Regulation Ineffective – Letter – CapeNews.net

In the June 23 edition, there was an article about the planning board's discussion of changing the zoning maps for the Coastal Pond Overlay District for their determination of who should be required to install septic systems with denitrification capabilities ("denite systems").

However, in practice, the planning board hasn't used the maps to determine septic requirements. Instead, the planning board abused its authority and strong-armed developers to accept denite system requirements for subdivisions located beyond the areas delineated by the regulation, particularly in East Falmouth north of route 28.

Furthermore, the regulation, which only applies to five-plus lot subdivisions and commercial properties, has been completely ineffective because it does not apply to most of the new construction throughout town and in nitrogen sensitive areas. This is because the sensitive areas are already densely populated, so there is hardly any land available for larger subdivisions. In fact only 10-15 percent of new homes built in the entire town over the past decade were in subdivisions of five or more lots.

The other issue is that the planning board has been completely arbitrary, inconsistent, and unfair when setting denite system requirements, but thats a story for another day.

The reality is that the regulation and the denite systems have proven to be a huge waste of money because theyve done nothing to alleviate the nitrogen overload in our coastal ponds. There's been approximately 275 such systems required by the planning board, but the majority of the town's 10,000-plus homes not on sewer would need to have these systems to potentially see a measurable nitrogen reduction.

In addition to the initial expense of installing the system, these systems costs homeowners upwards of $2,000 per year in excessive maintenance contract requirements, operating costs, and testing requirements. For the affected homeowners, this is literally "flushing money down the toilet" and impossible to rationalize when they know its a matter of form over substance and the large annual expenditure will make zero difference toward resolving the nitrogen overload.

Most importantly, the fact is that the town established a Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (CWWP) approved by the board of selectman in September 2013, with input from the Water Quality Management Committee. (This committee is made of folks with sufficient levels of expertise and understanding of the nitrogen issue.) The CWWP clearly defines the town's long-term strategy for cleaning up the waterways. The present version of the CWWP includes the Little Pond sewer service area project, inlet widening at Bourne's Pond, and other measures, and the plan is set to be reassessed in the near future. This is the official plan that was submitted to state and federal authorities, so its the only plan that counts.

The coastal overlay zone regulation and the involvement of the planning board are clearly not part of the plan. The planning board doesnt even have a representative on the Water Quality Management Committee.

The regulation should be abolished because its proven to be totally ineffective and not part of the master CWWP. Furthermore, there is no need to have inconsistent and conflicting regulatory overlap at town hall, all septic matters should be handled by the board of health, which would coordinate the requirements of the CWWP, as applicable, in conjunction with Mass Title V septic requirements.

Chris Shanahan, Eagle Drive, East Falmouth

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Regulation Ineffective - Letter - CapeNews.net