Frequently Asked Questions

To make clear and to emphasize the fact that all real power is in the City Council; the City Manager has responsibility, not independent power.

The most important difference is that it provides City Council the opportunity to select an extremely strong City Manager based on his/her training, knowledge and experience rather than his/her political popularity that can in turn recruit a highly professional administrative staff.

It is stronger than any other form of government because it not only determines policy by adopting budgets and levying taxes, as all City Councils do, but also, and especially because, it hires and oversees a City Manager as chief administrative office to carry out its programs.

An application must be submitted prior to the commencement of any business activity within the city limits. Upon approval of the application and payment of the prescribed tax, the City of Seaside will issue a Business License.

There are a few options for obtaining a Business License application for contractors and other business types. You will need to view our

Customers pay a monthly meter charge based on their meter size and a monthly consumption charge based on their account designation and units used. Meter and consumption charges are adjusted annually on January 1st according to the increase in the Consumer Price Index for San Francisco-Oakland-San, Jose, California. View our Current Rates (PDF).

You can fill out our COMPLIMENT form and turn it in to any on-duty supervisor at the Seaside Police Department. You may also mail in your completed form to 440 Harcourt Ave, Seaside CA, 93955. Click the link: /DocumentCenter/View/11918

You can contact any on-duty supervisor by phone, at 831-899-6748, or fill out a COMPLAINT form and turn it in to a supervisor at 440 Harcourt Ave, Seaside CA, 93955. You may also mail in your completed form (ATTN: Watch Commander). Click the link here for the form: /DocumentCenter/View/11920

There is no fee for a crime report. There is a fee for traffic collision reports. You can obtain a traffic collision report at the Police Department or by going to: www.veripicreports.com. To see the fees for accident reports go to the 

Visit the Department of Justice website to search for VISA/IMMIGRATION information and follow their instructions.

The Seaside Police Department Authorization for Trespassing Enforcement Form is available for businesses which do not operate on a 24 hours basis, as well as for private properties which are permanently closed to the public.  The form gives the police department the authority to enforce trespassing laws on private property while the owner/management is not present, per California Penal Code 602(o).  The form is valid for a period of either one month, or one year.  

One Month:  When a business/property is normally open for business, but enforcement is requested during closed hours.  This form will need to be resubmitted every 30 days.   

One Year:  When a business/property is completely closed to the public (No Trespassing signs are required).  This form will need to be resubmitted every year.  

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE AUTHORIZATION FOR TRESPASSING ENFORCEMENT FORM

Please email the completed form to Sergeant Jorge Enriquez at: jenriquez@ci.seaside.ca.us or you can also drop it off at the Seaside Police Department addressed to Sergeant Enriquez.

 Also, please contact Sergeant Jorge Enriquez with any questions or concerns by emailing him at: jenriquez@ci.seaside.ca.us

Call Public Works Department at (831) 899-6825 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. For after hours for non-emergency concerns, please call our Public Works Hotline at (831) 899-6828. Immediate concerns such as sewer spills, fallen trees, or limbs, nonworking traffic signals, clogged or over flowing sewer lines, after normal business hours, please call (831) 394-6811 the call will be answered by an emergency dispatcher.

Yes, a Tree Permit is needed to trim, remove, or plant a tree within the City. Tree permits are processed at City Hall located at 440 Harcourt Avenue.

Yes, an Encroachment Permit is required for placement of a dumpster in the city’s right-of-way. Please come in to City hall to speak with an Engineer in order to determine the best location on the street.

Yes, an Encroachment Permit is required for any work within the right-of-way. For more information regarding Encroachment Permits, please call 831-899-6727.

The City of Seaside maintains the Seaside Municipal Water System, which is bounded by La Salle Avenue, Highland Street, Hilby Avenue and Mescal Street. For a map see the Water System page. If there should be a water leak within this area please contact the Public Works Department at 831-899-6715. Should the water leak occur outside these boundaries please contact California American Water Company at 831-373-3051.

No, this is not a service offered by the City. A licensed Survey Engineer can accurately determine a property line. 

When implemented for the wrong reasons, stop signs create more problems than they solve. When stop signs are placed on one street, speeds tend to increase on the intersecting street. In these instances, motorists assume they no longer have to drive as cautiously though the intersection, because the other car is required to stop.

The MUTCD lists the situations and conditions, or “warrants,” where stop signs may be appropriate. In general, they should be used where traffic volumes, restricted sightlines or the assignment of right-of-way is required.

A warrant is a set of conditions, listed in the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which must be met in order to post traffic signs or signals.

Speed bumps result in an increased risk of personal injury to unsuspecting motorists and bicyclists. Traffic studies show that speed bumps only lower the speed of traffic directly adjacent to the bump. The average speed on streets where speed bumps are installed remains unchanged.

Applications submitted to the Traffic Advisory Committee will need to be accompanied by the application fee. If the request is approved, fees will be collected prior to installation of any approved requests that directly benefits the applicant, such as limited timed parking, white zones, etc. Prior to any required maintenance of the improvement, the same fee will apply and be billed to the applicant. 

To submit a request to the Traffic Advisory Committee a Traffic Advisory Committee Request Application will need to be completed and returned with appropriate application fees.

The Traffic Advisory Committee will add the request to an upcoming agenda. The applicant will be notified when their item has been added to an agenda and may be present if they choose to ask or answer any questions pertaining to the request. All TAC’s action will be forwarded for City Council consideration at their next scheduled meeting.

The Seaside Municipal Water System (SMWS) serves about 800 connections. The service area extends from La Salle Avenue south to Hilby Avenue, and from Yosemite Street east to General Jim Moore Blvd. Other portions of the City are served by California American Water (Cal Am) or by Marina Coast Water District.

SMWS provides groundwater from the Seaside Subbasin of the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin.

Yes. The Seaside Subbasin is an adjudicated water source, so we and the other pumpers have legal rights to the water and allocated shares of the available supply.

SMWS has one active water well, well no. 4, drilled in 2001. The back-up well, well no. 3, failed several years ago after almost 50-years in service.

Yes. Public water systems need to be reliable. For systems using groundwater, that means you need two or more wells, with the ability to meet customer demands when the highest-producing well is out of service for maintenance. 

SMWS has a mutual aid agreement with Cal Am, and during maintenance periods we purchase water from the Cal Am. It costs more to purchase water than to pump it ourselves, so we only use this during emergencies. For example, the pump on Well no. 4 needed repair work during July 2022, and the price SMWS paid to CalAm was $17.65 per hcf versus our cost of $10.60 per hcf.  CalAm rates are anticipated to increase in the next year (and years to come) to address desalination, recycled water, and other costs associated with augmenting CalAm’s water supply.

Wells can last 40 to 80 years. Well no. 3 lasted about 50 years. Electrical components (motors and control panels) require periodic upgrades and repairs.

In order to combat the misinformation that was put out by the community on the Seaside Municipal Water System back-up well, we wanted to ensure people received the most accurate information as soon as possible.

A municipal water well needs a 100-ft x 100-ft control area, but the fenced yard can be smaller than that.  The well must also meet certain setbacks from other types of pipelines which limit where the well can be placed.  The well and associated equipment fit in a 1-car garage, but you need space to accommodate occasional well maintenance vehicles.

The deepest, best-producing portion of the groundwater basin is north of San Pablo Avenue.  Site being considered are Havana-Soliz Park, Lincoln-Cunningham Park (northeast portion), Ord Terrace School (in an easement area), former Fort Ord near golf course pond, and Seaside East near Bureau of Land Management (BLM) boundary

Not necessarily, but it needs to be on City-owned land or land the City can reasonably obtain.

Possibly. Well no. 4 (the active well) was drilled next to Well no. 3.  When two wells are co-located, you can only run one at a time. If we can separate them by about 1,000-feet, we can run them concurrently.  

Areas on the former Fort Ord are being considered. Many municipal wells are located in residential areas. 

Part of the site evaluations involves locating utilities and steep slopes that might rule out the use of those sites.

Drilling and testing a deep well takes about two months.  Outfitting the well is an additional 6- to 9-months of on-site construction. 

The drilling equipment takes up an area of about 200-ft x 100-ft. 

The drilling operation should not cause ground vibrations, but there will be noise and traffic impacts around the work area. Portions of the work require 24-hour operations with construction lights on-site.

Yes, the work site will be within a construction fence. 

The City can apply for grants and or low interest loans from the state. 

After checking with Operations staff, the recent maintenance work at Well 4 required draining the well column, so they had to flush the well and take a water sample to confirm it was still clean before putting the well back in service. This discharged a lot of water to the street but was a one-time event.

Yes. We are looking at other sites. The golf course has many existing wells that limit the possible location for this new well. The previous studies limited the analysis to in-town and have since expanded to the former Fort Ord. The further distance to the new well site will require a longer transmission pipe and increased project costs. Final recommendations will not be made to City Council until all the sites have been reviewed.

Efforts will be made to reduce impacts as much as possible. Sound barriers that would muffle the sound would be required for work near residences. Notice will be provided to residents If night work is required. Final mitigations and controls would be worked out once a site is selected. Keep in mind that the long-term benefit ( a reliable water supply) outweighs the short-term impacts.

Yes. Community input is being received during this presentation. Additional opportunities will be provided when the Council is asked to review the location for the construction of the test well. Prior to the well being drilled, there will be a CEQA initial study which will allow an additional opportunity for the public to comment.

The well at this site has been inactive for at least 15 years and is installed in a very shallow part of the aquifer (south of the Ord Terrace fault). If this well was demolished and a new well was constructed in its place it would probably not meet the target production rate and an additional well would need to be constructed to meet the peak day water demands.

No. The source of the water is the same aquifer. Once the new well was outfitted and placed into service the residents closer to the well would be receiving groundwater from the new well instead of the current one.

No. The SMWS has water storage tanks behind Mescal Street. If the site is not collocated with well #4 then a small storage tank with a few hundred gallons of sodium hypochlorite will be stored in the well house for injection into the drinking water system. Sodium hypochlorite is bleach, a common disinfectant used at very low dosages to prevent bacterial growth in water distribution pipes.

The criteria were listed in the presentation slides. The main hydrogeological criteria include being in the deepest part of the Santa Margarita formation and close to the SMWS to reduce connection distances and increased costs.

Well #4 was drilled in January 2001 so it is 21 years old. 

Yes. The well is required by state law which requires a secondary water source which SMWS currently does not have. The primary purpose of the well is to serve the existing customers.

Condemning a property through eminent domain would be the last resort. Using eminent domain still requires purchasing the subject property, so finding a site with a willing seller is always preferred.

The well will have an electric motor located inside the building which reduces the sound level outside the building. 

Collocating a well by the current well #4 would limit the operational flexibility.  Two wells at a single site would be operated singly (one at a time).  It is preferred that the wells be 1,000 feet apart so they can run concurrently if needed.

School property is not owned by the City and would require the City to negotiate an easement with the School District for its use.

The fenced yard could be as small as 50x50 feet. The structure itself would be about the size of a one-car garage at 20X20 feet and about 18 feet tall. 

Once a site is selected it will take approximately a month to install and approximately a month to test the well. After testing the well is capped and locked until the rest of the equipment is installed.

The presentation was recorded and is available on the City’s YouTube page and SMWS webpage.

The system has just under 800 connections, mostly single-family residences.

Water samples are collected periodically at the well, the water storage tanks, and at various locations within the distribution system. The most frequent testing is for chlorine presence and bacteria absence. Testing for other contaminants occurs at set intervals.

The wells used for aquifer storage and recovery don’t have sound enclosures, so you can hear those motors when they are running. They are not located next to residences, so there is less concern about their noise levels. Those sites have security lighting to discourage vandalism. Well sites in town have lights on motion detectors.