ZBA approves variance for 0.16-acre lot with conditions to protect neighbors’ wells and limit construction impacts

The Barrington Zoning Board of Adjustment on June 17 approved a variance allowing construction of a new dwelling on a 0.16-acre lot, imposing conditions aimed at protecting adjacent wells and reducing construction disruption.

The applicant’s team — led in the hearing by Matthew Cowan and engineer Stephanie Richard — said they revised plans to address earlier drainage concerns by removing a perforated pipe, adding a shallow depression along the northern boundary, and securing an easement from a neighboring landowner, Ms. Gould, to allow maintenance access. Cowan said the changes, including a revised drainage plan, addressed the board’s prior questions and that the lot is small by local standards.

Neighbors testified at length that the proposed leach field would lie close to a long‑established dug well that supplies a neighboring property. Steve Clough, who represented a neighbor in the record and read an authorization letter from Stephen McNaught, said the concrete well cover has been in place about 60 years and asserted the proposed leach field as shown on the plan is too close to that existing well. Alan Delemus and other neighbors also raised concerns about staging heavy equipment on the narrow, unpaved single‑lane road and the risk of brief or extended roadway blockages during construction.

Board members and the applicant’s engineer discussed technical options to reduce the leach‑field footprint and maximize separation from the dug well. The applicant cited a septic installer’s recommendation to use GST (a reduced‑footprint aggregate system) or similar technologies used on constrained lakeshore lots; the engineer told the board the final design would be submitted to the state Department of Environmental Services (DES) for approval and could be shifted on the parcel to maximize distance from the well.

To address the neighbors’ concerns, the board approved the variance with conditions that the applicant must meet as part of or prior to final permitting: require GST technology (or a similar system demonstrably reducing leach‑field footprint and increasing separation from the neighboring well) as proposed by Bailey Environmental Systems; provide written notice to the three lots nearest the end of the road before construction begins so residents can move vehicles and plan around brief disruptions; and prohibit equipment staging that blocks the road between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. The board also made compliance with final state septic approval and any required waivers an explicit part of the record.

A board member noted that if the GST or similar system proves infeasible in the final design the applicants would need to return to the board to amend the variance. The board recorded the roll call in favor of the motion; the motion passed with the members voting in the affirmative as read into the record.

The board emphasized cooperation among contractors and neighbors during construction and the need for clear advance notice of disruptive activities. The variance was approved with the stated conditions; final septic siting and design remain subject to DES review and any required approvals.

What happens next: the applicant must provide the finalized septic design and documentary evidence of the chosen reduced‑footprint technology at later permitting steps; if the chosen system cannot be installed as required, an amendment to the variance will be necessary.