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<br />main reason the Planning Board voted 4-3 against the project on the issue of public <br />safety and health and welfare. During the discussions at the Planning Board meeting, it <br />was recommended that the county hire an independent consulting engineer to study <br />alternative wastewater systems and the viability of allowing them in rural areas of the <br />county. In April, 1988, the Commissioners hired Hazen & Sawyer to do such a study. In <br />August, 1988, that study was presented to the County Manager. One of the statements <br />from that study said "the technology of alternative treatment systems is technically <br />sound and can also be a reliable method of wastewater treatment and disposal if properly <br />designed, constructed and operated." It appears, from the comments Paul Thames made, <br />that he is in need of more information from their designer, since he felt the system was <br />poorly designed. Also, OWASA made the comment that the existing regulations controlling <br />the operation of these systems were not sufficient. However, the Hazen and Sawyer <br />report states, "the design criteria of the North Carolina Department of Environmental <br />Management and the North Carolina Department of Human Services, which review the <br />applications are generally adequate to insure acceptable operation of all alternative <br />systems". He stated that although they were very anxious to bring this matter back <br />before the Soard of Commissioners, the Planning Staff recommended that they wait until <br />after the Board had adopted the Water and Sewer Policy. That policy has been adopted <br />and it states "the elimination of administrative and informative barriers to the use of <br />safe, sanitary alternative waste water treatment systems within the county should be <br />encouraged." The policy also states, "the use of these systems will be permitted, <br />consistent with the applicable laws and regulations, only in a few conditions. One of <br />these conditions applies to McLennans's Farm. That is, land unsuitable for conventional <br />wastewater treatment systems and not served by public sewer facilities. He stated that <br />the two policies that came out of the county in the last year, the Hazen & Sawyer Report <br />and the Water and Sewer Policy, both state that these systems should be utilized where <br />feasible. To deny a project simply because it is in a watershed would impact a <br />substantial part of Orange County. Public water and sewer is not available to this <br />project. To arbitrarily deny this request is not fair. Finally, he commented that <br />there were many differences between this project and the Amberly project. These <br />differences include size, design, and monitoring plans. <br />MR. CRAIG MORGAN, the consulting engineer for this project, indicated that the <br />important question is how wastewater treatment will be handled in a safe manner in the <br />watershed area. Morgan indicated that he designs residential low pressure pipe systems <br />in Orange County, as well as large cluster systems on the beach. In Orange County most <br />residential low pressure pipe systems have an excess of 800 or 900 linear-feet of pipe <br />and more likely in excess of 1200 feet of pipe for a single family residence. It is <br />true that the smaller the system, the better it may be to limit the flow. However, <br />larger systems are designed hydrologically. They are balanced hydrologically and they <br />work on a uniform basis. He stated that he had a number of large systems on the beach <br />that are balanced to a uniform pressure of 2 feet of pressure with a balanced <br />differential of less than 4 inches. He indicated that if the subdivision was approved <br />for 15 lots, it did not necessarily mean that it is going to be a 15 lot subdivision. <br />The size is determined by the maximum, safe capacity of the draining field. If that is <br />only for 5 houses, then that is all that could be designed. It is possible that one <br />house or some bedrooms may have to be dropped from this plan. He stated that the big <br />problem appears to be in trying to convince everyone that these types of systems are <br />safe. The Hazen & Sawyer people reviewed a number of large, low pressure pipe systems <br />in the state of North Carolina. They found that the overwhelming evidence of system <br />failures were the result of operation and maintenance performance. He stated that he <br />believes that the operation and management structure which is being set up for McLennan <br />Farm is the most sophisticated that has ever been used in Orange County for <br />Subdivisions. The proposal calls for the system to be clustered with a centralized <br />