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Commission schedules hearing for major subdivision; fire-cistern size and drain-field easement flagged
Summary
The Anaconda Deer Lodge County Commission set a public hearing for a major subdivision application by James Frederick for Sept. 10 while staff and commissioners flagged disagreements over required fire cistern capacity and an encroaching septic drain-field easement that must be clarified before final plat approval.
The Anaconda Deer Lodge County Commission set a public hearing for a major subdivision application submitted by James Frederick, with a suggested hearing date of Sept. 10, county staff said.
Carl, county staff, told the commission the planning board unanimously recommended preliminary plat approval with eight conditions but that several technical issues remain. "Mister Friedrich has been in close communication with Georgetown Fire," Carl said, and the applicant proposes a 7,500-gallon cistern while Georgetown Fire is requesting a 12,000-gallon capacity.
Carl told the commission there is no local code or NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program) requirement that would obligate the county to require the larger cistern number: "both of those numbers are actually a bit lower than 7,500... This is the Georgetown Lake standard, what they strive for, but there's no regulation or code that we can point to to justify requiring that number," he said. He added the final threshold would be for the commission to decide at the public hearing.
Commissioners also raised site-specific concerns. One commissioner pressed whether a neighboring property's drain field has a recorded easement; Carl said DEQ paperwork documents the drain-field location but that a recorded easement is not yet in place and that staff had "strongly suggested that they clean up that issue before final plat" so future buyers would be aware of the condition.
Environmental health staff (Joe Landis, according to Carl) reviewed potential well and septic locations and "does say there's adequate spacing," Carl said, but commissioners requested additional information on water rights along Warm Springs Creek and asked staff to provide that information ahead of the public hearing.
Next steps: the commission scheduled the public hearing and asked staff to provide clarifying materials about cistern standards, easement status for the encroaching drain field, and water-rights documentation before the Sept. 10 hearing.
