Hearing officer keeps record open in Gina Duffy appeal over year‑round status and septic compliance

A hearing officer for the Town of New Fairfield Department of Public Health left the record open Feb. 11 in an appeal by property owner Gina Duffy of a notice of violation that denies her request for year‑round water service because the property lacks a code‑compliant septic area.

The matter, docket number 241217PD, concerns a notice of violation dated Dec. 31, 2022, and Duffy’s written appeal. During the administrative hearing the local health department’s representative, Timothy Simpkins, described that the department denied year‑round status in February 2020 after concluding the parcel could not demonstrate a code‑compliant septic area under the applicable health regulation, cited in the record as section 19‑13(b)(100)(a). The hearing officer ordered both sides to submit additional records by Feb. 15, 2025 and held the record open pending those filings.

Why this matters: Year‑round water service in New Fairfield is tied to a property’s sewage disposal meeting current code. If a property cannot show a code‑compliant septic area, the town has denied conversion from seasonal to year‑round status. That determination affects billing, occupancy status and the owner’s ability to live on the property year‑round.

What the hearing covered

Simpkins, who identified his role as the local director of health, told the hearing that he and Duffy’s design engineer, Ralph Gallagher, visited the property and concluded a code‑compliant septic area could not be delineated there. He said the existing septic system was installed in 1994 with variances for setbacks to the dwelling and property lines and therefore does not meet today’s code for granting year‑round status.

“I couldn’t give her the year round water because she couldn’t show me she had a code compliant septic area,” Simpkins said.

Simpkins explained that before the promulgation of the cited regulation, owners could sometimes substantiate year‑round residency by showing they had lived in a dwelling prior to October 1976, but that the rule (referred to in the hearing as “b 100”) removed that path to year‑round status when it took effect. He said he discussed past water‑service decisions with Dan Hamilton, the head of the Kennewick Knolls Water Authority, and that the water authority had not provided year‑round water to the parcel before Simpkins granted it in February 2020.

Duffy, who purchased the property in February 2019, told the hearing the home was sold to her as a seasonal property but that prior occupants and neighbors had told her the house had been used year‑round in earlier decades. She said a heating system had been in place when she bought the home and confirmed the currently installed heating system is functioning. Duffy also said prior owners Joel (Joe) Lynch and Mindy Lynch had replaced the heating system in the early 2000s.

Duffy asked whether a prior, functioning heating system could weigh in favor of year‑round status; the hearing officer did not make a substantive ruling on that point but requested documentary evidence.

Document requests and next steps

The hearing officer ordered specific late filings and set deadlines. The hearing officer instructed Simpkins to provide field cards for the property — records the health department uses that often note features such as presence of a permanent heat source — and to “circle what [was] relied upon to determine if the property is seasonal or full time.” The officer ordered those field cards submitted to the hearing office and to Duffy by Feb. 15, 2025.

The officer also ordered any permit records for the heating system (if they exist in town files) and permitted Simpkins to search the building department’s files. If the historical record is limited, Simpkins was told to provide whatever is available; he said the department’s records generally go back to the 1970s. The officer allowed Duffy to submit an affidavit from a prior owner or contractor attesting to when the heating system was installed or replaced, but clarified the document must be sworn and notarized.

At the close of the hearing the hearing officer said, “I will hold the record open until I receive those late files and the affidavit,” and adjourned the proceeding.

What was not decided

No formal finding on the merits was issued at the hearing. The hearing officer did not overturn the notice of violation and did not grant year‑round status. No vote or external agency approval was recorded at the hearing; the matter remains under administrative review pending the late submissions.

Background and technical points cited by the health department

• Septic system: The existing septic system was installed in 1994 and, according to Simpkins, was approved at that time with variances for setbacks; those variances mean the system does not meet current code for conversion to year‑round status.

• Tests not performed: Simpkins said the department had not completed deep‑hole or percolation testing at the rear of the parcel because the back of the property is “laden with huge boulders” and test work would be cost‑prohibitive and impractical.

• Public water, no public sewer: Simpkins said community water (a year‑round water supply managed by the Kennewick Knolls Water Authority) is available to the parcel, but there is no public sewer; the water authority generally looks to the health department for guidance on whose water is turned on.

How the record will be used

The documents ordered into the record — field cards, any heating‑system permits, and a notarized affidavit regarding the heating system’s installation or replacement — will be reviewed by the hearing officer and used to determine whether the property can satisfy the regulatory requirement for a code‑compliant septic area or otherwise meet the criteria for year‑round service. The hearing officer gave both parties until Feb. 15, 2025 to file the late submissions and left the record open until those materials are received.

No further hearing date was set on the record at adjournment.