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Zoning board grants variance for former gravel-pit lot after applicant says soils meet septic standards
Summary
Brentwood's Zoning Board granted variances to Realy Acquisitions LLC and the Hannon Family Trust after the applicant argued that long‑disturbed fill on a former gravel pit provides sufficient separation for septic systems despite lacking "natural soil." The board relied on test‑pit results and state review requirements.
The Brentwood Zoning Board of Adjustment voted to grant variances to Realy Acquisitions LLC and the Hannon Family Trust to allow septic systems on a subdivided lot that lacks the ordinance's "natural soil" cover.
At the meeting chair Frank Albert said the board would consider the five criteria required for a variance. Attorney Kevin Bomb, representing the applicant, told the board the project "meets all of the state septic requirements and it meets all of the town septic requirements with the one exception" of the natural‑soil provision and asked the board to grant three related variances.
Bomb explained the site was a former graveling operation that was reclaimed around 1988 and that extensive grading had mixed the original soil layers. He said the applicant performed test pits showing "sufficient soil above the water table" and argued that imported or reworked fill can provide the protective separation the ordinance seeks. "The fact that the soil is not natural doesn't create a negative impact to those groundwater supplies where we're otherwise meeting the town and state requirements to be fully protective," Bomb said.
Town technical witnesses confirmed 37 test pits were dug on the parcel and that many locations showed 24 to 35 inches of separation to the seasonal high water table, which is the separation used for septic design. The town's wetland scientist described the site as an old excavation pit with disturbed, mixed soils, and noted that raising engineered systems by a foot or two where needed would achieve state and town separation requirements.
Board members discussed uncertainty about an operational definition of "natural soil" in the ordinance and noted a transmissivity map that suggests the parcel has low transmissivity, reducing downward flow rates. Town planner Glenn Greenwood's written comments (included in the record) observed that the ordinance applies within the aquifer‑protection district and recommended considering a zoning amendment to clarify or remove the natural‑soil language at the next town meeting.
After members said the application satisfied each of the five variance criteria, the board voted to grant the variances using the applicant's five‑criteria presentation as the basis for the decision. The transcript records vocal assent to the motion; individual roll‑call tallies were not recorded in the transcript.
What happens next: septic system designs must still be engineered and reviewed by county and state permitting authorities and the town's building inspector before construction of individual systems.
