     This act would prohibit the town of Coventry from assessing the costs of repaving the

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roadway upon the completion of any sewage works upon the land owners.

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     This act would take effect upon passage.

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