OLD LYME WATER POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY COMMISSION
APPROVED REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Held on: Thursday, April 21, 2011, 7:30 P.M.
Held at: Second Floor Conference Room
Memorial Town Hall
52 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT
Meeting convened at 7:30 p.m. by Chairman Tolchinski.
Those present and voting were the following members:
Dimitri Tolchinski, Chairman
George James (regular member)
Roger Breunig (regular member)
Luisa Grogan (regular member)
Daniel McFadden (alternate)
Also present:
Ron Rose, Sanitarian
Myron Kavalgian, WPCA Clerk
Bryan Curtis, WPCA engineer
Absent:
Keith Czarnecki, Vice Chairman
Mervin Roberts (regular member); excused
Aimee Eberly (regular member)
Angus McDonald (alternate); excused
Chairman Tolchinski called the meeting to order at 7:37 p.m. He announced Daniel McFadden as a voting member for that meeting.
AGENDA ITEMS:
- Reading and approval of the March 17, 2011 minutes.
Clerk Myron Kavalgian read the UNAPPROVED minutes.
Motion “to approve the minutes as read” was made by George James and seconded by Roger Breunig.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY, 5-0-0
- Hiring an Attorney for WPCA Commission Services.
Chairman Tolchinski introduced Attorney Narcy Z. Dubicki, from Dubicki & Camassar, LLP,
New London. Attorney Dubicki presented his resume and asked the Commission Members to interview him so he can be approved as a new WPCA lawyer. Mr. Dubicki’s statement of his experience and qualifications was followed by discussion, with questions asked and answered by Mr. Dubicki.
Motion to hire Mr. Narcy Dubicki as the new lawyer for WPCA was made by George James and seconded by Roger Breunig.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY, 5-0-0
- Nitrogen removal systems – sales presentation by Jim Dunlap, J & R Engineering, Raynham, MA.
Mr. Dunlap presented information about products from BioMicrobics, Inc. and Geoflow, Inc. One was a wastewater treatment system and the other a subsurface water drip system. Prices and cost were discussed regarding the unit, installation, tank cost, electricity use, and maintenance and homeowner expense.
Mr. Dunlap handed out brochures to the Commission members. The Chairman and Members thanked him for his presentation.
Chairman Tolchinski asked Mr. Bryan Curtis to get in touch with Mr. Dunlap and report to WPCA the possibility of applying that technology in our Town.
NO VOTE WAS TAKEN
4. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
The WPCA will develop a plan to provide actual changes to the existing septic system situation in order to comply with the State Health Code and DEP requirements and to maintain its established sewer avoidance program.
The Town Of Old Lyme does have all the necessary resources to make this happen, and the goal of WPCA should be to gain support of the leaders and active groups of people in our Town for our plan. This is very important to prevent the Town from having somebody else make decision for us that many will not like.
If we develop a 10- years plan to bring to compliance all the septic systems in our town, and if this plan will be supported by the people of the Town, we will gain support from the State and it will save millions of dollars to the town taxpayers.
We have already started working in this direction, and should use the results of our efforts to help propose our ideas favorably to the residents and administration of the Town.
Most of the Town properties lots are over 30,000 sq. ft. Lots smaller than 30,000sq.ft. are located mostly in R-10 and C-10 zones, and I have 15 Town maps showing the locations of these properties.
We will target as “DESIGNATED AREAS” the lots on the maps, which meet the following criteria:
- smaller than 30,000sq.ft.
- located within less than 100 feet from wetland, ocean, river and brooks
- having ledges or poor soil for septic systems
- having septic system below 18 inches from the highest ground water table.
After determination, which lots have the above incompliance, we will propose solutions to the Town residents and administration. This is not one size fits-all but rather we will address each lot individually.
Dimitri Tolchinski
Chairman, WPCA
~ April- 2011
Each of us who lives here has a good reason and most of us don’t plan to move.~ Some of us reproduce and so there gets to be more of us.~ Others learn about how nice it is and so they move here.~ Many of us who live here, live a long time and all this adds up to more people.
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Also, many of us like to live near water and so there are areas of the Town where land is at a premium and crowding results. Now, land has a problem.~ Land has a carrying capacity.~ It can support only a finite number of people and provide them with the water they need for their gardens, for bathing, for washing sheets and towels and dishes, for flushing away their wastes, some people even drink water. Really!!
So clean water has gotten to be a precious resource in many parts of our Town. . Most of the water we use we then recycle through septic systems that have served us well for these past three hundred plus years.
However, lately, several things have developed concurrently and independently to undermine what had been our Camelot.~ Transportation has improved, making it easier to live here and work somewhere else.~ Life styles have changed; today we bathe more frequently, wash our clothes and stuff more frequently. Also, more uneaten food formally fed to chickens now goes away with waste food grinders to the septic tank.~ Flush toilets replace outhouses and septic tanks replace cesspools and of course there are more people to load septic systems in some areas of Town.~ The only thing that remains the same is the carrying capacity of the land.
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~Concurrently, we are more aware of things like health and smell.~ Also, we have more government watching our every move.~ As a result we do live longer with fewer
bodily ailments BUT we haven’t properly addressed the problem of the carrying capacity of our land.~ There are remedies readily available and the time to do something is NOW.
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What can be done?~ Well, we can do nothing.~ We already have had a taste of that at Point O’Woods.~ Here an expensive unnecessary system now pumps sewage about twelve miles to New London for partial treatment in a plant that was already overloaded.~ The wastewater is then dumped into the Thames River for dilution in Long Island Sound.~ Bear in mind that in Old Lyme this wastewater is treated and recycled in conventional septic systems and we’ve been drinking it for these past 300 years.~ Soon we will have to import water to replenish what is being exported.
It is a matter of record that the Old Lyme Sanitarian while operating within the rules of The Connecticut Health Department did correct a problem at Point O’Woods without a sewer to New London and he got rewarded with a letter from The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection warning him than he stood in jeopardy of having his license from The Connecticut Department of Health lifted for his trouble. No, I didn’t make that up.~ ~It’s a matter of record.
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But what can we in Old Lyme do?~ First in my opinion what we cannot do must not do.~ We’ve collected taxes for years, many years, for non conforming houses on undersized lots knowing full well that they did not, could not, comply with the health code.~ We cannot now deprive those owners of their properties.~ We must, instead make it possible for them to discharge their liquid wastes into leach fields near their homes economically and without harassment.~ We owe them no less.
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We can do this by finding nearly vacant land where leach fields may be constructed underground so that the land above ground can still be used for whatever it is presently being used.~ Each non conforming lot needs to be evaluated on its own merit and our Town must help each owner to find the best, most economical solution to make that property conform to State regulations.~ The cost to resolve each problem will be mitigated by proven technology and help from the Town, but much of the cost must be borne by the property owner – some of whom have had a free ride on income bearing rentals for many years.~ Those people who own and pay taxes on lots large enough to accommodate adequate septic systems should not bear this burden.
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To accomplish this goal of keeping the remainder of Old Lyme as recycler of wastewater might take a decade.~ Presently we are under an administrative cloud but rest assured, we
~are not now polluting anything.~ The cost of such a program, if compared with what would happen if we were forced to embrace a structural sewage treatment system will be peanuts and the final effect will bring us closer to the Camelot of our fondest dreams.
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Mervin Roberts
Member and former Chair, OLWPCA
6.Determination of the “Designated Areas” in the Town of Old Lyme regarding potential water pollution.
Chairman Tolchinski made a presentation of his proposed 15 Town Maps, which he chooses as “Designated Areas.” He also presented to the Commission his and Mervin Roberts’s letters regarding future potential problems with the properties located within areas of those maps.
Those properties have very small lot sizes and are not in compliance with State Standards to be suitable for conventional septic systems. Some of those properties do not have enough land to support not only conventional septic systems, but even advanced septic systems.
Chairman Tolchinski said that both letters, if mailed to the Lyme/Old Lyme
property owners will explain to them the existing situation and have them support our plan to go with Community Systems to prevent the State to force us to have sewers. He said that we have not much time left before it might happen.
Chairman Tolchinski said that the only alternative not to have sewers in the Town is to build Community Septic Systems, which will bring every property with a small lot in compliance with the State Health Department and State DEP.
Chairman Tolchinski said that it would cost the Town less to install Community Septic Systems than to install sewers. If the Town approves a ten-year plan to improve the existing septic systems in the “Designated Areas” voluntarily, before the DEP steps in, the property owners who will benefit from it could pay most of the cost.
Ron Rose asked if Dimitri would like to mail these letters to Lyme owners, and suggested that Dimitri talk to the Lyme Selectman’s Office before mailing them.
Chairman Tolchinski said that he would like to mail these letters to Lyme homeowners because some areas in Lyme, such as Rogers Lake and others, are located next to Old Lyme and also have very small lots. These areas might like to participate with us in our work.
Chairman Tolchinski agreed to invite Ralph Eno, Lyme’s First Selectman, to the WPCA
meeting in May of 2011.
Chairman Tolchinski asked the Commission members if WPCA should mail these letters only to Old Lyme homeowners for now.
Audience members asked the Chairman to speak. Mrs. Carolyn Van Patten, Mile Creek Rd., Old Lyme spoke that the biggest problem in O. L. is water and that’s the specific problem she has. She suggested that perhaps a referendum would be appropriate. She stated that the Chairman’s efforts were the right mix of what’s needed to be done now and that he was correct that timing was all-important. Mr. Rocco Todaro, Hawk Nest Beach, O. L., spoke asking what was the specific problem? The Chairman said there was no problem yet but they were trying to prevent a problem. The Town will not offer a solution to crowded arrears that the small lots can’t support a septic system. Mr. Todaro stated that he has a system that worked. The Chairman asked what was
the system? He said I have a 7,500 sq. ft. lot, 3-bedroom house, 1,000-gallon tank and 40 feet of leach. Chairman stated that his lot was not conforming to DEP that required 30,000 sq. ft. lot and it doesn’t have a reserve area in case of failure. The Chairman stated that it might be good for now but in 10 years, what then? Mr. Todaro asked why is the State demanding sewers? The Chairman suggested he get an opinion from the state.
Speaking next was Mr. Micheal Evangelisti, Site Manager, Old Saybrook Septic System Project and a past Chairman of OSWPCA for many years. There is so much density that nitrogen is flowing to Long Islands Sound. He states. Is the Sound getting polluted from people’s septic systems? Yes. The Chairman reiterated Mr. Evangelisti’s vast experience and stated that Old Saybrook entered into an agreement with CT DEP that those lots 7,000 sq. ft and smaller will be included. The Chairman reiterated that you might think the system is good but it’s not. We don’t want a situation like Old Saybrook has he said. If we do nothing the problem will accelerate and the CT DEP will demand sewers. And we want to prevent that from occurring and for that
reason we need a little bit of effort and agreement to accomplish our goal. Our goal is to get the support of the townspeople, leaders and active groups. Mrs. Van Patten said underground water is everybody’s water. It flows all the time. The Chairman said we don’t want the water we use exported from the Town that prevents recycling and starving our underground water levels. Mr. Evangelisti said you get a chance to decide your fate. We didn’t. We lost the fight many times and Ron Rose knows what we went through. It’s not what’s right or what’s wrong it’s what I tell you to do. We are under an order and you are not. Chairman Tolchinski is trying to prevent this. Doing nothing will get you terms dictated to you by the State. What Dimitri’s trying to do is preserve your independence by acting in a precautionary manner.
He said you could help by putting a drip irrigation system at the golf course, which could take care of the problem. Go on to Google Map and see the areas to utilize. It’s a huge undertaking. You’re not going to get it done in a week. We’ve been working on this since 1993. I still don’t have a shovel in the ground! We’re close. We’ve rejected many bids but we’ll get there. We’re spending millions of dollars before we dig. A question was asked what are you doing? We are analyzing 1,900 septic systems in the 15 focus areas and anywhere near water, rebuilding all the systems. We are identifying every lots problem, testing soils, depth of ground water in an intensive investigation. The Clean Water Act
binds us. The Town of Old Saybrook kicks in 25% and CT DEP 25%. We looked at private funding which you have an option to do as rules are law now. We will have payback in 7 years despite cost of engineering, mapping, designing if you follow clean water rules. You have to do all this work. If you do it privately you will not have to do as much and balance up the cost. We made a mistake as we are under orders and being pushed. Ron Rose asked what the cost? We have gone through in 2011 $250,000 in engineering costs, developing and administrative costs $115,000. Dan McFadden asked are individual homeowners responsible for this system cost? It’s the same as a sewer through assessment. 25% and 25% is off the top by other payers and 50% is homeowner assessment. The choice is to pay it all off anytime over 20 years. What system are you going to use? A drip system is easy to install, cheap and most
effective. Other wise I’m not a fan of any mechanical system if I had a choice. The expenses go on and on.
Roger Breunig asked several questions about the mailing of the letters to Town residents. He said that we had discussed procedures in the past and that we need to decide on a procedure. Chairman Tolchinski stated that we would do that and that he had asked the Financial Board for money. Luisa Grogan asked if there would be a response mechanism in the letter to allow people to express their opinion. The Chairman said he would invite any and all to a WPCA meeting. He reiterated that the cost of the mailing would be nominal. Mr. Breuning said more information should be sent with the letter and the Chairman asked him to prepare what he thought was appropriate. He said he would do it at home for the next meeting. Ms. Grogan concurred with this decision.
Motion was made by Dan McFadden to move the mailing of these letters to the next meeting’s agenda. Roger Breunig seconded the motion.
MOTION WAS PASSED 4-0-1 (Chairman Tolchinski – abstain)
- Bryan Curtis – Engineering Report
Mr. Curtis gave a 14-page report entitled “Community Subsurface Wastewater
Absorption and System Site Evaluation.”
He discussed capacity criteria, pollutant renovation, absorption, sizing nitrogen renovation and advanced wastewater treatment. His report provided data of his research with maps, classifications of various soils, and recommendations for this site and any others that may be considered.
Dan Mc Fadden made a motion to have Bryan Curtis research and identify the most critical properties in the “Designated Areas.” Roger Breunig seconded this motion.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY, 5-0-0Septic pumps out issues.
Chairman Tolchinski proposed that letters be sent out to those not in compliance notifying them that their permit to discharge will be revoked if they don’t pump their septic tank within two weeks.
The matter was discussed. Several members felt this was too hard on homeowners and suggested alternative ideas to engender compliance.
Chairman Tolchinski made a motion to ask Attorney Narcy Dubicki to research and develop recommendations on how to enforce the mandatory pump out of septic systems in our Town. Luisa Grogan seconded the motion.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY, 5-0-0
8. Preparing New Regulations.
It was decided to table this issue until the next meeting to allow the new attorney to familiarize himself with the workings of WPCA.
9. Committee Reports:
Education – no report
Budget-Luisa Grogan reported that $17,815.75 was spent. The remaining budget balance is $6,797.25. NO VOTE TAKEN
10. Sanitarian Report
Ron Rose reported March pump out figures of 102,250 gallons, with YTD of 945,850 gallons.
NO VOTE TAKEN
11. Any New or Old Business – NONE
12. Motion to adjourn was made by Roger Breunig and seconded by Luisa Grogan.
Meeting was adjourned at 10:50 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Myron Kavalgian, Clerk
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