Lake County Board of Health tables decision on Alpen Flow wastewater variance pending proof of power, water constraints

The Lake County Board of Health on Feb. 19 continued a variance application from the owners of Alpen Flow campground seeking permission to use vault privies and alternative toilets instead of a conforming onsite wastewater treatment system (OWTS).

During a staff presentation, county planning staff said Lake County’s OWTS code treats vault privies as nonconforming and therefore requires a variance. Staff concluded the tent-site area has relatively flat topography and found no engineering evidence proving the site cannot accommodate a conforming OWTS — a required finding under local regulations for a positive variance. Staff cited concerns that vault systems would require more frequent pumping and truck access than a conforming system and stressed the need for an identified repository to accept consolidated waste.

The applicants, who own the 91.02-acre parcel, presented technical designs proposing four 1,000-gallon vault tanks serving two bathroom locations for the tent loops and composting or dry-flush toilets for 10 sheltered sites on steeper ground. The applicant said the vault design uses U.S. Forest Service guidance and estimated vault volumes based on a 300-day operating assumption; they also argued vaults would reduce disturbance and groundwater use compared with constructing multiple conventional septic fields.

Public commenters spoke largely in support. Zach Zoeller, a local firefighter and contractor, said Lake County’s high-elevation soils and freeze–thaw conditions make conforming OWTS prone to failure and told the board that “vault toilets are superior” in local conditions. Bill Strau, identified as a Forest Service concessionaire operator, described vault operations as simple and widely used on federal recreation lands.

Steve, the state onsite-wastewater coordinator, told the board Colorado Regulation 43 sets minimum statewide standards and that jurisdictions may adopt more stringent local rules. He emphasized a technical distinction: conforming OWTS treat wastewater on site and typically return treated effluent to the aquifer, while vault privies are holding tanks with waste removed off site for treatment.

Board members said they were sympathetic to the applicants’ arguments about environmental trade-offs and local operating conditions but repeatedly returned to the variance criterion that the site must be shown unable to accommodate a conforming OWTS. Several members said they would accept documented evidence that electricity or a well cannot be provided to the property as a line of proof for that finding. One board member summarized the concern: without evidence that the site cannot obtain power or water, staff could not justify a positive finding on the regulatory criteria for the tent sites.

To allow the applicants time to gather evidence — including utility correspondence about power availability — the board voted to table the application and continue the hearing at 3:45 p.m. on Monday the 2nd. The motion to table was made and seconded on the record and the board closed the evidentiary portion of the hearing for the day.

Next steps: the applicants may submit additional documentation about electricity and well access before the continuation. If the board later finds the site cannot accommodate a conforming OWTS under the specified criteria, it could impose conditions addressing maintenance, monitoring, and an approved waste repository for vault or alternative systems.

(Reporting by Lake County Board of Health meeting transcript; quotes and attributions taken from the hearing record.)