§ 53.15. ACCESS AND INSPECTION OF PROPERTIES AND FACILITIES.

The City Engineer or designee may enter and inspect properties and facilities at reasonable times as often as may be necessary to determine compliance with this chapter.

(A) Employees of the City may enter and inspect facilities subject to regulations under this chapter as often as may be necessary to determine compliance with this chapter.

(B) Facility operators shall allow authorized employees of the City ready access to all parts of the premises for the purposes of inspection, sampling examination and copying of records that must be kept under the conditions of a NPDES permit to discharge storm water and performance of any additional duties as defined by state and federal law.

(C) The City may set up on any permitted facility such devices as are necessary in the opinion of the City Engineer to conduct monitoring and/or sampling of the facility's storm water discharge.

(D) The City may require the discharger to install monitoring equipment as necessary. The facility's sampling and monitoring equipment shall be maintained at all times in a safe and proper operating condition by the discharger at its own expense. All devices used to measure storm water flow and quality shall be calibrated to ensure accuracy.

(E) The temporary or permanent obstruction to safe and easy access to the facility to be inspected and/or sampled shall be promptly removed by the operator at the written or oral request of the City and shall not be replaced. The costs of clearing such access shall be borne by the operator.

(F) Unreasonable delays in allowing the City access to a permitted facility is a violation of a storm water discharge permit and of this chapter. A person who is the operator of a facility with a NPDES permit to discharge storm water associated with industrial activity commits an offense if the person denies the authorized enforcement agency reasonable access to the permitted facility for the purpose of conducting any activity authorized or required by this chapter.

(G) If the representatives of the City have been refused access to any part of the premises from which storm water is discharged, the City may seek issuance of a search warrant from any court of competent jurisdiction.

(Ord. 18-31, passed 9-4-18)