Agreeing that a task force should be set up to tweak the proposed Cook County Septic Ordinance was easy for the county board at a special meeting on October 28, 2013, but agreeing on which two commissioners should be on it was not.
Planning & Zoning Director Tim Nelson told the board that some gaps in the septic ordinance had been identified during the two public hearings that have been held before the Cook County Planning Commission to discuss the proposed ordinance. In a memo to the board, he had written that “a substantial amount of feedback” was given at the first hearing on September 25. “A concentrated area of concern focused around a gap in the ordinance provisions regarding the treatment of very low volume grey water waste and the composting of human waste. This gap in the rules doesn’t take into consideration low-impact lifestyle choices that are made by some here in Cook County,” he wrote.
After the first hearing, Nelson wrote, Environmental Health Officer Mitch Everson “created a design for a lower-impact grey water system that would be sensitive to the low-impact living scenarios experienced here and that also would remain in line with existing state standards.” The concerns expressed at the first hearing were passed along to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) staff members, who offered to attend the second public hearing on October 23. Before that meeting, MPCA staff met with Planning & Zoning staff and some of the concerned citizens. Out of those two meetings came a plan to create a local task force that would meet with MPCA staff to explore options for low-impact septic systems.
The Planning Commission recommended that the task force be comprised of two county commissioners, two Planning Commission members, two Cook County Environmental Health staff members, and four concerned local property owners. The task force will address low-volume, low-impact grey water and waste composting systems and may address other areas where the MPCA might offer additional flexibility.
The task force to be created will be different from the one that worked on an earlier draft of the septic ordinance, which last met in 2009.
Director Nelson said they have experienced a greater spirit of cooperation from the MPCA than usual over these issues. Commissioner Sue Hakes said she thought people upset about the proposed ordinance started feeling more optimistic during the second hearing.
Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk was absent from the October 28 meeting but had previously expressed interest in being on the task force.
Board Chair Jan Hall said she had been involved in septic issues during her entire 16 years as a commissioner and expressed interest in being on the task force. She recommended Garry Gamble to the task force, saying he is on the Local Water Management Plan Advisory Committee, which address issues related to the entire county.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he thought he should be on the task force because he has experience with the issue as a member of the Tofte- Schroeder Sanitary Sewer District board and would represent the West End. He estimated that about 90 percent of Commissioner Gamble’s constituents did not have septic systems because they live in Grand Marais. He said he would support Comissioners Hall and Doo-Kirk being on the task force, however, saying Doo-Kirk could represent the Gunflint Trail because that is in her district.
Commissioner Garry Gamble said he has dealt with these issues with the MPCA and other regulatory boards in the past. In situations like this, he said, commissioners should represent everyone. They need to find ways to protect the environment without unduly limiting options for property owners, he said.
Commissioner Sue Hakes said maybe Commissioner Doo-Kirk should be on the task force because she is a county board representative on the Planning Commission.
Many people have been upset about what they have to deal with when building, said Commissioner Jan Hall. “I think it’s a problem for the entire county.”
They have always tried to get representation from all sectors of the county when making assignments like these, Commissioner Martinson said.
Commissioner Hall said it seems that commissioners have been competing for assignments lately and she did not like to see that. Against his will, Commissioner Gamble was recently taken off an assignment to deal with a land access issue north of County Road 7 so that Commissioner Hakes could deal with it along with Commissioner Doo-Kirk, since it was in regard to their districts.
The board first passed a motion authorizing the creation of the task force. Commissioner Hakes then made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Martinson, to appoint Commissioner Hall to the task force since she is the Planning & Zoning Department’s county board liaison and Commissioner Doo-Kirk since she is on the Planning Commission. At Martinson’s suggestion, the motion was amended to include Commissioner Gamble as an alternate. The motion passed unanimously.
Property owners on the task force will be Ian Andress, Mark Adams, Stan Tull, and Charlie Muggley.
The Planning Commission will wait until after it hears back from the task force in January to address the proposed septic ordinance again. All Minnesota counties are required to have a septic ordinance that conforms to Minnesota rules by February 4, 2014, but Director Nelson said the state would be flexible if a county was actively working on an ordinance but had not adopted it yet, because they would rather see a complete document than a hastily created one.
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