CA HCD Compliant ADU - Lateral Connection Roadblocks

[Craig Horton]

Hi,

I am new here, but saw some posts regarding ADUs and was hoping someone might have some advice for me.

My wife and I are building an 800 sqft ADU in the Bay Area. We made sure to follow all the state guidelines to take advantage of the 4' setbacks, the ministerial approval and 60 day approval requirements. The process went smoothly and our permit was approved back in March. When we applied for the encroachment permit, public works didn't want to grant it because we would be creating a second lateral on the parcel since the ADU is at a lower elevation than the main house.

The lower elevation of the ADU and the sewer depth of only 3.5' make connecting to the main lateral technically infeasible. The city admitted that both planning and public works either failed to notice the new lateral in the plans or failed to review the plans at all. Their excuse was that it's rare for new laterals to be needed and ours is a special case. Public Works wants us to disconnect and cap the existing lateral, turn it 90 degrees downhill and connect it to the new lateral about 75 feet away. Their excuse is that the local PUC sued them in 2012 for allowing too much storm water(INI) in to the sewer system.

Public works has been sitting on this since May and I am trying to figure out my options, which seem to be limited to:

1. Cave and spend money.

2. Wave the CA ADU Handbook at them and threaten to file a complaint with the CA HCD that they are trying to renege on our CA complaint ADU plans more than 60 days after submittal and put up roadblocks. Our town is one of those that is trying to submit a 100% ADU plan for RHNA 6 due end of year, so a complaint could nuke that plan, but I really don't want to be that guy.

3. Hire a lawyer

Any thoughts? I have read and reread all of the ADU bills and it feels like what they are doing violates it in a few places.