Administrator's Note: Debbie Blais attended the March 14th, 2016 GLA Board meeting where the above SG-28E project was approved. She asked specific questions which are enumerated in her public email below. Her main point is that no project should be approved by the GLA until it is first approved by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) via the Park County Environmental Health office. As a former chair of the Project Review Committee I support her argument and conclusions.
GLA Board and Catherine,
I’ve gotten some questions answered and information from Park County Environmental Health office this week, following Monday’s Board meeting and the questions brought up in that meeting. Here are some facts:
1. The DEQ for this Parcel is public record and the original
from 2003 is attached. A March 3, 2016 letter from Catherine
requesting a change is also attached. Barbara Woodbury indicated “This is a slight modification of the DEQ approval, nothing major. No rewrite is required. A permit can be issued if applied for.”
2. Per Barbara today (3/17/2016): “No Septic Permit has been applied for nor approved” in regards to SG 28-E. As Barbara so clearly told me before: There is NO approval until a Permit is issued.
3. There is NO “catch 22” nor dependency on “GLA approval” for permits issued by Park County. The DEQ approvals are done when a lot is subdivided (2003 in this case). The Septic Permits are issued afterwards in before building. Neither the DEQ Approval nor the Septic Permit pend GLA approval; Gerald Dubiel should have been able to explain that to Catherine.
4. The DEQ approval and Septic Permit should be submitted to the GLA with any GLA Project Application. Kevin Newby has requested this in the revised Project Application Instructions and Gerald Dubiel was previously a proponent of this, as well.
Catherine, so you know, I do not have an issue with you personally nor your project. Rather, your project review is just the latest in a series of premature approvals by the GLA that either seek to bypass proper DEQ approval and/or Septic System permitting. Several recent GLA Project Reviews have been prematurely pushed thru in an attempt to rush GLA approval without submitting DEQ approvals and/or Septic System Permits. Those projects are:
· Kletter SG39-E Septic System – his application had a note that it had “preliminary approval from Barbara Woodbury”. That was false; the only approval issued by Park County is in the form of a permit. In fact, he hadn’t even submitted an application for a Septic System Permit at the time his application was submitted!
· Buchanan SG41-A A Shop/One House with Shop – This application was submitted without resolution of a proposal to move a shared well, revise the Septic System/drain field location, and do a DEQ Approval Re-write (in process with Park County last I heard). There was no Septic Permit at the time of application. His last revision of his application to the GLA (that was approved) was for a single house with a Shop Accessory Building. I subsequently learned his DEQ rewrite request to Park County was for 2 residences; contrary to the application and approval he received from GLA – and contrary to GLA Master Plan density requirements that only allow a single dwelling on his parcel due to its small size.
· Fitzgerald SG28-E There was no DEQ approval and no Septic Permit submitted with this GLA Project Application, although the DEQ approval was available. This project was approved by the GLA on March 14, 2016, even though no Septic System permit had been applied for nor obtained.
Questions: Why does the GLA continually and prematurely approve projects without the proper documentation (DEQ approval) and Septic Permits? What is the rush?! These landowners still need to obtain proper DEQ approval and Septic Permits; they cannot build without them! There is no GLA policy nor process in place to go back and re-check or re-approve these projects to ensure that 1) a Septic Permit was obtained and that the plans previously approved by the GLA are still consistent with the subsequently issued Permit; and 2) the GLA Project approval remains consistent and agrees with any new DEQ rewrites or past approvals. Why is this important? See below:
There is an ongoing, unresolved Formal Complaint to the GLA and Park County regarding the Kletter SG39-E Illegal Septic System installation. This illegal septic system has a waste-water drain field right next to his well. It was illegally installed with NO Septic Permit April 2014 and has been in continual use since then – to this very day! His complete and blatant disregard for the safety and purity of the ground water we all share to drink, cook and bath in this neighborhood is despicable. My home is on the parcel right next to his.
GLA Project Approval should be the last step before a landowner commences building. The GLA Governing Docs provide all the information necessary regarding density (# of dwellings allowed on various parcels), Accessory buildings, setbacks, etc. When a project comes before the GLA, it should have the DEQ approval in place. It should also have any shared well information and the Septic Permit.
Attempting to do Project Approval in the absence of these important documents means any decisions the GLA makes are only interim decisions or interim approvals until such time as those documents are available and the project plans can be reviewed against them, again for compliance. Why do the job twice, create the opportunity for mistakes, etc?
Debbie Blais SG 40-C
