THOMPSON – The Town of Thompson approved a temporary moratorium on new private wastewater treatment plants on Tuesday, August 4, giving officials time to update zoning, inspection and enforcement rules.

The local law places a 12-month pause on the acceptance, processing and approval of new land-use applications involving package plants and other decentralized water or wastewater systems.

A package plant is a smaller wastewater treatment system often used by developments that cannot connect to a public sewer system. The systems are generally privately owned and operated.

The town board can end the moratorium sooner if new regulations are completed before the year is over.

According to the public hearing notice, the law is intended to protect public health, safety and welfare while the town develops standards for the construction, operation and long-term maintenance of those systems.

Why pause

Town Water and Sewer Superintendent Michael Messenger said Thompson has about 30 private sewer plants, with another eight to 10 proposed through the planning process.

Messenger said the town’s sewer-use law dates back to 1986 and its zoning has never been fully updated to address this type of development.

“[The moratorium is] going to give us some time to get our zoning and our sewer-use ordinance where it needs to be,” Messenger said.

He said the town has dealt with discharges and other problems at two recently built private plants but has limited authority under its current laws to respond to overflows, violations or a lack of money for repairs and maintenance.

“We have no way to go after them,” Messenger said. “Nothing in our code.”

Messenger said package plants can work when they are properly designed, built and operated. However, he said the town does not have a complete review and inspection process to confirm that approved plans are followed.

He described one private plant where an engineer certified the work as complete, but town officials later found that part of the system had not been finished.

“At the end of the day, right now, we don’t have any teeth to even make sure that they’re done right,” Messenger said.

He stressed that the moratorium is not intended to stop development. State approval for private wastewater plants often takes more than a year, he said.

“It gives us time to get our head back above water,” he added.

Stronger rules

The Director of Building, Planning and Zoning James Carnell said some of the problems may be connected to seasonal developments where systems are not operated throughout the year.

“We’ve had some struggles with some of the package plants,”  Carnell told the board.

He said the pause will allow the town to add stronger enforcement measures, including possible fines, court action and other ways to require owners to correct problems.

Carnell also said the town must decide who will own and operate the plants after developers finish their projects. In some cases, homeowners associations have ended up responsible for the systems.

Future regulations could require a separate transportation corporation to own and operate a private utility, place the plant on its own parcel or allow it to be dedicated to the town.

Carnell also asked the board to clearly define which projects already before the Planning Board would be allowed to continue.

Council Member Melinda Meddaugh said projects still in their early stages should follow the new rules once they are adopted.

“If there’s so many issues with the existing, you want to go forward the correct way,” Meddaugh said.

The board agreed that projects could continue if the Planning Board had already declared itself lead agency for the environmental review. Projects that had not reached that stage would fall under the moratorium.

Public support

Several residents supported the pause during the public hearing.

Roger Betters, representing the Columbia Hill Neighborhood Alliance, said the town has previously had to step in after wastewater and septic systems serving private developments failed.

He said package plants can be quick and less expensive to build, but they can cause problems if they are not properly maintained.

Other residents thanked the board for considering the law and said residents were asking for “responsible growth for a sustainable future.”

Meddaugh said Thompson Planning Board members supported the moratorium and believed they had needed stronger rules for private wastewater systems for years.

Town Supervisor Scott Mace said Thompson is not the only municipality examining the issue, saying that nearby towns have considered similar pauses.

The moratorium will remain in place for up to 12 months while the town updates its zoning and sewer regulations.