§ 134-59. Construction observation and inspection.

(a)

General.

(1)

Installation of all potable water, non-potable irrigation water and/or wastewater systems or portion(s) thereof and/or connections to existing utility systems within the county shall be observed and inspected by qualified professional and technical personnel as deemed necessary by the engineer of record. Construction observation and inspection is required to ensure that the system(s) or portion(s) thereof accepted by the board have been installed in accordance with the county staff approved construction drawings and technical specifications. Construction observation and inspection is further necessary to ensure that the county and the potable water, non-potable irrigation water and/or wastewater districts shall receive utility systems or portion(s) thereof that require minimum capital expenditure for operation and maintenance.

(2)

Under no circumstances will the county or the district accept anything less than the following. To assure proper laying and backfilling of utilities pipes and other underground utility facilities that can be damaged by improper laying or backfilling, a minimum of one or a combination of the following methods shall be utilized at the election of the entity doing the installation of the respective facilities: (i) mechanical screening of native bedding and backfill material to a compacted height of one foot above top of pipe, (ii) importing of select bedding and backfill material to a compacted height of one foot above top of pipe, (iii) full-time inspection during laying and backfilling to a compacted height of one foot above top of pipe, or (iv) certification by a geotechnical engineer licensed to practice in the State of Florida that the native or existing soils to be encountered during the construction of the underground utility will be suitable for use as bedding and fill material. If full-time inspection is the chosen alternative, such inspection shall consist of on-site inspection by a non-county-government-employee licensed professional engineer and/or qualified inspector under the supervision of the professional engineer performed (at no expense to the county or district for private projects) during the installation (laying and backfilling) of all potable water, or non-potable irrigation water and/or wastewater systems or portion(s) thereof. Record drawings shall state which method was used to assure proper laying and backfilling of material.

(b)

Pre-construction meeting. Upon county staff approval of a project's construction documents, and prior to the commencement of construction, a pre-construction meeting shall be conducted pursuant to the LDC. The pre-construction meeting shall be held in the offices of the county or, if deemed appropriate, at the office of the engineer of record. Representatives of the county, the applicant(s), the engineer of record, the utility companies, the contractor and the developer shall attend the pre-construction meeting, unless waived by the county staff. At the pre-construction meeting, a schedule of construction activities and copies of all applicable state and federal permits shall be provided to the county representative(s). At least 48 hours written notice shall be provided for scheduling the pre-construction meeting with the county staff. Should any utility construction commence prior to the pre-construction meeting, the county staff shall have the right to require partial or full exposure of all completed work for observation, inspection and verification that utilities were installed in accordance with the approved construction documents and technical specifications. The owner, developer or authorized agent shall notify the county staff in writing of which one or a combination of the following methods will be used to assure proper laying and backfilling of utilities pipes: 1) mechanical screening of native bedding and backfill material to a compacted height of one foot above top of pipe, 2) importing of select bedding and backfill material to a compacted height of one foot above top of pipe, 3) full-time inspection during pipe laying and backfilling to a compacted height of one foot above top of pipe, or 4) certification by a geotechnical engineer licensed to practice in the State of Florida that the native or existing soils to be encountered during the construction of the underground utility will be suitable for use as bedding and fill material.

(c)

Construction scheduling. All potable water, non-potable irrigation water and/or wastewater system construction in right-of-way areas, including pressure testing and sewer lamping, shall be completed in accordance with the approved construction plans and technical specifications prior to proceeding with the stabilization of the roadway sub-grade. Installation of improvements that would complicate corrective work on the potable water, non-potable irrigation water and/or wastewater system(s) or portion(s) thereof, shall be considered in scheduling all adjoining and/or related phases of the construction. The County staff shall be notified within 24 hours, with written follow-up, of any problems and/or conflicts with the construction of the additions, extensions and/or improvements as they affect the completion of the proposed system(s) or portion(s) thereof in accordance with the approved construction plans and technical specifications. Failure to comply with this regulation shall constitute just cause for the issuance of a stop work order by the county staff and the county staff shall have the right to require partial or full exposure of any related work which has been completed, in order to observe, inspect, and verify that the utilities were installed in accordance with the approved construction plans and technical specifications.

(d)

Construction observation and inspection.

(1)

General. Pursuant to the F.A.C., Chapter 62-555.533, the construction of potable water and/or wastewater system(s) or portion(s) thereof requires a professional engineer ("P.E.") to certify that the construction was completed in accordance with the approved construction plans and technical specifications. The certification must be based upon on-site observation of construction; therefore, all potable water, non-potable irrigation water and/or wastewater systems construction shall require on-site construction observation in compliance with the LDC and F.A.C., Chapter 62-555.533, as may be amended hereafter. The construction observation shall be performed by a P.E. licensed to practice in the State of Florida or a designated technical representative under the P.E.'s direction.

The P.E.'s certification of construction compliance with county staff approved construction documents verifies that the potable water, non-potable irrigation water and/or wastewater systems or portion(s) thereof have been constructed in accordance with record drawings. Refer to section 134-60: Utilities conveyance procedures.

(2)

Construction inspections by county representatives.

a.

Upon final written approval of construction documents by the county staff, the engineer of record shall be provided with a list of standard inspections that require the presence of a county representative. All required inspections shall be identified in the county's staff's approval letter for the project. The engineer of record or applicant's contractor shall be responsible for requesting county inspections based upon the scheduling and progress of construction. Requests for inspections shall be provided to the county staff at least 48 hours prior to the requested inspection to allow scheduling of the county inspector. Verbal confirmation of the inspection time or a request to reschedule the inspection shall be made by the engineer of record. During the county inspection, the engineer of record or his/her designated representative shall be available on-site.

b.

Routine county inspections shall be performed without notice on all potable water, non-potable irrigation water and/or wastewater systems construction to ensure compliance with county approved construction documents. In the event the county inspector, or an employee of the public utilities department, during an on-site inspection, finds construction in progress which does not comply with the procedures and policies contained herein and/or the approved construction documents, the county inspector, or employee of the public utilities department shall have full authority to issue a stop work order. Such stop work order shall remain in full force and effect with respect to the non-compliant work until the documented discrepancies have been corrected to the full satisfaction of the public utilities department. Construction-related inspections, where applicable, shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

1.

Hot taps to potable water lines larger than six inches and wastewater systems lines greater than four inches.*

2.

Master meter and bypass piping.

3.

Jack & bore casings.*

4.

Pressure tests.*

5.

Infiltration/exfiltration tests.*

6.

Lift station installation, prior to cover-up and start-up.*

7.

Lift station start-up.*

8.

Lamping of sewer lines.*

9.

Pigging and flushing of wastewater lines, force mains, potable water mains and non-potable irrigation lines.

* Note: full bore flushing and pigging of potable water lines need only water division inspection.

10.

Television video taping of wastewater lines at end of construction and the warranty period ("in-office review").

11.

Conflict construction.*

12.

Connections to existing potable water, non-potable irrigation water and wastewater systems.*

13.

Eight-inch diameter or larger casing installations.*

14.

Other special requirements as specified by the county staff at the time of construction document approval.

15.

Chlorination of water lines and reflushing of line after chlorination (needs only water division inspection only).*

16.

Installation of temporary meters/backflows.*

17.

Bacteriological sampling (needs water division inspection only).*

18.

Hot taps to any water concrete mains, pressure tests on lines 20" and greater, and connections to existing potable systems greater than 12" need to be inspected by the water division and GMD.*

19.

Fire flow testing.

*An inspector on behalf of the county or other qualified employee of the county must be present during inspections marked with an asterisk.

(e)

Preliminary inspections. A preliminary inspection of the completed system(s) or portion(s) thereof shall be required prior to any conveyance to and acceptance by the board. During this inspection, the utilities will be checked for compliance with the approved construction drawings and/or approved revised construction drawings. All systems must be found to be in full compliance with the county-approved construction drawings, or county-approved revised construction drawings, prior to conveyance to the board for acceptance. Refer to section 134-60: Utilities conveyance procedures.

(f)

Final utility inspections.

(1)

Final utility inspections procedures run with all land in, on or over which the respective utility facilities have been installed (constructed). The final utility inspection shall be conducted no earlier than one year and no later than one year and 60 days after preliminary acceptance of the utility system(s) or portion(s) thereof by the board. Each final utility inspection shall be delinquent (overdue) if not completed and passed within 14 months after that acceptance date. During this inspection, the utility system(s) or portion(s) thereof shall be examined for any defect in materials and/or workmanship, and for physical and operational compliance with the county staff approved record drawings. The UPS shall remain in effect until all final utility acceptance obligations have been satisfactorily completed, passed and final acceptance has been granted by the board. Refer to section 134-60: Utilities conveyance policies and procedures.

(2)

Delinquent final utility inspections. Staff shall provide written notice of overdue final utility inspections and other failures to comply with final utility inspection requirements, including all final utility acceptance obligations. The notice shall allow 60 days after receipt of the notice to comply fully with all final acceptance procedures. Any utility facilities that have not passed all final acceptance obligations not later than 60 days after receipt of the notice shall subject the service site and all units served by the utility facilities to all penalty provisions of this ordinance, including withholding of all additional county permits, permissions and authorizations regarding those sites and units, including, but not limited to, site development or site improvement plans, construction permits, and/or any amendments to any of the same. Subject to staff providing the notice, these provisions apply to final utility inspections that were delinquent prior to the effective date of this subsection.

(Ord. No. 04-31, § 9; Ord. No. 2018-36, § 1)