Agenda 06-04-2019 6-a - Major Subdivision Preliminary Plat Application

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89 Michael Harvey reminded the Board of existing wells were contaminated,then property owners should take action to work with the Health Department to address those issues. That was a separate issue from the review of this project however. Paul Noe addressed the Board to second the comments made by Linda Nathansen and potential impacts to area wells. Randy Marshall asked if there was a precedence to require the developer to pay a bond to be used if there was a negative impact on the wells in order to protect the current residents of the area. Adam Beeman expressed that if you couldn't determine exactly which property was the straw that broke the system and if a bond was required it would then become even more difficult to have any kind of development in Orange County than it is now and all development would cease. Michael Harvey addressed the Board and advised that he could not legally require any type of bond to address potential well impacts and that it wasn't possible for the Board to require same. He further reminded the Board that the presumption this project would be the genesis of future problems was based on flawed logic. There was no way to determine what could or could not happen. From a liability standpoint it would be difficult to determine this project was the sole cause of contamination. Randy Marshall said he understood a bond was not prudent or legally permissible, but wanted to make sure there was an answer on the record of this fact. Michael Harvey indicated Mr. Phil Vilaro of Orange County Environmental Health was in the audience and would like to address the Board concerning well and septic issues. Phil Vilaro spoke to Board to address concerns about well safety and water table issues. He reassured the Board that it standard practice to have wells on multiple lots similar to the size proposed within this project and that it is not an issue in his mind to have 20 individual wells created to serve these lots. M.Vilaro did not believe development of this project would impact water pressure or the water capacity of surrounding wells. Mr.Vilaro reminded the Board Orange County does not have a true aquifer/water table. This is why you have such a disparity in well depth,water quality, and generated gallons per minute from property to property in any given area. In discussing surface water contamination he expressed the rarity of that happening in Orange County because of the standards required by the County for every new well drilled. Mr.Vilaro said County requirements,with respect to the drilling and installation of wells,were amongst the strictest in the State. Mr.Vilaro agreed older wells, installed prior to the adoption of local comprehensive regulations in the mid 1980's,were indeed subject to potential impacts from runoff given how they were constructed (i.e. depth, casing,etc.). Such wells need to be replaced as they are not suited to address such contaminant issues. Craig Carter thanked Mr. Vilaro for his explanation and provided some history on the well his grandparents installed on their property to provide additional context on his concerns with respect to well impacts and contamination issues. The well was constantly providing `muddy'water and there were issues with contaminants at times. Phil Vilaro indicated he believed Mr. Carter and suggested part of the problem was the well was not installed deep enough to avoid subsurface silt runoff and contamination. Current practice requires wells to be dug deep to address this issue and to be properly incased/grouted to protect the integrity of the well. Mr.Vilaro reminded the Board approximately 80%of the County was intended to be served by private wells and septic systems as there were no plans by the County to extend/develop public utility systems. There was lengthy discussion amongst the Board and Mr.Vilaro on septic and well permitting.