Sewer lateral requirements in Hermosa Beach, CA

What is required

• When you remodelInspection

  Hermosa Beach adds a section to the California Plumbing Code providing that "the Building Official may require inspection of the private sewer lateral by a licensed plumber using video or equivalent approved methods" in four situations: "a remodel or addition valued at fifty thousand dollars or more is proposed"; "plumbing fixtures are relocated or replaced"; "recurring blockages have occurred"; and where "infiltration, inflow, or structural defects identified in the public sewer indicate possible lateral defects on private property".

  What to do: Before a remodel is priced, ask the Building & Safety Division whether a lateral video will be required for the permit, and ask what happens if it finds a defect - the section says who may require the inspection and says nothing about who pays for any repair that follows. Get the answer in writing alongside the plan check.

  Why this matters▸▾

  The word to read carefully is "may". This is a power the Building Official holds, not an inspection every qualifying project receives, so whether it lands on a particular permit is a question for the City rather than something the code settles. What the code does settle is the threshold, and it is low: fifty thousand dollars of remodel or addition is an ordinary kitchen, and relocating or replacing plumbing fixtures carries no figure at all. The fourth situation is not about your project at all - it lets the City look down a private lateral because of what it found in the public sewer.

  In force since 2025-12-09 · Checked 2026-09-20

  Hermosa Beach Municipal Code section 15.12.020, Local amendments to the California Plumbing Code
• When you askPermit

  Hermosa Beach Municipal Code section 12.12.020 makes it unlawful for any person "to break, lower, remove in any manner, alter or disturb any street curbing" or "to make any excavations in any public street, alley or public place" "without first obtaining a permit so to do from the superintendent of streets". Section 12.09.040 then decides when that permission can be given at all, and the bar is a long one: no excavation in a roadway for three years after roadway maintenance such as a slurry seal, five years after roadway construction such as a grind and overlay, or ten years after the reconstruction of a Portland cement concrete roadway.

  What to do: Before accepting a quotation, ask the Public Works counter when the street outside was last resurfaced or reconstructed and which of the three moratorium periods that starts, because a repair that could wait may have to. Ask for the Pavement Moratorium Guidelines by name - the code makes the exceptions turn on them and does not reproduce them. And ask what deposit the superintendent of streets will set for your length of trench, since it is fixed case by case rather than published.

  Why this matters▸▾

  Ten years is a long time to wait to reach your own pipe, and the three periods turn on what was last done to the road rather than on anything about the property - a slurry seal starts a three-year clock, a grind and overlay a five-year one, and a concrete rebuild a ten-year one. Which clock is running outside a given address is a question only the City can answer, and the detail sits in a document the code points at rather than prints: section 12.09.040 makes the periods subject to the "City of Hermosa Beach Department of Public Works Pavement Moratorium Guidelines". The permit itself also holds money before it is issued. Section 12.12.020(B) requires a deposit with the superintendent of streets of "an amount of money, which in his opinion, will be sufficient to cover the cost of restoring the areas covered by such excavation to their original condition", refunding any balance afterwards, and section 12.12.020(C) has the applicant agree to reimburse the City for the actual cost of restoration and to hold it harmless for any damages arising from the work.

  In force since 2023-12-28 · Checked 2026-09-22

  Hermosa Beach Municipal Code section 12.12.020, Permit to make street excavations

  Also quoted:

  • Hermosa Beach Municipal Code section 12.09.040, General Requirements
• When you askPermit

  The City of Hermosa Beach states that "Right of Way permits are required for all work in the right-of-way", and lists "Sewer Lateral Connection" among its Utility Permit categories, marked as requiring inspection. A Right of Way permit needs proof of a State Contractor's License, a City Business License, commercial liability insurance naming the City as additionally insured, and - specifically for Utility permits - both Traffic Control Plans and Work Area Plans. The City asks for applications "a minimum of 1-2 weeks prior to your work commencement". Separately, an ENCROACHMENT permit here is a different thing: it "allows residents or business owners to enter an agreement with the City for on-going private use of the right-of-way", revocable at any time.

  What to do: Apply for a Right of Way permit under Sewer Lateral Connection, not an encroachment permit. Allow one to two weeks, and add three days on top if parking has to be cleared. Check your contractor holds both a State licence and a City business licence and can name the City as additionally insured, and have them price the traffic control and work area plans, which a utility permit requires regardless of disruption.

  Why this matters▸▾

  The word "encroachment" means something else in Hermosa Beach than it does in every other city on this site. Everywhere else it is the permission to dig in the road; here that is a Right of Way permit, and an encroachment permit is a standing agreement to occupy public ground under a covenant the City can revoke. Someone who has learned the word elsewhere would apply for the wrong thing. Note also that a sewer lateral connection is a Utility permit, which means both a traffic control plan and a work area plan are required whether or not the street is closed - most cities here ask for the first only when traffic is affected. And a "No Parking Tow Away" sign has to stand for 72 hours before it can be enforced, so clearing the kerb starts three days before the trench does.

  In force since 2026-09-14 · Checked 2026-09-14

  City of Hermosa Beach, Public Works

Who governs and serves this area

Jurisdiction

Hermosa Beach (municipality)

Sewer service

Not mapped. No sewer service territory covering this area has been added, so BelowGrid cannot say who serves an individual address here.