C h i l m a r k B o a r d o f H e a l t h
M i n u t e s
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
Chilmark Town Hall
5 pm
Present: Katie Carroll, Mike Renahan, Jan Buhrman
Also Present: Bob Nixon, Ellen Kaplan (Reynolds, Rappaport & Kaplan), David Zeilinger (Manager, Beach Plum Inn), Reid Silva (Vineyard Land Surveying & Engineering), Chris Alley (Schofield, Barbini & Hoehn), Marina Lent (BOH Secretary)
Minutes of December 3rd adopted with amendments.
Homeport Restaurant (27.1-34): Reid Silva introduced a tentative proposal for seat/gallon allocation at the Homeport Restaurant this coming summer season. He confirmed that the Homeport would maintain the hours of operation of the past (dinner-only), and that the restroom facilities would not be available to the public outside of hours of operation.
After an ensuing discussion, it was recognized that, for purposes of septic system management, the Homeport as currently constituted serves a variety of types of patrons:
i. Full-service patrons, some of whom may choose to order from the rawbar and sit out on the porch while waiting for a table (35 gallons each)
ii. Patrons who are served at the raw bar, go out to the porch to eat, do not get waited on after acquiring their food, but do expect to be able to use the facilities (20 gallons each)
iii. People who bring take-out food to eat on the Homeport porch (whether from the Homeport’s “Back Door”, from other establishments, or from home), who do not get waited on, but who expect to be able to use the facilities (20 gallons each)
iv. “Back Door” Patrons, who buy their take-out from the Homeport and leave the premises. (1/2 gallon each)
These categories of patrons can be arranged and distributed at will by Homeport management, according to the Board of Health, as long as the allowable limit of 5,250 gallons per day is not exceeded.
The third category, the patron who eats the take-out meal on the Back Porch, poses the most difficult dilemma for the allocation of available gallons for the Homeport restaurant, meeting participants concluded. For one thing, it is exceedingly difficult to assess how many such patrons there actually are on a given night, making it difficult to calculate flow. While some reduction in the number of these patrons can be made by posting signs limiting use of restroom facilities to full-service diners, this would be difficult if not impossible to enforce.
BOH member Katie Carroll noted that the on-paper allocation of 142 indoor, full-service seats seemed unrealistic, given the available space, and that there was thus some flexibility in the allocation of 20-gallon per patron patio-seating, so long as the number of patio-patrons did not exceed available gallons.
Bob Nixon stated that he would almost prefer the simpler option of barring take-out patrons from using the back porch entirely, rather than attempting to bar back-porch take-out and/or raw-bar-only patrons from using the facilities. However, it was pointed out that the use of the Homeport Back Porch for the enjoyment of “Back-Door” take-out meals is a time-honored and very popular tradition among Islanders and visitors alike, and that precluding the back-door/back-porch option might cause significant unhappiness among Homeport patrons. David Zeilinger pointed out that the idea of providing seating to take-out patrons is rather unusual – it is a problem not often faced off-Island, but is part of the charm and the challenge of running a key Vineyard establishment such as the Homeport Restaurant.
Bob Nixon indicated that he would probably decide to start the season barring take-out meals from being eaten on the back porch, and assess the reaction and impact on Homeport patrons to see if this might be an acceptable option.
Mike Renahan raised the issue that roughly 25% of the Homeport’s septic system is located on Town property. This had been done in order to gain some distance from the Menemsha Pond, given that the system already does not have the required four-foot distance to groundwater. He suggested that Bob Nixon might want to look into getting an agreement with the Town so as to be able to access that part of the system if needed. He also noted that the BOH will want to do a bedroom count on the upstairs apartment at some point, and that each “bedroom” as defined by Title 5 adds 110 gallons/day.
Beach Plum Inn / Menemsha Inn Water Allocation: Chris Alley presented a plan to provide for a better allocation of water usage among septic systems serving the Beach Plum Inn and Menemsha Inn. At the Beach Plum Inn, three septic systems serve three lots and a number of buildings.
He proposed expanding a current one-bedroom apartment above the garage to two bedrooms, and moving the entire restaurant laundry operations, which are currently being done in the one-bedroom garage apartment, to another septic system. Total allowable nitrogen loading under the new Title 5 is 110gpd/10,000 sq.ft. Diverting the laundry flow to a different system, and adding a bedroom will bring the flow down from 4,515 gallons to 3,645 gallons, which still exceeds the new Title 5 nitrogen limits. Flow can probably be reduced further to about 2,624, and if a system fails, we can move to de-nitrification.
Mike Renahan pointed out that Title 5 does not give nitrogen credit for capturing greywater. However, Jan Buhrman and Bob Nixon expressed keen interest in a greywater system which would use the copious laundry water generated by the restaurant operation for irrigation. Mike Renahan stated that he strongly doubted that a greywater sprinkler system could possibly be acceptable to the state. Discussion then moved to the drip dispersal system which has recently been installed under provisional certification on a property on the Menemsha Crossroad. Chris Alley will look into that as an option for the Beach Plum Inn.
At the Menemsha Inn, there are 7 lots, three of which are vacant, having no flow. The dominant lot has a total of 15 bedrooms, an office, and also handles the laundry for the inn. One- and two-bedroom cottages on the other lots are below allowable flow, another larger lot has a flow of 2,800gpd, with 1,200 allowable gpd.
Chris Alley proposed bringing 980 gallons from the Beach Plum Inn property, which would be handled by a recently upgraded system on a sandy knob with room for expansion. This system, which was built by Frank Daly, has a variance for 10’ on the required 30’ distance from the boundary. The proposed expansion of this system would be away from the adjacent lot, owned by John Jacobs, and thus could maintain the existing 10’ variance.
Mike Renahan asked about clearance from the well, which is a Public Water System. He also noted that pressure lines are not permitted within a certain distance from a wetland, and that wetlands are known to exist in this area.
Chris Alley will provide these plans in writing for BOH review, and will look into the option of using a gravity-fed drip disposal irrigation system.
Perc Season: The opening of the season will be taken up by the BOH at its meeting January 7th, 2009.
FY2010 Budget: Marina Lent will contact the Refuse District, the Vineyard Nurses Association and others to research items of the budget which need to be defined. Most items in the budget can be reduced or maintained at FY’09 levels; however there will be need for increases in funding for training and inspection salaries. The cell phone can be returned to the Town and removed from the BOH budget in FY’10.
Septic System Installer’s Permits and Food Establishment Permits will expire at the end of December and need to be renewed. Marina Lent to prepare the requisite mailings.
Meinelt (17-5) well completion report and potability test received 12/17/2008.
Newman (33-70): As-built received 12/11/2008.
MV Medical Reserve Corps: The BOH appointed Marina Lent as its representative to the Martha’s Vineyard Medical Reserve Corps for a two-year term 1/1/2009 – 12/31/2011.
Food Inspections: Jan Buhrman reported on conversations she had had with Matt Poole, who had willingly agreed that Marina Lent should attend Food Establishment inspections in Edgertown to “learn the ropes” in advance of becoming certified to do inspections in Chilmark.
Invoices: Araujo Bros. Menemsha Bathhouse standard unit rental $150.00 approved
The meeting adjourned at 7:35pm.
_______________________ _______________________ _______________________
Katherine L. Carroll, Chair Michael A. Renahan Janet L. Buhrman
Chilmark Board of Health Chilmark Board of Health Chilmark Board of Health
These minutes have been transcribed from a tape. The tape is on file and available for perusal.
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