Agenda - 09-05-2024; 8-l - Major Subdivision Preliminary Plat Application

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44 DRAFT 134 disturbance permit that you have to factor in, you still have well permits for all the 135 individual lots that you have to get reviewed and approved by Environmental Health, you 136 still have the septic permits that have to get reviewed and approved. They've done what 137 is typical of this type of development, it is a bit of a gamble on the developer's part 138 because they don't have those permits in hand, but they obviously feel, they've done 139 enough due diligence to feel comfortable enough to proceed with the design as they 140 proposed. 141 Chris Johnston: I have no questions. 142 Adam Beeman: Charity? 143 Charity Kirk: I have an aside really quick about how often do wells run dry in Orange County due to 144 new developments, because this keeps coming up, this comes up in almost everything 145 where neighbors are worried about wells running dry, so just how often does it happen? 146 Patrick Mallett: I'm not Environmental Health, but I don't know of any wells running dry. I think some of the 147 issues and concerns have been over the years, is how much pressure and is there going 148 to be an impact on my well versus your well. Orange County has the subsurface, we're 149 not like a coastal plain community, there's not a, you can take it to the bank, you dig 6 feet 150 down you're going to hit the water table and so ultimately the impact, if you drill one well 151 here and one well there, they may or may not be draining from the same water source in 152 terms of quality, volume, and I can say a fair number of wells with recent development 153 have gone deeper to ensure that they've got enough of a water source and water 154 pressure. 155 Charity Kirk: Is this a health department question or who keeps track of the aquifers in the county? 156 Patrick Mallett: The health department is in charge of the wells. 157 Charity Kirk: Okay, so the health department would be aware. 158 Patrick Mallett: Yes, they are. Part of this journey to get you to this point includes staff review in the 159 planning department. We also take it to the Development Advisory Committee.All 160 development projects go through them and then they issue their memos. 161 Charity Kirk: How often does the health department flag something as being a potential problem? 162 Patrick Mallett: I can't remember a single case where they've said no, definitely, this could be a problem. 163 Charity Kirk: So, it's very much trusting the engineers who look at these, okay, thank you. 164 Patrick Mallett: It takes a lot of money to get to this point so there is some confidence and if they're wrong 165 then they're on the hook for that error. 166 Charity Kirk: That they can provide water to this property. Okay, thank you. 167 Chris Johnston: I apologize for butting in, but if it is affected, for instance, who's on the hook for that? Is it 168 the homeowner who now has the affected well or is it the nearby property that just went in 169 X, Y, Z. Do they have to prove cause? 170 Patrick Mallett: I think that that would ultimately take a journey through civil litigation and attorneys and 171 I'm not an attorney. 172 Chris Johnston: Nope, that's fine. Thank you.