HomeMy WebLinkAboutSDP200700150 Legacy Document 2008-03-04 (11)Megan Yaniglos
From: Bill Fritz
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 12:11 PM
To: Megan Yaniglos
Subject: FW: RE: Corps Confirmed Delineation, rescind approval - Further clarification needed.
More stuff for the file
William D. Fritz, AICP
Chief of Current Development
Albemarle County
434 - 296 -5832 ext 3242
- - - -- Original Message---- -
From: William Craun [ mailto: William.Craun @vdh.virginia.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 9:27 AM
To: Joel Loving
Cc: 'Katharine Almy'; 'Carolyn Holmes'; EABWood @yahoo.com; 'Meta Chisholm'; 'Marie & Bob Moje'; rlf @fpwlaw.com
Subject: Re: RE: Corps Confirmed Delineation, rescind approval - Further clarification needed.
I am sorry, I did not make that clear but, all streams that are classified as "Perennial Streams" within the designated
watershed areas or outside of these areas have to be 100' based on the County regs., not the State regs. Therefore, any
request for change from these
more strict setbacks, needs to be initiated at the county. Again,
the State Regs could have allowed 50' or even 10' with special design.
I had heard yesterday that there was some ruling change in setbacks from the Albemarle Board of Supervisors but, it just
pertained to R1 (rural areas). However, I was told by Mr. Brooks, an engineer from the county's engineering dept., that the
Bellair sub division was not in this area.
As for flow enhancement, this is where the conveyance of the septic effluent is delivered at full flow conditions into the
dispersal area, usually by pumping, which provides unsaturated soil conditions and thus provides a better medium for the
treatment of the waste.
Discharge effluent from a septic tanks have high levels of organic waste we measure as BOD, suspended solids and
fats,oils /grease.
"Pre treatment ", "Secondary Treatment" or "Advanced Treatment" are all terms we use when engineers use extra
equipment sort of like a small sewage plant contained in another septic tank, that is added to the septic system and
removes a lot more of those above materials I mentioned. The effluent is as clear as water and many of the harmful
pathogens are removed.
This provides an acceptable risk to public health in a wider variety of site conditions and a cleaner effluent that is easier to
dispose of and manage than septic effluent. It's more aesthetically acceptable.
Because of all this, they are allowed vertical reductions to setbacks in soil from rock and water tables. Also, some of them
are allowed a reduction in dispersal area requirements and are useful for small lots. In some county's, they allow for a
direct discharge into a stream or ditch.
They were specified by the engineer on some of these lots and will be required by the health department when permits are
applied for.
I hope this answers your questions. Again, please feel free to call if you need further assistance.
Bill Craun
- - - -- Original Message - - - --
From: Joel Loving <tjl3d @virginia.edu>
Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 9:25 pm
Subject: RE: Corps Confirmed Delineation, rescind approval - Further clarification needed.
> Mr. Craun,
• Thank you for this information. Just to clarify one more point I
• think may have been missed in your explanation however, where you say
• "They want septic systems to be 100 feet to any type of streams that
• fall within their specified watershed areas of the county.
• Intermittent streams outside these watershed areas can have a 50'
• setback. ", what is the County's setback ruling on "Perennial Streams"
• that do not necessarily fall within their specified watershed areas?
• This seems to be the question still not answered above, and appears to
• be the specific situation here. Also, for the neighbors sake, could
• you please briefly describe what is meant by effluent "flow
• enhancement" and "treatment" that is planned for these two very
• closely situated proposed septic systems. Also, was the use of these
• specially designed drain field systems specified in the request to
• subdivide this property, and if so, or if not, will they be required
• by the Health Department and /or the County?
> Thank you for your further clarification.
> Joel Loving
> T. Joel Loving, M.S., C.E.I.
> TJL Environmental Health Consultants, Inc.
> 2304 Jefferson Park Avenue
> Charlottesville, VA 22903
> 434 - 977 -1409 (phone and fax)
> 434 - 962 -8721 (cell)
• - - - -- Original Message - - - --
• From: William Craun [ mailto: William.Craun @vdh.virginia.gov]
• Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 2:22 PM
• To: Joel Loving
• Subject: Re: RE: Corps Confirmed Delineation, rescind approval (Re-
• sent)
> Mr. Loving,
• I believe I copied you on an email I sent out last week to Ms. Alby I
• also followed it up this morning with a fax of the state health
• department's set back to streams with septic systems, which I am sure
• she can share with you.
• Just to reiterate some,the state health department's set back to all
• types of streams is 50 feet. It can even be reduced to 10 -20' if flow
• enhancement is used. Counties have the right to exceed our regs if
• they want. Albemarle does this. They want septic systems to be 100
• feet to any type of streams that fall within their specified watershed
• areas of the county. Intermittent streams outside these watershed
• areas can have a 50' setback.
• I was trying to make the point in my letter to Ms. Alloy, that from a
• public health standpoint, the risk to the environment has been
• drastically reduced. Not only is flow enhancement being used but the
• septic effluent is being treated and the county is still making the
• health department stay 50' when it could be 10' in some of the other
• surrounding counties.
• As to your question on slope requirements, the health department
• allows up to 50 %. Again, the county exceeds our regs and only allows
• building and septic systems on slopes no more than 25%
4
> I hope this helps. Please let me know if I can answer any more
> questions. 434 - 972 -4306.
> Bill Craun
> - - - -- Original Message - - - --
> From: Joel Loving <tjl3d @virginia.edu>
> Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 12:38 pm
> Subject: RE: Corps Confirmed Delineation, rescind approval (Re -sent)
> > Mr. Craun,
> > Thank you for this information. One bit of confusion however, still
> > appears to be the drain field to stream setback requirements. It is
> > my understanding that Bellair, being in a "Growth Area" of the
> > County, has a requirement by the County Code of a 50' setback from a
> > perennial stream to a building site. This may soon change however,
> > with a potential revision by the Board of Supervisors that would
> > increase this to 100'. The
> County> Health Department on the other hand, is only concerned
> about the
> > setback between the drain field and streams (or wells, which are not
> > an issue here), and is not involved with proposed building sites. I
> > had understood from several discussions with Mr. Park, that your
> > Department required a 100'setback from a perennial stream to a drain
> > field. He had never mentioned the potential of a 50', or certainly
> > not a 30' or 20' setback allowance at all. We would appreciate
> > clarification on this point. Also,
> does the
> > Health Department consider slopes of the proposed drain field sites,
> > or their distances from wetlands or ponds? This proposed
> > subdivision of a 2+ acre lot into two 1 + acre lots is located in a
> > extremely wet area, with an pond, numerous steams, standing waters
> > and critical slopes. If you were to see this site, I am fairly
> > certain you would agree that two houses on this small parcel of
> > land, with a 1/2 acre pond, feed stream from a 6'
> > culvertunder the 29 -250 Bypass, numerous drainage streams off this
> > pond, a steam from an adjoining lot's pond, which crosses the site
> > as well (and proceedsinto a multitude of other ponds in our
> > neighborhood), has the potential for problems if the drain fields do
> > not operate to perfection.
> > I know from my own experience that our drain field frequently gets
> > out of balance, and the distribution box has to be re- adjusted on a
> > fairly continual basis. I can tell when this is necessary from
> > "smelly"
> > wet spots
> > in the front yard. If there were steams on my property like those
> > on the Harding lot, we would never know when the drain field
> > distribution was out of sync - the effluent would simply drain right
> > into one of the streams. To me, as to all the neighbors downstream
> > of this proposed subdivision, it seems this possibility should not
> > be allowed. We would be interested in your opinion on this, and
> > would welcome your visit to this site
> at any
> > future time.
> > We all feel that a proper steams and wetlands delineation by a
> > qualifiedconsultant, under the close review of the Army Corps of
> > Engineers, should happen before the Health Department places a stamp
> > of approval
> on this
3
> > proposed subdivision. Your comments, position, and opinion on this
> > would be most appreciated.
> > Thanking you in advance,
> > Joel Loving
> > T. Joel Loving, M.S., C.E.I.
> > TJL Environmental Health Consultants, Inc.
> > 2304 Jefferson Park Avenue
> > Charlottesville, VA 22903
> > 434 - 977 -1409 (phone and fax)
> > 434 - 962 -8721 (cell)
> > - - - -- Original Message - - - --
* > From: William Craun [ mailto: William.Craun @vdh.virginia.gov]
> > Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 10:50 AM
> > To: Katharine Almy
> > Cc: Justin Park; Tamara Ambler; G Brooks; Meta Chisholm; Susan
> Dallas;> Sharon Donovan; Jane Featherston; Ralph Feil; Bill Fritz;
> Garrison;> Carolyn Holmes; David Holmes; John Howard; Robby Knolls;
> Joel Loving;
> > Marie Moje; rentzhome7 @yahoo.com; Nelson Teague; Chris Walmsley;
> > MadelynWessel
> > Subject: Re: Corps Confirmed Delineation, rescind approval
> > Dear Ms. Almy,
> > Thanks for the letter and, I appreciate the concerns of everyone.
> > As Justin may have said, the health department approves subdivisions
> > at the request of the county. Also, this was approved using
> > Albemarle County's set back to stream regulations. Any request for
> changes has
> > to come from the county.
> > However, I will say from a public health standpoint, the impact for
> > any pollution has been further minimized, along with the setback, as
> > the septic effluent is being highly pre- treated along with what we
> > call
> > enhanced flow. Normally, the health department can approve
> this type
> > of system to within ten to twenty feet of a stream without pre-
* > treatment. Albemarle County exceeds our regs and requires 50' in
> > thiscase.
> > If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to
> > contact me at 434 972 4306.
> > William Craun
> > EH On -site Supervisor
> > Thomas Jefferson Health Dept.
> > 1131 Rose Hill Drive
> > Charlottesville, Va. 22906
> > - - - -- Original Message - - - --
> > From: Katharine Almy <kathalmy @yahoo.com>
> > Date: Friday, February 8, 2008 8:26 am
> > Subject: Corps Confirmed Delineation, rescind approval
> > > Hello Mr. Park and Mr. Craun,
> > > By now you have spoken with Joel Loving, and received an email
> > > from the Army Corps of Engineers and maybe had an opportunity to
4
> > > speak directly with Ms. Iseli.
> > > From the standpoint of the neighborhood the working goal is to
> > > appeal to the common good, the common interests and the common
> > > concerns. Regardless of everyone ?s position the BENEFITS to the
> > > Health Department WITHDRAWING their APPROVAL and requesting Mr.
> > > Bonner and Mr. Harding to get a CORP CONFIRMED delineation far
> > > outweigh the unfortunate effects that could possibly result
> > > otherwise. Basing their determinations on the USGS map flaws the
> > > County ?s current approach to delineation. Mr. Shawn Wicklien with
> > > USGS water science center in Richmond was quoted as saying that
> > > ?the map was not meant for this purpose,? ?it is not ground
> > > truthed,? ?far from being accurate and cannot be used on a 3 acre
> > > plat.? There does not have to be a problem here. The choice is
> > > simple. We can do nothing and continue to possibly allow our
> > > natural resources to be mismanaged or take the most favorable
> > > approach with a ?reality check.?
> > > It would do the least harm and the most good. Our feelings are
> > > that the County Health Department has the responsibility to ensure
> > > whether there is a perennial waterway. I do not know if the
> > > department has some regulatory authority, but what I do know is
> > > that Mr.
> > > Fritz had no problem with you rescinding your approval. He said
> > > that he had ?complete faith in your ability? and your ?sound
> > > judgment? and ?the county would not second guess their (your)
> > > decision making process.
> > > We appeal to you to assess the need to rescind your approval and
> > > anticipate what problems there could be before they become
> > > unsolvable. If you consider all points of view I think you will
> > > find you are in good company. We don ?t mean to be passing the
> > > buck to you but it is a fact that your Rescission and CORP
> > > CONFIRMED delineation could make a positive difference. We invite
> > > your point of view on this if you wish.
> > > In anticipation of thoughtful consideration ? we thank you.
> > > Respectfully,
> > > Katharine Chisholm Almy
> > Be a better friend, newshound, and
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