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HomeMy WebLinkAboutResponse from T McKean Health 02 05 2024Q:/CH 40B Baybridge 900 Old Stage Road_TL final February 5, 2024 Mr. Herbert Bodensiek Vice Chairman Chapter 40B, ZBA Appeal # 2023-034 Zoning Board of Appeals 900 Old Stage Road, Two Lots 367 Main Street Petitioner: Bayridge Realty LLC. Hyannis, MA 02601 Dear Mr. Bodensiek: I am in receipt of your email dated January 8, 2024, requesting a formal review of the proposed Chapter 40B Project at a parcel consisting of 3.95 acres at 900 Old Stage Road, Centerville, Massachusetts, into an identified nitrogen sensitive area. The Town of Barnstable Health Division reviewed the proposed project and submits the following comments: The amount of wastewater proposed to be discharged at this site is approximately 50% greater than what should be allowed. This proposal to discharge 2,640 gallons per day of wastewater into a nitrogen sensitive area, the Saltwater Estuary Protection District, equates to a wastewater discharge rate of 668.4 gallons per true acre per day (or 614 gpd per 40,000 sf of lot area). This request therefore represents a wastewater discharge rate which is much greater than what is allowable within this nitrogen sensitive area per the MA Environmental Code (Title 5) requirements and per Section 360-45 of the Town of Barnstable Code. Also, this request does not conform with the spirit and intent of the updated 2023 State Environmental Code requirements to reduce nitrogen levels within identified nitrogen sensitive areas including within this Saltwater Estuary Protection District. The findings of a state-wide estuary investigation indicate that a substantial portion of the Town's saltwater estuaries are in jeopardy from the long-term buildup of nitrate-nitrogen, primarily from the subsurface discharge of sewage effluent. These findings have caused the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to establish total maximum daily loads (TMDL) for nitrogen for the watershed areas of these estuaries. "Watershed" is defined as the area of land from which water flows downhill into a particular body of water. In these nitrogen- impaired estuaries the TMDL will require an actual reduction in the amount of nitrate-nitrogen discharged into these embayments. Most of the nitrate-nitrogen in these watersheds is from subsurface discharge of sewerage effluent into the groundwater that flows to these embayments, to date, final reports have been produced for Popponesset Bay, Three Bays and the Centerville River watersheds. All three of these estuary systems will require a reduction in total nitrogen discharge in order to meet the state mandated TMDL. As part of the watershed plan submitted to MA DEP in the Fall of 2023, thousands of properties will be connected into the Town’s wastewater treatment plant. The first of three phases will be implemented this Spring 2024. This particular property is not located within any of the identified areas which will be sewered. This proposed project is not in compliance with Section 360-45 of the Town of Barnstable Code. The Health Division cannot and would not allow a project of 2,640 gallons of daily wastewater discharge flow from 24 Town of Barnstable Health Division 200 Main Street, Hyannis MA 02601 Office: 508-862-4644 FAX: 508-790-6304 Q:/CH 40B Baybridge 900 Old Stage Road_TL final bedrooms on 3.95 acres within a nitrogen sensitive area. Only sixteen (16) bedrooms maximum could be allowed on a parcel of this size in accordance with this Town of Barnstable Code. This project amounts to adding eight (8) additional bedrooms above what is allowable by this Town Code. [NOTE: It should be noted that the Health Division enforces this Code daily and consistently. Property owners often seek a permit to add one additional bedroom (e.g. to add a fourth bedroom) within this same nitrogen sensitive area- and those one-bedroom addition projects are consistently denied due to non-compliance with this Code.] The applicant for this project is not seeking to comply with Section 360-45 of the Town of Barnstable Code nor is he/she seeking a variance from this Town of Barnstable Code. The applicant’s proposal to install a SeptiTech STAAR 4.5 (M3000N) onsite designed to provide treatment of total nitrogen (TN) to < 17 mg/liter does not comply with the State Environmental Code, Title 5, Section 310 CMR 15.002. Specifically, it would not be sufficient to reduce nitrogen loading to the equivalent of the Town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant nor to the Title 5 State Environmental Code definition of ‘Best Available Nitrogen Reducing Technology.’ This Code requires an alternative system which will have a total nitrogen effluent performance value of 10 mg/liter or less and is certified by the Department for general use pursuant to 310 CMR 15.288 ’or an alternative system(s) granted provisional approval by the Department pursuant to 310 CMR 15.286 or an alternative system(s) approved by the Department for piloting pursuant to 310 CMR 15.285; provided that for an alternative system(s) granted provisional approval or an alternative system(s) approved for piloting such system(s) is approved for the type and design flow of the facility and has a Total Nitrogen performance val ue less than or equal to 10 mg/L; or, if no system(s) with a Total Nitrogen performance value less than or equal to 10 mg/L has received general use approval, then a system(s) with a Total Nitrogen effluent performance value less than or equal to the lowest alternative system(s). There are other technologies which are presently available which will provide treatment to lower levels of total nitrogen at the effluent discharge point. Innovative technologies are approved by MA DEP for Piloting use pursuant to 310 CMR 15.285, Provisional use pursuant to 310 CMR 15.286, or General use pursuant to 310 CMR 15.288. The Health Division and the Board of Health encourage and require the use of the best available nitrogen reduction technology, regardless of whether the technology is currently approved for piloting, general use or for provisional use by DEP. Provisional use and piloting use technologies have been approved for use by the Board of Health at many projects during the past many years. In conclusion, this proposal request for 24 bedrooms utilizing an onsite SeptiTech STAAR 4.5 (M3000N) should be denied because (a) this project is too large with a proposed wastewater discharge flow which exceeds what is allowable within this nitrogen sensitive area as per the Town of Barnstable Code, and (b) there are other nitrogen removal technologies available that would reduce nitrogen to a greater extent. The applicant has the right to request a determination or a variance from our local Board of Health in this regard. The long-term build-up of nitrate-nitrogen and other contaminants, originating primarily from the subsurface discharge of sewage effluent, has had long-term detrimental effects upon our groundwater, drinking water wells, lakes, and coastal embayments. Protection of our drinking water, lakes, and coastal embayments should be our #1 priority. Sincerely, _________________ Thomas McKean, RS, CHO Director of Public Health TOWN OF BARNSTABLE HEALTH DIVISION