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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978-05-01S BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING MAY 1, 1978 The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Monday, May 1, 1978 in Room G-15 of the Town Office Building. Members present were: Dr. Wm. L. Cosgrove, Chairman; Dr. Michael S. Erdos and George A. Smith, Director of Public Health. The Board discussed the request of Mr. Brucchi to allow the permit he now has for 8 horses, 3 cows, 2 deer, 300 poultry and 6 goats to be BRUCCHI'S transferred to a new owner if he should sell the property. ANIMAL PERMIT Dr. Erdos said he had not got a chance to see Mr. Brucchi's property but he felt that as long as Mr. Brucchi was coming in the Board should resolve the question. He went on to say that as long as our regulations say these permits are not transferable we certainly can not change that. Mr. Brucchi has been operating under the "grandfather clause" and it definitely states in our regulations, that when a change of ownership occurs the new owner must apply for a new permit which will be judged under our new regulations. He said he felt there was no way we could grant Mr. Brucchi's request. The Board agreed to wait until Mr. Brucchi and his attorney came in for any further discussion on the matter. Mr. Smith said he had asked Mr. Kenneth Briggs, Planning Director to come into the Board Meeting to discuss the request from Mr. Freeman to install a septic system on one lot in the Bicentennial Estates Sub- division. He went on to explain that the Board had approved this sub- division because it was to be public sewered. Mr. Freeman applied for 17 building permits prior to the moratorium but the 18th one can now be sold so he is requesting a variance for this one lot. Mr. Freeman has been before the Board of Selectmen requesting a sewer connection for this one lot but was denied permission so his only other alternative is to request this Board grant him a variance and he will install a septic system. Mr. Freeman has had the deep test water hole done on this lot and the percolation tests show this lot is suitable for a septic system but he did want to remind the Board that we approved this subdivision because it was to be public sewered also he wanted Mr. Briggs to ex- plain the Planning Board's opinion of this matter. Mr. Briggs said he would break this down to two parts. (1) Mr. Freeman has from the Conservation Commission an order of condition that all lots in this subdivision be connected to public sewer. Now if you people allow him to put in a septic system he may have to go back to the Commission and the Board of Appeals. (2) On his subdivision plan it states that all lots must be connected to public sewer so he would have to come back to the Planning Board for a revision of our approval of the subdivision. He went on to say that it had been the policy of the Planning Board for the past two years not to approve septic systems in a subdivision if public sewer was going to be available within two years. Mr. Freeman has sewer available therefore he would probably have to come back to the Planning Board before he can do anything. 9 Dr. Cosgrove asked why he could not hook into the sewer? Mr. Smith said because of the moratorium and also because Mr. Freeman did not get his building permit for this lot before the moratorium was put into effect. Mr. Briggs said if they made an exception for one person then they would have to do it for others. He said he felt that they had given Mr. Freeman a "fair shake" and his Board want things done right. The Board thanked Mr. Briggs for his time. Mr. Smith reported that in the past month he had been looking at lots SINGLE LOTS for septic tanks which were in the moratorium area or in an area where there FOR is no sewer available. He said he must have done at least 20 deep test VARIANCE holes and looked at about 15 faulty septic systems for sewer connection. Dr. Erdos asked cif the new lots how many were suitable for septic systems. Mr. Smith said about one-half. There are five of the new lots that cannot get into the public sewer because of the moratorium. The East Street & Lowell Street lot is excellent and the lot on Spring Street is very good. He said he would recommend granting a variance. Dr. Erdos asked what happens if the Board granted these variances and then the people sold the lots. Mr. Smith said the new owners would have to apply for a variance. Var- iances are good for two years. If you grant a variance you can spell out what the builder must do and also make a condition on these variances that as soon as public sewer is available they must connect. The Board agreed to grant a variance on these single lots as Mr. Smith recommended. Mr. Smith then asked the Board to go back to Mr. Freeman's lot and his request for a variance. He said he felt this request was different than the singel lot requests because it was originally approved in the subdivision with the stipulation that it be connected to public sewer. Dr. Cosgrove said he felt that we should go along with the Planning Board, he did not feel the Board should grant Mr. Freeman a variance. Mr. Smith said he could probably say we gave a variance on these single lots why not him, but he felt Mr. Freeman's was entirely different matter. The approval of the subdivision was based on the fact that all lots would be public sewered therefore we could not approve a single lot just because Mr. Freeman neglected to get a building permit. FREEMAN'S LOT After a short discussion the Board agreed to deny Mr. Freeman a variance and the other lots would be approved with the condition that when public sewer became available they would connect as soon as possible. Dr. Cosgrove said he would like Norman Cohen's opinion on the question before any decision was made by the Board. 90 At 7:30 P.M. Mr. Dean Curtin, developer, came before the Board to re- quest an extension on the deep hole testing for a septic tank on 271 Lin- coln Street. Mr. Curtin said he had purchased the lot on Lincoln Street about eight months ago and had been involved in hearings with the Board of Ap- peals and etc. to obtain permission to construct a professional building. The sewer pipe is on this lot because there used to be an ice cream stand and a resturant on the lot. Public sewer is available but because of the moratorium it cannot be connected to the new building. He went on to say he did not realize the new ruling about the deep test hole until he saw the paper Friday and at that point it meant that April 30th cut off date would be over before he could get back to the office. He went on to say he would like to request a 48 hour extension on this notice so that he could get this property tested for a septic system. Mr. Curtin said he had been waiting for the Board of Appeals to act before he went any further with his plans. Dr. Cosgrove asked Mr. Curtin if he had been before the Planning Board and the Board of Appeals and if everything was okay. Mr. Curtin said "Yes". Dr. Erdos asked what was currently on the lot and was told the lot was vacant. Dr. Cosgrove said what the whole thing boiled down to was that Mr. Curtin would like the Board - to grant a variance to the ground water test holes ruling so that he could have this lot tested for a septic system. After further discussion it was agreed that the Board would grant a forty eight hour extension to all ground water testing. Mr. Curtin thanked the Board and retired. At 8:00 P.M. Mr. John Brucchi and his attorney, Mr. William Dailey came before the Board to see what the outcome was to their request at the last meeting that Mr. Brucchi may be assured that any new buyer of his property could get a permit to keep the animals he now keeps. At the present Mr. Brucchi's permit is for: 8 horses, 300 chickens, goats, sheep and deer. His animal permits are being issued under the "grand- father's clause" of our regulations. Animal permits are not trans- ferable so any new owner to any property would have to apply for an animal permit. The clerk reported that Mr. Lambie had called and could not make this meeting but he had been up and checked the property and felt the Board had to stay with their regulations. Dr. Cosgrove said the Board had considered the request to transfer the current animal permit to a new owner and the Board unanimously agreed they cannot permit a transfer of this permit. He repeated CANNOT: Any new owner must apply for a permit and then we would have to process this as a new permit by contacting all the abuttors, etc. With our present regulations "one horse to two acres" and there being only 21 acres we might possibley go 2 horses but the other animals "No". Dr. Cosgrove said he saw no reason how Mr. Brucchi or his attorney could change their minds. 1 1 Mr. Dailey said he felt the Board had set forth their decision pretty straight. It will be up to us to change the Board's mind when the time comes. Mr. Dailey started to retire and Mr. Brucchi stopped him and said "No", he would not leave. He turned to the Board and said if he cannot advertise this property as a farm he would have to go to court and see if he could have the Board's ruling changed. Selling this place as a farm was the only way he could get any money from the property. Mr. Brucchi was very irate but Mr. Dailey thanked the Board and they both retired. Dr. Cosgrove said he felt that the Board had acted in the only way possible. The following licenses and permits were signed: Pool Permit Helen & Harold Millican Funeral Directors Licenses James F. Timothy Louis H. Spencer Food Service Establishments Ledgemont Laboratory Knights of Columbus Bldg. Assoc. Animal Permits Howard W. Foley, 5 Harrington Rd. James V. Cosgrove, 307 Wood St. John D. Brucchi, 63 Paul Revere Rd. Mrs. Martin Rowe, 69 Blossomcrest Rd. Brita E. Swenson, 210 Marrett Rd. Alfred Iodice, 63 Winter St. Ida Krebs School, 453 Concord Ave. John H. Holdsworth, 6 Coach Rd. Marian McIntire, 205 Wood St. Alma E. Anderson, 73 Paul Revere Rd. Susan Chayet, 272 Concord Ave. Mrs. Lawrence Smoske, 39 Robinson Rd. Dudley West, 33 Oak St. David L. Gennaro, 108 Winter St. Eugene Delfino, 94 Reed St. Cindy Lou Parsons, 65 Allen St. Roger Trudeau, 7 Volunteer Way Harry Rowe Mimno, 83 Pleasant St. Gerald M. Cupp, 171 Woburn St. Robert D. & Marie J. Rollins Meeting was adjourned and the Board attended the Selectmen's Meeting to discuss the sewer moratorium. 91