Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Septic Variance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Madison County board approves Hague septic setback variance
Summary
The Madison County Board of Health unanimously approved a local variance allowing a replacement drain field for Dave and Stephanie Hague inside the 100-foot setback from the Combs Ditch after sanitarians and the applicant presented nitrate and phosphorus analyses showing the replacement system meets health thresholds.
Chair Douglas Young opened the board meeting and the board considered a variance request to replace a failed drain field at 23 Gallagher Lane for Dave and Stephanie Hague.
Zach Kosicki, one of Madison County's sanitarians, presented cadastral images and the site plan and said the property cannot meet the ARM-required 100-foot setback for drain fields from surface waters because of parcel constraints. He advised that the proposed drain field, located downslope from the on-site Combs Ditch, could be permitted if the ditch is nonfunctional or otherwise not categorized as surface water that triggers the 100-foot setback. "My recommendation is the sanitarian is to approve the variance," Kosicki said.
Ralph Hamler, who presented technical and historical materials for the applicants, told the board the house was built in 1980 and that irrigation laterals on the property meet MCA definitions that exclude them from "state waters." He cited a nitrate analysis showing an end-of-mixing-zone nitrate concentration of 3.58 mg/L compared with a 5.00 mg/L threshold and a phosphorus breakthrough time of about 739.3 years to argue the system meets relevant groundwater-safety criteria.
Board members asked clarifying questions about flood/runoff pathways and the location of the nearest named ditch, the Ruby Valley Ditch. With the information that the small irrigation laterals are no longer used and that the nearest named surface water is more than a quarter-mile away, Kosicki recommended limiting the variance to the Combs Ditch setback and approving the replacement system.
John moved to approve the Hague variance; Margaret Bortko seconded. After Margaret said she was "impressed it was so well researched," Chair Young called the vote; the board unanimously approved the Hague variance. The applicant said he would submit the completed septic application to the county sanitarian and requested a written approval notice for the file; staff agreed to draft the approval statement and prepare draft minutes for the chair's signature.
The decision was an authorization for a local variance limited to the setback issue described in the application; no changes to other permitting conditions were recorded in the meeting.
