TITLE 39

HEALTH AND SAFETY

CHAPTER 36

WATER QUALITY

39-3635.  Cottage site leases — Requirements — Construction of sewage disposal facilities — Connection to water and sewer district systems — Payment of charges — Notification of defaults — Satisfaction of requirements. (1) After the effective date of sections 39-3634 through 39-3639, Idaho Code, all cottage site leases authorized by the state of Idaho shall require that each lessee must construct, at his cost and expense, sewage disposal facilities, certified by the director of the department of environmental quality as adequate, as follows:

(a)  For all new cottage or house construction completed after July 1, 1971 on any cottage site the certificate shall be issued prior to occupancy.

(b)  Those cottages or houses existing on the cottage sites prior to the effective date of sections 39-3634 through 39-3639, Idaho Code, shall meet those standards required by the director of the department of environmental quality for certification within two (2) years of the effective date of sections 39-3634 through 39-3639, Idaho Code, unless a public or private sewage collection or disposal system is being planned or constructed in which case the director of the department of environmental quality may grant extensions on a year by year basis but not exceed three (3) such extensions for any one (1) cottage site.

(c)  Isolated dwellings on sites situated on mining, grazing or other similar types of state land board leases shall not be affected unless within two hundred (200) yards of any flowing stream or a lake.

(2)  Wherever any cottage site is located within the boundaries of a district organized for water or sewer purposes, or a combination thereof, pursuant to the provisions of chapter 32, title 42, Idaho Code, as amended, the cottage site lessee shall connect his property to the sewer system of the district within sixty (60) days after written notice from the district so to do, provided, however, no cottage site lessee shall be compelled to connect his property with such sewer system unless a service line is brought by the district to a point within two hundred (200) feet of his dwelling place. All cottage site leases hereafter issued shall require, as a condition of acceptance thereof by the lessee, that the lessee will connect his property to a district sewer system as required in this subsection (2). With respect to all cottage site leases issued subsequent to July 1, 1970, filing with the department issuing the lease of evidence of connection to the district sewer system as contemplated in this subsection (2) shall be conclusive evidence of compliance by the cottage site lessee with the requirements of subsection (1) of this section and of the provisions of the cottage site lease to provide sewage disposal facilities at the expense of the cottage site lessee. Each cottage site lessee whose cottage site is subject to connection to a district sewer system as required in this subsection (2) shall pay to the district to which the cottage site is required to be connected, in a timely manner and when due, all connection fees and charges, all monthly rates, tolls and charges, as provided by chapter 32, title 42, Idaho Code, as amended, and all special benefits payments in lieu of tax payments provided for in subsection (3) of this section.

(3)  Notwithstanding that title to a cottage site remains in the state of Idaho, each cottage site lessee shall pay to any district operating a sewer system to which the cottage site is connected as provided in subsection (2) of this section, each year in the same manner and at the same time as county taxes are paid and collected a sum of money in lieu of taxes equal to the sum which would have been paid had the cottage site been held in private ownership, hereinafter called special benefits payments. The special benefits payments shall be computed by applying the millage levy of the district to the cottage site in the ordinary course to the assessed valuation of the property as determined by the county assessor of the county in which the cottage site is located. No special benefits payments shall be imposed prior to January 1, 1980. The cottage site lessee shall have such rights of protest, hearings and appeals with respect to the valuation of the cottage site for purposes of determining the special benefits payments as if such cottage site were held in private ownership.

It shall be the duty of the county assessor to establish the value of each cottage site as compared to like property upon the request, in writing, of the district.

(4)  Each water and sewer district shall immediately notify the department issuing a cottage site lease of the failure of any cottage site lessee to connect to the district sewer system, or to pay any connection fee or charge, monthly rate, toll or charge, or any special benefits payments, all as required or provided for in subsection (3) of this section. Any such notification shall set forth the amount of any such fees, charges or payments which are delinquent.

(5)  Approval, pursuant to the provisions of section 39-118, Idaho Code, by the department of environmental quality of the plans and specifications of a sewer system to be constructed, acquired, improved or extended by a water and sewer district shall, as to all cottage sites connected to the district sewer system, satisfy the requirements of section 39-3637, Idaho Code.

(6)  The state of Idaho, its boards, agencies or departments, shall not be liable, directly or indirectly, for any connection fees and charges, monthly rates, tolls and charges, or special benefits payments charged to cottage site lessees beyond those fees or payments collected from new lessees pursuant to section 58-304A, Idaho Code, and placed in the revolving fund created by section 58-141A, Idaho Code.

History:

[(39-3635) 1970, ch. 191, sec. 2, p. 555; am. 1971, ch. 172, sec. 1, p. 810; am. 1974, ch. 23, sec. 158, p. 633; am. 1979, ch. 100, sec. 1, p. 242; am. and redesig. 1995, ch. 352, sec. 19, p. 1189; am. 2001, ch. 103, sec. 42, p. 286.]