With an eye toward easing the burden on septic installers while maintaining high standards, the Cook County Planning and Zoning Department put forth a handful of amendments to the county’s septic ordinances that will ease some of the installers’ concerns and should lesson the cost to home and cabin owners.
Cook County Planning and Zoning Director Tim Nelson brought those amendments to the county commissioners meeting on Tuesday, May 12.
More than two dozen installers and their helpers met with county board members, Nelson, and the county’s septic inspector Mitch Everson on April 8 and April 29 to look at ways to mend some fences between them and clean up some of the language in the current septic ordinances. Those were the fourth and fifth meetings held this winter/spring to find some common ground.
“The current septic ordinance was adopted in March of 2014,” said Nelson, “and after a year of administering the provisions, it became clear that there are areas within the ordinance that needed to be modified for clarity and efficiency sake. Most of these changes deal with the process through which the septic systems are permitted and inspected with no changes being proposed that would alter the technical standards of the systems themselves.
Nelson said there has been “considerable participation” of the septic contractors throughout this amendment process, which culminated in the public hearing before the planning commission on Wednesday, April 29. The public hearing resulted in a unanimous recommendation for approval of the proposed amendments that were slightly modified through the public hearing.
The proposed amendments are also supported by the septic contractors and the Planning and Zoning Department/ Environmental Health Department,” Nelson said.
The proposed amendments, if adopted, would also result in a slight reduction of cost of services from fewer onsite visits, Nelson added.
Raising MPCA concerns
But as hard as the county Planning and Zoning staff and installers have worked on the amendments, the solutions they have come up with aren’t altogether appreciated by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).
In a letter sent May 28, 2014, from Gretchen Sabel, MPCA Subsurface Sewage Treatment System (SSTS) Coordinator, Sabel writes, “Cook County’s SSTS ordinances includes Alternative Local Standards based on the 2006 version of MPCA’s SSTS rules. This is allowed in rule and statute and is acknowledged by MPCA. The ordinances also include Alternative Local Standards that allow the construction of SSTS with less than the state’s required 3’ of separation. While this is allowed in rule and statute, the MPCA wants to remind Cook County that we do not support these standards with training or technical support. Implementation of these Alternative Local Standards is the responsibility of Cook County.”
Nelson also received a letter sent May 5, 2015 from Jim Ziegler, MPCA manager, Northeast Region, which stated that MPCA has been in “an ongoing dialogue with you about how your current ordinance does not conform to current Minnesota rules.”
Ziegler said MPCA would not process the county’s fiscal year 2016 base grant until this issue is resolved. “To avoid any hold-up in processing your base grant the MPCA will need a final copy of your proposed ordinance by June 1, 2015.”
Ziegler suggested that either the county adopt the current state ordinance or incorporate an alternative similar to St. Louis County’s SSTS ordinance requirements.
“Any variance to the ordinance requirements should include a technical justification prior to approval of the variance,” Ziegler stated in his memo to Nelson.
But Nelson said the county had worked closely with the MPCA to come up with its current ordinance and he suggested that the county stick with them in spite of Ziegler’s warnings.
Commissioner Garry Gamble urged his colleagues to adopt the ordinances as Nelson had proposed them, saying, “They can keep their money and we can keep the right [to follow our guidelines].”
Commissioner Frank Moe said there was inconsistency in the MPCA guidelines and the Minnesota Legislature is currently taking them to task on this issue. He asked Nelson to send a letter to the state legislature and one to the MPCA stating that Cook County intended to keep its water clean by following its own septic installation ordinances. He also argued that the “one size fits all” approach taken by the state doesn’t apply to Cook County’s unique geography and soils that contractors have to work with.
Following Moe’s comments the board voted unanimously to accept the new septic ordinance changes.
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