Does a Mesa business need a Multiple or Large Meter permit? City Code 8-10-9

Subsection (A) sets a water demand ceiling. Except as the section provides otherwise, customers are subject to an annual limit of 330 acre-feet of water in a rolling twelve-month period on metered deliveries. Meters used solely for residential use and hospitals (NAICS Code 622) are excluded, "except the Demand Ceiling applies to and includes all landscaping meters."

Subsection (C) names three triggers for an MLM Permit, which is a written authorization issued by the Water Resources Department:

1. 1To exceed the demand ceiling.
2. 2To get a meter of four inches or larger, or the equivalent in multiple meters (the quote above). Residential-only meters and hospitals are excluded here too, except that the requirement applies to all landscape meters.
3. 3To take service with special, unusual or exceptional characteristics, including peak momentary, hourly, daily or monthly demand, as the Department determines.

Subsection (D) says the application is a Sustainable Water Service Application on the Department's approved form, stamped by a Registered Professional Engineer. For undeveloped property it goes in when the applicant submits for development entitlements. An existing customer submits before exceeding the ceiling, or when the Department asks. The application lists the facility and operator, SIC or NAICS codes, phasing, growth in demand, a description of equipment and processes, environmental control permits and estimated average and peak hourly, daily, monthly and annual demand.

Under (E), the Department may issue a permit if the system, with any improvements the applicant provides, is sufficient. An application with no permit within 60 days is deemed denied, unless the applicant requests and the Department grants an extension. A permit can set the ceiling, an allowance, meter placement and other conditions. A customer with an allowance must, at its own cost, secure and transfer Long-Term Storage Credits to the city through the Arizona Department of Water Resources within 90 calendar days of the permit, enough to cover the full allowance for at least three years, and then keep three years of credits on balance.

Subsection (I) is compliance. Deliveries five percent or more over the ceiling, allowance or agreement amount are a violation. A first exceedance (one or more days in a month) draws a written notice and the 8-10-10(A) penalty, a second in a later month within three years draws 8-10-10(B), and a third draws 8-10-10(C) with each day a separate violation. Overage is billed under the General Commercial Water Service Rate Schedule, and the Department may revoke a permit for good cause, including tampering with metering equipment or failing to pay water and wastewater charges.

• Demand ceiling: the maximum metered amount of water, in acre-feet, available to customers in a rolling 12-month period under 8-10-9.
• Allowance: water in excess of the ceiling, based on conveying Long-Term Storage Credits to the city, compliance with an approved MLM Permit or agreement and the chapter's other requirements.
• Legacy customer: an existing customer as of Ordinance 5863 whose historic demand was above or within ten percent of 330 acre-feet but not over 550 acre-feet. The ceiling is 550 acre-feet and the customer is limited to its existing meter size.
• Development entitlements: city approvals under Mesa's code, including Title 9 chapters, for development or installation of improvements on a property.
• Unusual characteristics: not defined beyond the list in (C)(3). The Department decides.

Commercial, industrial and institutional customers and applicants, which for this purpose means everyone except meters used solely for residential use and hospitals (NAICS Code 622). Landscape meters are inside the rule even for those two groups.

Our reading is that an ordinary business with a small meter, below the ceiling and with no unusual demand does not need one. It is the size and the pattern of demand that count.

A logistics campus asks for a six-inch meter. The request alone is the trigger. The developer files the PE-stamped application when it applies for development entitlements, and the clock is 60 days.

A processor with a two-inch meter near the ceiling. The meter size is not the problem. Its annual deliveries are. The code has it apply before it exceeds the ceiling.

The edge case: a hospital with a big irrigated campus. The hospital's building meters are excluded. Its landscape meters are not, so the ceiling and the permit rule reach them.

1. 1Add up expected annual deliveries in acre-feet and check them against 330. Note whether the project needs a meter of four inches or more.
2. 2Hire a Registered Professional Engineer to prepare and stamp the Sustainable Water Service Application on the Department's form.
3. 3File it when you submit for development entitlements. For an existing customer, file before you exceed the ceiling.
4. 4Ask the City of Mesa where to pick up the form and who reviews it. The Development Services line printed on the city's fee schedule is 480-644-4273.
5. 5If you receive an allowance, arrange the Long-Term Storage Credit transfer through the Arizona Department of Water Resources inside 90 days.
6. 6Track metered use against the ceiling or allowance monthly. Five percent over is a violation.

• The permit only applies to big meters. Exceeding the ceiling and unusual demand are separate triggers.
• Hospitals are exempt from everything. Their landscape meters are included.
• No answer in 60 days means approval. The code says an application with no permit within 60 days is deemed denied unless an extension is granted.
• Storage credits can wait. They must be transferred within 90 calendar days of permit issuance.

Mesa's own text governs; this page explains it.