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HomeMy WebLinkAboutACSA199800002 Executive Summary 1998-05-06 - - ^.OUNTY OF ALBEMARL' AIL r EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AGENDA TITLE: AGENDA DATE: ITEM NUMBER: Albemarle County Jurisdictional Area request for water May 6, 1998 and sewer service— Ellis A. Sprouse (Beaver Mobile Home Park) ACTION: X INFORMATION: SUBJECT/PROPOSAUREQUEST:. Public hearing on request to amend the ACSA CONSENT AGENDA: Jurisdictional Area to provide sewer service to the ACTION: INFORMATION: Beaver Hill Mobile Home Park in Crozet (Tax Map 57, Parcel 8). ATTACHMENTS: Yes STAFF CONTACT(S): REVIEWED BY: 7 Messrs. Tucker, Cilimberg, Benish BACKGROUND: The applicant, Ellis A. Sprouse, requests Jurisdictional Area designation for sewer service to the Beaver Hill Mobile Home Park. The 47.5 acre parcel is located on the north side of Route 240, across the road from the Highlands at Mechums River development (Attachment A). The property is designated as Rural Area in the Land Use Plan, and is located within both the Beaver Creek water supply and South Fork Rivanna River water supply watersheds. This property is currently in the Jurisdictional Area for limited water service to a "house, storage building, equipment shed, shop, and 43 mobile me spaces." The Jurisdictional Area boundary was amended in August, 1983 to provide limited water service. DISCUSSION: The subject property is not within a Development Area (Route 240 forms the northern boundary for the Community of Crozet). The Land Use Plan provides the following concerning sewer service to the Rural Area: General Principle:Utilization of central water and/or sewer systems or extension of the public water or sewer into the Rural Area is strongly discouraged except in cases where public health or safety are at issue. Recommendations:Only allow changes to the Jurisdictional Areas outside of the designated Development Area boundaries in cases where the property is:(1) adjacent to existing lines;and, (2)public health or safety is endangered. The applicant is requesting sewer service for this site due the existence of at least one failing septic system which serves multiple mobile homes. The Health Department has evaluated the site and determined that there is a system failure, and that there are very limited reasonable alternative locations for replacement fields on the property (Attachment B). During a field review of the site, Health Department Officials also identified to staff two other septic fields which appear to be in the early stages of failure. Sewer service is available at the Highlands at Mechums River subdivision across Route 240 from this property. Connection to this line will require pumping from the mobile home park. There are no other sewer lines near this property where "gravity service" could be provided. Given the information provided by the Health Department regarding: 1) the current system failure and recent history of failures within the park; 2)the age of the remaining systems; and, 3) limited on-site options for replacement facilities, staff is of the opinion that there is reasonable justification to provide sewer service to this property for existing structures and mobile home sites. COMMENDATION: ....sed on information provided by the Health Department, the request is consistent with the strategies of the Land Use Plan for the provision of service outside the designated Development Area. Therefore, staff recommends amending the ASCA Jurisdictional Area boundary to provide limited sewer service to Tax Map 57, Parcel 8 to 43 mobile home spaces, only. 98.076 I ATTACHMENT Al ALBEMARLE COUNTY 41 \ 66B y \ 69A ,� 4 .. 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O. Box 7546 NELSON COUNTY (LOVINGSTON) FAX (804) 972-4310 Charlottesville, Virginia 22906 i February 4, 1998 Mr. David Benish Albemarle County Planning Department 401 McIntire Road Charlottesville, VA 22902-4596 RE: Failing Septic System, Beaver Hill Mobile Park Dear Mr. Benish: On December 15, 1997,a complaint was received by the Thomas Jefferson Health District Environmental Health Office. The complainant stated that there was a failing septic system at the Beaver Hill Mobile Park,there was sewage on the ground in the drainfield area and wastewater had run downslope around some of the trailers. On December 17, 1997, I visited the site and investigated the complaint. At that time I did not note any evidence to substantiate the complaint and documented this information. On January 5, 1998, 1 received another call from the complainant,who stated that there was sewage on the ground from a recent snow melt,and sewage had again been transported into the yards of some of the trailers. I made a second visit to the site that afternoon and did note what appeared to be grayish-black wastewater with a sewage odor on the ground,(indicative of a failing drainfield, behind trailer#17 and upslope from trailers#26 and 27). Although a faint septic odor was noted,there was no evidence of sewage on the ground around trailers#26 and 27. As a result of this investigation, I determined that there was sufficient evidence that a violation of the Commonwealth of Virginia Sewage Handling and Disposal Regulations had occurred. I sent Mr. Sprouse a certified letter dated January 7, 1998(received January 8, 1998)outlining the circumstances of the complaint,the findings of my investigation, and recommendations to prevent the problem from being compounded until a repair solution was reached. Along with the letter, I enclosed a repair application,which I instructed him to complete and return to the Environmental Health office by January 20, 1998. The Environmental Health office received his completed repair application by January 20, 1998 and I met with Mr. Sprouse and his contractor, Mr. Buddy Snead,at the site on January 27, 1998. As per a telephone conversation I had with Mr. Sprouse in the interim between sending him the letter and this site visit,he was having the septic tank serving the failing drainfield pumped out on a regular basis to prevent any effluent from reaching the failing drainfield. According to Mr. Sprouse and Mr. Snead,this septic tank and the failing drainfield currently service three trailers at the site. We looked over the extent of the failure and discussed possibilities for repairing it. Based upon several factors and conversations with experienced environmental health personnel familiar with Beaver Hill Mobile Park,such as William Craun and Dwayne Roadcap,we have concluded 2 that the only viable option to correct the failing drainfield(and future drainfield failures) is to connect to the public sewer main,which apparently runs adjacent to the site along Route 240. The most obvious factor is a lack of usable area in the vicinity of the trailers themselves. Presently,the existing drainfields for the trailers in the park have exhausted the usable area in their immediate vicinity. As a result the only area available for repairs is in excess of several hundred yards from the current failure and the general area of the trailers themselves. Utilizing this area would be logistically prohibitive,and would pose Mr. Sprouse with a significant financial expense. Also,this would only be a temporary solution because the area eventually would become exhausted as the existing drainfields progressively failed. The original drainfields at the site are in excess of 30 years old. On the average,a properly installed drainfield handling the daily sewage flow for which it was designed,can be expected to last approximately 20 to 25 years. The drainfields at the site have already lasted beyond that which can reasonably be expected. As a result,because the drainfields at the site are of similar age and design, placed in similar soils,and handling similar sewage flows, it can be safely assumed that there will be more similar failures in the near future. According to William Craun,this is the third drainfield failure at the site in the last five years. There is not enough available/usable area at the site to replace all of the drainfields as they fail. Connection to public sewer will not only facilitate a rapid and sound solution to repairing eventual drainfield failures at the site, but at the same time will increase public health protection. This will impact not only the people living at the site,but may also decrease the possibility of contamination of the Beaver Creek Reservoir,as the Beaver Hill Mobile Park is located in this Water Resources Management Area. The current drainfield failure has already resulted in the discharge of sewage onto the ground. The regular pumping out of the septic tank and the application of lime on the affected area are only temporary solutions. This problem is only going to get worse with time,especially with the wet winter season we have had and the additional rain we can expect in the spring. A sound and timely solution are critical to the protection of public health not only in this instance,but in the similar situations we can expect in the future. It is for these reasons that we are requesting that this site be considered for connection to public sewer. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Should you have any additional questions or comments,please do not hesitate to call. Sincerely,.� /� 4,,„ `� iV/1 (CCLL4 Jack D. McClelland Environmental Health Specialist Senior Pc: Mr. E.A. Sprouse Dwayne Roadcap,Senior Technical Consultant