COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
That Council receive this report.
RECOMMANDATION DU COMITÉ
Que le Conseil prend connaissance du présent rapport.
DOCUMENTATION
1.
Councillor Chiarelli’s report, dated 28 June 2010 (ACS2010-CCS-PEC-0032).
2.
Memorandum from the City Clerk and Solicitor containing legal comment on
the above report.
3.
Extract of Draft Minutes dated 5 July 2010
Report to/Rapport
au:
Planning and
Environment Committee /
Comité
de l'urbanisme et de l'environnement
and
Council/conseil
28
June 2010 / le 28 juin 2010
Submitted
by/Soumis par: Rick Chiarelli, Councillor/Conseiller
College/
Collège (Ward/Quartier 8)
Contact
Person/Personne ressource: Councillor/Conseiller Rick Chiarelli
(613) 580-2478, Rick.Chiarelli@Ottawa.ca
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Ref N°: ACS2010-CCS-PEC-0032
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SUBJECT:
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Motion – WATER BILLING FOR Qualicum Terrace
Blocks F, G and K
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OBJET :
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MOTION – FACTURATION D’EAU DES
îlots F, G et K de Qualicum Terrace
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REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS
That the Planning and
Environment Committee recommend Council approve that the sub-meters within the
individual units of Qualicum Terrace Blocks F, G and K be recognized as meters
and that each unit be billed separately for the water usage.
RECOMMANDATIONS DU RAPPORT
Que le Comité
de l’urbanisme et de l’environnement recommande au Conseil d’approuver que les
compteurs d’eau individuels des logements des îlots F, G et K de Qualicum
Terrace soient considérés comme étant des compteurs et que chaque logement
reçoive une facture d’eau individuelle.
BACKGROUND
Pursuant to Section 77 (12) of
the Procedure By-law, Councillor Chiarelli requested that the following
motion be placed on the Planning and Environment Committee Agenda for the 5
July 2010 meeting:
WHEREAS, the City of Ottawa has established By-law No.
2003-500, Section 67(4) - Water Meter & Remote Readers 67(4), which states:
Only one City meter per water service will be supplied for billing purpose; and
WHEREAS the owners of Qualicum
Terrace Blocks F, G and K (56 Units) declare that a City meter is located
within each unit. Remote readers are in place and confirmed by random sampling
to be functioning. The owners are requesting individual water billings; and
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa and
Qualicum Terrace Owners agree that each unit’s meter is referred to as a
sub-meter (Ref: Permit and Data Service, City of Ottawa & Qualicum Terrace
Joint Use Agreement; and
WHEREAS Qualicum Terrace Owners
contest that By-law No. 2003-500 refers to meters and does not differentiate
between the type nor size of meter; and
WHEREAS the units in question were
sold as Free-Hold and the home owners paid for individual water meters and
remote readers with the purchase price of their homes. There is only 1 water
shutoff valve per row; however, the same infrastructure exists for the other
units in the area (Example 146 Monterey Dr. to 198 Monterey Dr.) and an
exception was granted by the City to provide individual water billing for these
units. The City is already individually billing all the homes around the units
in question.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the
sub-meters within the individual units be recognized as meters and that each
unit be billed separately for the water usage.
DISCUSSION
Environment Services
Department
The City’s Water Bylaw Section 67
(4) specifically requires that “Only one City meter per water service will be
supplied for billing purposes.” This is a servicing strategy shared with many
other utilities and is intended to align infrastructure accountability and
financial accountability with customer service. Shared servicing results in a
loss of accountability both for private infrastructure condition and performance
as well as increase difficulty in recovering service costs.
Unfortunately, staff has not been
able to complete our research into this particular situation at this time. Staff
will continue this research and be in a position to respond on the particulars
of this situation at the July 5th Planning and Environment Committee meeting.
CONSULTATION
This item will be advertised in
the local daily newspapers as part of the Public Meeting Advertisement on the
Friday preceding the Planning and Environment Committee meeting.
LEGAL/RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
Legal Services will review the
metering aspects from a statutory perspective and provide a memo to Members of
Committee prior to the meeting of Committee.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Finance/Water Billing are
supportive of the explanation provided by Environment Services. The two
departments will complete necessary research into the particulars of this
situation and be prepared to provide further information at Planning and
Environment Committee on July 5, 2010.
DISPOSITION
Staff to implement the directions
of Committee.
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M E M O / N O T E D E S E R V I C E
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To / Destinataire
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Chair and Members of Planning and Environment Committee
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File/N° de fichier:
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From / Expéditeur
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M. Rick O’Connor, City Clerk and Solicitor
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Subject / Objet
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Legal Considerations for
Implementing Individual Water Bills for Unit Owners of Qualicum Terrace
Blocks F, G, and K – July 5, 2010 Report to Planning and Environment
Committee
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Date: July 2, 2010
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BACKGROUND
Request of Homeowners
Qualicum Terrace Blocks F, G, and
K consist of 45 free hold units and are former rental residences. The City
issues one water bill for each of the three blocks due to the requirements of
By-Law 2003-500 (the “Water By-Law”) as they relate to the water supply
infrastructure that is currently in place at that location. The owners have expressed
an interest in having the City bill each individual owner rather than the
owners be jointly be responsible for water and sewer charges. Each proposed
water bill would be directed to a single owner and based on water usage metered
through sub-meters located in each unit.
Water Supply Infrastructure and
Applicable Legislation
Subsection 67(4) of Water By-law
requires that “Only one City meter per water service will be supplied for
billing purposes”. The water service is the pipe that connects the City water
main to the building. The City requires that each water service be metered
unless otherwise permitted by the Deputy City Manager pursuant to Subsection
67(1) of the Water By-law, thereby ensuring the City ability to account for all
water usage and measure usage for billing purposes. There is currently only one
water service for each of the three blocks.
Provincial legislation specifies
two means for a municipality to collect overdue public utility fees and
surcharges. The City may shut-off water supply to a water service if the owners
or occupants are overdue in paying water and sewer charges pursuant to
Subsection 81(1) of the Municipal Act, 2001 and Section 89 of the Water
By-law. The City would shut off water supply to a water service at the stand
post, which is typically located at the front of the property prior to the
water entering a building.
The City also has the ability to
add unpaid water and sewer charges to the tax-roll of the owner of the unit and
collect the charges in the same manner as municipal taxes pursuant to
Subsection 398(2) of the Municipal Act, 2001 and Subsection 90(3) of the
Water By-law. City policy allows a landlord to provide to the City a valid
lease that indicates the tenant is responsible for paying the water and sewer
bill and have that tenant assume all responsibility for payment. However, a
landlord is not able to have a tenant assume all responsibility for payment if
the water stand post services more than one unit. This allows the City to
ensure that the City always has the ability to limit shut-off water supply to
the non-paying tenant.
Legal Considerations
A key legal
impediment to the City billing each owner or occupant based on sub-meter
readings is the City inability to shut-off water in instances of overdue water
and sewer charges. There is only one water service with one shut off valve per
dwelling block. In effect, the City would be shutting off the water supply to
all units in the dwelling block, including those units whose owners or tenants
are not in arrears. This could lead to claims against the City. Pursuant to
Subsection 81(1) of the Municipal Act, 2001 and Section 89 of the Water
By-law, the City can only shut-off water if the owner or occupant of the land
serviced has overdue water and sewer charges. In order to avoid such
problems, the following alternative would that ensure the City still has the
ability to shut-off the water-supply:
·
Owners arrange with the City to have a water
service installed for each unit. This would not require any further direction
from Council and would result in the City sending a water bill to each owner,
although each new water service would be installed at owner expense.
An alternative
that has been available in another situation is that Council adopt a motion to
waive Subsection 67(4) of the Water By-law in respect to the one meter one
service requirement for Qualicum Terrace Blocks F, G, and K and direct staff to
negotiate an agreement to be registered on the title of each and every property
that binds current and future owners of the property to pay sub-metered rates.
In addition, the agreement would include a provision that allows the City the
sole discretion to shut-off the supply of water of all units for non-payment by
tenants or occupants of one or more units in the block. There is a past
precedent for this type of agreement at the former Regional Municipality of
Ottawa Carleton. However that agreement was made possible due to the Region
and a single corporate owner having entered into a sub-metering agreement prior
to the property being severed and sold to individuals. This approach also
permitted the Region to rely on the provisions in the Planning Act,
Section 51 that made the agreement binding on subsequent owners. In the
present circumstances, the City is not in a position to conclude a legal
agreement benefitting from Section 51, as severance and transfer of property to
individual properties has already occurred.
Original signed by M. Rick
O’Connor
City Clerk and Solicitor
The Chair noted that Councillor Chiarelli was not in
attendance to speak to his motion, and there was nobody registered to speak to
the item. Tim Marc, Legal Counsel, confirmed that staff was not in agreement
with Councillor Chiarelli’s recommendation. Committee then approved a motion
to receive the item.
Moved by Councillor P. Feltmate
That the Planning and Environment Committee receive this
report.
CARRIED
That the Planning and Environment Committee
recommend Council approve that the sub-meters within the individual units of
Qualicum Terrace Blocks F, G and K be recognized as meters and that each unit
be billed separately for the water usage.
RECEIVED