Who pays for the sewer lateral in Redondo Beach, CA
Which part of the pipe is yours
Yours all the way to the main, including the fitting where it joins
Why, and what to doYours from the meter to your building
Why, and what to do
Who is responsible for which part
The property owner is responsible for the sewer connection, and the City's own definition puts the expensive part inside it: a "sewer connection" here is a privately maintained line within the public street, including the wye or tee at the main. The City maintains the public sewers and claims no share of the connection.
- The property owner
- The sewer connection, which in Redondo Beach is defined to include the run under the road. Section 5-4.303 states that "the property owner shall be responsible for the construction, maintenance and repairs of all property sewer connection", and section 5-4.103 defines a sewer connection as "a privately maintained sewer line, including the connection, wye or tee, within a public street or right-of-way, proposed to connect any parcel, lot or part of a lot to a main line sewer". So the fitting at the main is named as the owner's, which most codes leave unsaid.
- What else is worth knowing
- What the code settles and what it leaves open are different lengths of the same pipe. The run within the public street, up to and including the wye or tee at the main, is the owner's under sections 5-4.303 and 5-4.103 together - that is the ordinance. The run from your building to the property line is not inside that definition, and the chapter defines no building sewer or lateral at all. Nothing in it claims that length for the City either, and it is private plumbing on private land, so it is the owner's on every ordinary reading - but the ordinance is silent there rather than clear. Note also that the two sections use slightly different words, "sewer connection" and "property sewer connection", so quote both if you are putting the question to the City.
What is required
The City of Redondo Beach states that "it is unlawful for any person to make or to maintain, or to cause to be made or maintained, any connection with any public sewer of the City, until a permit therefor shall have first been obtained from the Engineer". Every connection "shall be made in accordance with the Engineering and Public Works Department's Standard Plans and Specifications", the applicant "shall have the required sewer installation performed by a contractor licensed by the State to perform this type of work", and a wastewater capital facility charge is collected for each parcel connected. Sewers connected directly to City trunk sewers are inspected by the City during construction.
What to do: Get the Engineer's permit before any work touches the connection, and ask at the same time whether the existing connection is on record as permitted - that question is worth more here than in neighbouring cities. Check your contractor holds a State licence for this type of work, ask what the wastewater capital facility charge comes to for your parcel, since the code names it without a figure, and expect a City inspection during construction if your connection runs to a trunk sewer.
City of Redondo Beach Municipal Code, Title 5 chapter 4 article 3, Wastewater Facility / General RequirementsWhy this matters
One word here does something no other permit rule on this site does. Every other authority makes the ACT of connecting without a permit the offence - you dig, that is the violation, and it ends when the trench is filled. Redondo Beach makes it unlawful to MAINTAIN an unpermitted connection as well as to make one, which turns it into a continuing state rather than a past event. On the face of the section, a household whose pipe was connected without a permit long before they bought the house is maintaining an unlawful connection now. Nothing read says how the City applies that, so treat it as a question worth asking before a sale rather than as a penalty anyone has reported.
Who governs and serves this area
- Jurisdiction
- Redondo 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.
What BelowGrid cannot say yet
- No assistance or grant programme has been reviewed for this jurisdiction yet.
- No sewer service territory has been mapped for this area, so BelowGrid cannot say who serves an individual address.
How this compares to neighbouring cities
3 of the 4 nearest cities draw the line somewhere else. No single authority publishes that comparison, because each knows only about itself.
Your other pipe has a different answer
The drinking water line coming into your property is a separate pipe, run by a separate authority, and who is responsible for it is decided separately. Your sewer lateral is yours to the main, fitting included; your water line stops being yours at the meter.
Who owns the water service line in Redondo BeachLook up a specific address
A jurisdiction page describes what applies to properties in general. To see which authorities serve one address and what records exist for it, search for it.
Search for an address