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Planning staff recommends private sewage treatment system for Weaversville Road home after conventional septic denial
Summary
A Bealton‑area homeowner requested a category 20 special exception to install an individual sewage treatment system with engineered discharge ditch after VDH denied a conventional replacement; staff described treatment capacity, monitoring and maintenance obligations.
Planning staff presented a category 20 special exception application for 11003 Weaversville Road (Bealton Service District) to install a private individual sewage treatment system with an engineered discharge ditch to replace a failed conventional septic system.
Ms. Wise, planning staff, told the commission the 1‑acre property is zoned rural residential and lies in the Lee Mag Lee District. She said the existing conventional septic (installed in the 1980s) failed and the Virginia Department of Health issued an intent to deny a conventional replacement because the site lacked sufficient suitable soils for required drain field and reserve areas on the subject property or neighboring parcels.
The applicant proposes an engineered system rated for an average flow of 450 gallons per day, appropriate for a three‑bedroom home, consisting of a 1,000‑gallon holding tank, an aerobic treatment unit, ultraviolet disinfection, pumps, a roughly 260‑foot engineered discharge ditch about 5 feet wide that terminates at a natural swale at the property line, and monitoring equipment including remote telemetry, event counters and flow meters. Staff said the system would undergo required start‑up testing during the first six months and ongoing compliance testing thereafter and that the property owner will enter a maintenance and monitoring agreement with a licensed operator.
Staff noted the applicant asserted the treated effluent is unlikely to exit the property via the discharge ditch given its length, and that the design is intended to meet discharge limitations with regular monitoring and telemetry alarms. Conditions presented to the commission require the system to be designed for average discharge <= 450 gpd, to serve a maximum of three bedrooms, to abandon existing septic tanks per VDH standards, and to maintain a current maintenance contract at all times.
Ending: A commissioner said the system was a necessary remediation for the dwelling and raised no issues in the staff presentation; the transcript records no final recorded vote in the excerpt.
