An Act To Amend the Maine Sanitary District Enabling Act
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 0635
Committee: Natural Resources
Sponsors: KOFFMAN
Amends: 38 MRSA §110, 38 MRSA §1163-B

Legislative Document 
No. 635 
H.P.468 
House of Representatives, February 8, 2005 
An Act To Amend the Maine Sanitary District Enabling Act 
Reference to the Committee on Natural Resources suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative KOFFMAN of Bar Harbor. 
Printed on recycled paper 
----m~ /J1.1l!P£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec.t. 38 MRSA §110t. first,. as affected by PL 1989, c. 890, 
Pt. A, §40 and amended by Pt. B, §2ll, is further amended to read: 
The 
formation of 
a 
sanitary district is accomplished as 
follows, 
unless 
a 
municipality 
chooses 
to 
establish 
a 
decentralized community sanitary district, 
in which 
case 
the 
decentralized community sanitary district is formed pursuant to 
section 1163-B. 
Sec. 2. 38 MRSA §1163-B is enacted to read: 
§1163-B. 
Decentralized community sanitary district 
1. 
Definition. 
As 
used in this section, 
"decentralized 
community sanitary district" means a sanitary district formed to 
manage one or more subsurface wastewater collection, treatment 
and disposal systems constructed according to the requirements of 
the 
subsurface wastewater disposal 
rules 
adopted pursuant to 
Title 22, section 42, subsection 3 to accommodate nonindustrial 
development entirely within one 
or 
more 
areas designated 
as 
growth areas in a comprehensive plan approved under Title 30-A, 
section 4347-A. 
2. 
Formation. 
A decentralized community sanitary district: 
~A~. __ ~M~a~y __ ~b~e~~f~o~r~m~e~d~~o~n~l~y~~i~f~~n~o~~s~a~nitary or sewer district 
formed under this chapter or other state law exists wi th 
jurisdiction to 
serve 
the 
geographic 
area 
or 
areas 
in 
question: and 
B. 
Is created in the same manner as a sanitary district 
under this chapter, except submission to the voters is not 
required and, 
following the joint meeting as required in 
section 1101 
between the 
commissioner 
and 
the municipal 
officers 
or 
others 
named 
in 
the 
application 
for 
a 
decentralized community sanitary district, the trustees must 
be appointed by the municipal officers of the municipality 
or municipalities in which the designated growth area or 
areas are located. 
The terms of the trustees are determined 
in the manner described in section 1105. 
3. 
Application. 
Up0IL-.QPpro\Tal 
by 
the 
board 
of 
an 
Qpp~ion for a decentralized community sanitary distric~the 
commissioner shall issue a certificate of organization in the 
name of the decentralized community sanitary district in a form 
as the commissioner determines. 
The original certificate must be 
delivered to the trustees on the day that they are directed to 
Page l-LRI078 (1) 
to 
• 
organize, 
and a 
C012Y of the certificate duly attested by the 
commissioner must be filed and recorded in the office of the 
Secretary of 
State. 
The 
issuance 
of 
a 
certificate 
by 
the 
commissioner is conclusive evidence of the lawful organization of 
the decentralized comnunity sanitary district. 
The decentralized 
community sanitary district is not o12erative until the date set 
by the commissioner under section 1106. 
4. 
Powers. 
Unless otherwise stated in this section, each 
~tralized community 
sanitary district 
formed 
under 
this 
section has the same 120wers and duties as a sanitary district 
formed under this cha12ter, exce12t the right of eminent domain, 
which remains with the municipqJity or municipalities in which 
the decentralized community sanitary district is operating. 
5. 
Connection of new sewers. 
Every new building in the 
territory of a decentralized community sanitary district formed 
under this section intended for human habitation or occupancy or 
with facilities for discharge of nonindustrial wastewater must 
have 
a sanitary sewer system that is caused by the owner or 
person against whom taxes on the premises are assessed to be 
connected with the facilities of the decentralized community 
sanitary district, upon written application to and approval of 
the connection by the trustees of the decentralized community 
sanitary district. 
The trustees may reguire the owner or person 
proposing a new building or facility to construct at the owner's 
cost a subsurface wastewater disposal system sufficient for the 
development according to the subsurface wastewater disposal rules 
adopted pursuant to Title 
22, 
section 42, 
subsection 
for 
inspection by, dedication to and ownership and management by the 
decentralized community sanitary district. 
If, within 60 days of 
written 
application 
to 
the 
decentralized 
community 
sanitary 
district, the decentralized community sanitary district does not 
direct the owner or persOn to connect to an existing subsurface 
wastewater 
facility 
or 
to 
construct 
one 
for 
ownershi12 
and 
management by the decentralized community sanitary district, the 
owner or person may construct the necessary wastewater disposal 
system to serve the new building or buildings, and such system is 
separate 
from 
the 
ownership 
by 
and 
operations 
of 
the 
decentralized community sanitary district if all a12plicable state 
rules and local regulations are met. 
6. 
Connec~ion of existing sewers. 
Buildings within the 
decentralized community sanitary district existing as 
of 
the 
operative date of the decentralized community sanitary district 
that are already served by a private sewer or septic system are 
not reguired to connect with any 
sewer of the decentralized 
community 
sanitary 
district. 
The 
decentralized 
community 
sanitary district is not obligated to accept into its system the 
private sewers or septic systems of buildings existing as of the 
operative 
date 
of 
the 
decentralized 
community 
district. 
Nothing 
in 
this 
s~ction 
precludes 
a 
agreement for accepting th~eexisting private sewers 
systems 
into 
the 
decentralized 
community 
sanitary 
wastewater facility. 
sanitary 
voluntary 
or septic 
district 
7. 
Expansion of 
de~entraJ.i~gd _c~Qllunity sanitary 
dist~:if:J~ 
boundaries. 
The boundaries of the territory of a decentralized 
community sanit_all_ diJHd'ict Jllay 
be 
exrum.ded by the municipql 
officers if the designated growth area boundaries within which 
the 
decentralized 
community 
sanitary 
district 
operates 
are 
expanded pursuant to 
an 
ame~~~~_ the 
comprehensive plan 
approved under Title 30-~ctio~~7-A, but the decentralized 
community sanitary district' s jurisdiction may not extend beyond 
those boundaries. 
SUMMARY 
This bill amends the Maine Sanitary District Enabling Act by 
setting 
guidelines 
for 
the 
establishment 
of 
decentralized 
community sanitary districts.