HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-05-31
BOARD OF HEALTH
The Minutes of the Meeting of Thursday May 31, 1990 at 7:30 PM.
The Meeting was held in the Large Group Instruction Room at the
Nantucket High School. All members of the Board were present
with the exception of Ms. Coombs. Chairman Grossman called the
meeting to order at 7:30 PM.
Public Hearinq to Consider Proposed Amendments to the Board of
Health Requlations 60.00 Minimum Lot Size for Unsewered Lots.
Lynn Zimmerman of Nantucket Land Council talked about the
effect of building construction on groundwater and the
importance of pure groundwater both for year round residents
and tourists. She described the Horsely Whitten Hegemann study
and the six Board of Health recommendations in the Horsley
Whitten Hegemann study dated March 1990. Mark Nelson and Scott
Horsley provided information on the proposed six changes to the
regulations which are based on nitrogen loading calculations.
Even though there are now about 7,400 residences, they found
that the buildout could actually exceed 80,000 residents
(25,000 houses). These are five components of the overall
strategy: 1) Zoning Bylaws; 2) Subdivision Regulations; 3)
Health Regulations; 4) Wetlands Regulations; 5) Nonregulatory
Measures.
The Board of Health is very powerful, actually does not require
any public hearings before implementing regulations. Since the
federal and state governments do not speak to this issue, the
local Board of Health must implement regulations. Title V of
the state does not speak to the location of wells in relation
to septic systems. 5 mg/liter was selected in order to provide
a reasonable confidence that 10 mg/liter would not be exceeded.
Mr. Jack Martin and Mr. Jim Glidden questioned whether the
Board of Health would also retain an expert on behalf of the
Town in addition to the expert hired by the Land Council in
order to ensure no bias.
Mr. Poor says that perched wetlands in Squam, Quidnet or Pocomo
should not be considered downgradients if there are protective
clay layers. Mr. Horsley agreed for some cases. New
technology was questioned, such as the solar aquaplant systems.
Mr. Visco asked that the Board go slowly, since some people
believe that this is a method of limiting land use by health
regulations rather than zoning regulations. Assumptions used
were 3 people per house on average year round. Betty
Glendenning suggested that hospitals and nursing homes be added
to the list of sources of toxic or hazardous materials. Wayne
Holmes suggested there would be three costs: enforcement; fees
for sampling wells; and the requirement of impervious floors
for storage of hazardous materials. He also suggested that the
report provided was from a special interest group, and not to
bring in zoning through the back door. Mr. Horsley said that
the costs should be looked at, as well as the benefits which
have consistently been found to exceed the costs by federal EPA
studies. Bruce Poor suggested special legislation to take
advantage of new sewage processing technologies. Mr. Horsley
said that existing lots of record would not be affected. Jim
Glidden said that change of ownership may require changing lot
lines so that those properties would be affected.
There being no further business before the Board, the Board
voted unanimously to adjourn at 9:40 PM.
Submitted for review theist day of June 1990.
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Le~:ur~~aJ'J' t;"
Executive Secretary
Approved the r3~~ day of June 1990.