Buying, Remodeling, or on the Hot-Spot List: When Stockton Requires an Interceptor

The four triggers

1. New construction of a food service establishment.
2. A remodel or change of operations. “Remodel” has a specific definition in the chapter; a new fryer line or a menu change toward grease can count.
3. A change of ownership. The buyer inherits the requirement on day one.
4. A written notice that your lateral is on the city’s “hot spot” list or that you contributed to a blockage: 180 days to install.

What the unit has to be

Sized for the kitchen, with a 24-inch access manhole over each chamber and each sanitary tee, no dishwasher or food grinder plumbed to it, and documentation from the first pump-out onward. The chapter’s own definition of a pump-out includes the full contents: wastewater, FOG, floating materials, sludge and solids.

The waiver

Sec. 13.40.130 lets some establishments operate without an interceptor under a waiver, in exchange for an annual grease mitigation fee set by formula on the MUD fee schedule: two times the crew hourly rate plus the combo-truck hourly rate, times a line-segment factor, times cleanings per year. It is a fee for the city to clean your line segment because you are not cleaning a device. For most kitchens the interceptor is cheaper within a year.

Buying a restaurant: five checks

• Three years of six-line receipts. Gaps are now your gaps.
• The percent-full reading on the last receipt. No reading means a skim.
• Whether the kitchen is on the hot-spot list or has had a blockage notice.
• Whether a waiver, and its fee, transfers with the sale.
• A lid lift: baffles, tees, cap thickness, manhole size.

We do pre-purchase inspections with a written report: capacity, condition, percent-full on arrival, and whether the tank fits the kitchen you plan to run.