Board grants waiver for VOC requirement on Little Farm Road well test with two-year sale condition

Jamie Vicinette of Zenith Consulting Engineers asked the Lakeville Board of Health to grant a waiver from the board's third-party VOC requirement for a well test at a property on Little Farm Road. She said the homeowner had already paid for two sets of well tests, one taken by the homeowner and one taken by the lab (Analytical), but the VOC panel was missed on the initial third-party sampling and that additional testing would cost several hundred dollars and take weeks.

"They did submit a well test, but the homeowner themselves did take the test, submitted the results," said Jamie Vicinette, describing the sampling history and the communication lapse with the laboratory. She asked the board to allow the waiver because the homeowners have no immediate intention to sell and because the missing VOCs are an administrative/communication issue rather than a known water-quality problem.

Board members discussed the requirement for chain-of-custody and third-party sampling. One board member said at minimum the file should include a signed statement identifying who took the homeowner-collected sample so the board record shows that the homeowner took the first test and a third party took the second. The board added a condition to the approval to address title transfer: if the property is sold within two years, further testing conforming to the board's requirements will be required.

Motion and conditions: A board member moved to grant the waiver for the VOC requirement with a compliance note that if the property is sold within the next two years a full third-party VOC test must be done; a second was provided and the motion was approved by voice vote.

Why this matters: the waiver resolves a practical hurdle for a homeowner who needs a certificate of compliance (COC) for tax/environmental-credit reasons while ensuring future buyers will receive the full third-party testing if the property changes hands.

Details: Board staff noted the homeowner had paid for two sets of tests and that the second, third-party sample omitted VOCs due to a lab communication issue after a corporate acquisition. The board required that a notation be placed in the file documenting who collected the first sample and that a third-party chain-of-custody result exists on the second sample. The waiver was explicitly conditioned on the recorded requirement that any transfer of title within two years triggers a required VOC test meeting the board's chain-of-custody standards.