Morphing building
While notified of the importance of explaining his problematic barn at the April 22 health board meeting, Steve Nigzus of Madigan Lane mailed his regrets due to personal travel and asked for a postponement to May.
The board will reschedule the discussion and reserve a time for Nigzus, but will wait until he has “cleared things up with the other boards,” said Chairman Tom Philippou. “Let’s give him a chance to sort it out.”
“He’s calling it a hay barn, but it’s not,” counseled sanitarian Ira Grossman of the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health. “He has done work with unlicensed contractors for unpermitted work, and it’s not done according to code.”
The homeowner had pipe installed too close to the water line and without sufficient cover or pitch, he added. “The pipe will have to come out.”
“We’re not ordering him to remove the pipe,” said Philippou, but the possibility shouldn’t be discounted.
A stop-work order was generated by the Conservation Commission after it rejected Nigzus’ February application for an amended Order of Conditions and instructed him to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a permit to run pipe.
“I have no intention of violating any rules in this process,” wrote Nigzus. He said in the letter that he had applied for a bathroom permit for his barn, had an Order of Conditions to build his barn, and has stopped work.
The story began in November 2007 when a structure began going up next to Nigzus’ driveway.
“We sent a letter some months ago when it started as a barn that morphed into a garage, and then an office with a bathroom,” Grossman had told the health board at its March 25 meeting. “We told him he had to connect it to the house and he must contact the Board of Health. Under the zoning bylaws he can’t do what he proposes to do. It will be an issue down the road.”
The intended use of the structure is unclear, as is the requirement for an occupancy permit and an associated septic hookup. A barn used as an office signals a change of use, triggering a Title 5 occupancy permit. Title 5 mandates that when an occupancy permit is needed, the state considers the building to be new construction that must be hooked up to the septic system. The health board must determine if the new use places an extra load on the existing septic system.
New Master Plan member
Member Lorin Johnson has agreed to represent the health board on the Master Plan Implementation Committee.
Pesticide at the schools
The schools’ use of pesticide on property routinely used by children and young people has been on the health board’s radar since early summer 2007, when it sent an inquiry to the School Committee and Superintendent Tom Jefferson. No response has yet been received from the School Committee or Jefferson.
After making official inquiries about the application of pesticides on school playing fields and grounds, Philippou reported that he had learned in an informal conversation with Department of Public Works Director Rich Nota that the schools are not responsible. Neither is DPW, although the pesticide is stored in the DPW garage.
The Parks and Recreation Commission is responsible, said Nota, so Philippou will send a letter to Director Jim Lee inquiring about pesticide application on school property.
Odors at Warren and Pond
Sanitarian Ira Grossman reminded the board of an e-mail it had received three weeks earlier, complaining about apparent septic overflow and odors “at the corner, uphill, of Warren [Ave. and Pond Road] toward Bolton.” It’s a storm drain, he explained, and a large amount of water flows through it. The business on the corner has a sump pump with a hose leading to it.
After a few minutes of discussion Philippou asked Grossman to revisit the site.
Philippou said his concern is about “septic leaching out.” Grossman responded that only one property in the area has not had a septic upgrade. “I’m highly suspect that that system is in the groundwater” and in failure, he said.
Member Lorin Johnson agreed. “As long as I’ve lived in Harvard, they’ve been pumping to that drain.”
New septic technology
Representing Bill and Kim Palli of Madigan Lane, engineer Rob Tardif of Solismith Designs appeared with plans in hand to request both state and local variances that will allow his clients to ditch their tight tank and install a new innovative-technology, Geoflow septic system.
Fifteen minutes later, the health board approved the plan, which now begins the lengthy state approval process.
“The lot is very ledge-y and tough,” said Tardif. “This [system] is the least intrusive system we could think of.”
Geoflow’s wastewater treatment consists of a drip-irrigation system that can be laid at almost ground level, under only eight inches of soil, he said. A previous plan sought by the Pallis, and approved by the board, would have created a significantly higher mound. Both systems were designed by the same engineer, Doug Smith, and include MicroFast process elements.
The Geoflow drip irrigation system operates with two feed lines with toothpick-sized holes. The septic contents are under pressure, which forces the leachate into the soil. The benefit in the cold Northeast is that no leachate is ever left in the line to freeze, as it is dispersed throughout the field and gravity-drained. The feed lines are empty unless being charged by effluent
