Montgomery health board critical of cluster ordinance

Panel sites danger of well-water contamination.

By: Steve Rauscher
   MONTGOMERY — An ordinance that would allow developers to cluster homes on smaller lots so that land can be saved for open space — up for consideration by the Township Committee next week — should not be approved in its current form, according to the Township Board of Health.
   "Their recommendation was outright: Don’t accept it," Mayor Sondra Moylan said.
   The health board, Mayor Moylan said, is concerned that the conservation design ordinance could result in increased levels of nitrates from septic systems which could contaminate the water supply.
   "We do not believe that the Single-Family Conservation Design Ordinance as submitted to the Board is appropriate for use on lots with individual wells and septic systems," states an Aug. 15 letter from the Board of Health to the Township Committee.
   Nitrates from home septic systems can contaminate an area’s water supply if present in too great a concentration. If houses are packed too close together, there may not be sufficient nitrate dilution, local and state officials say.
   The township’s nitrate-dilution model conflicts with the state Department of Environmental Protection’s model in a minor, but crucial way, Township Health Officer Dave Henry said.
   The state’s model considers nitrate dilution over the entire development tract, which in most cases has houses on large lots spread evenly throughout, he said. But conservation design places the same number of houses closer together on smaller lots, which the township model says increases the nitrate concentration in the area containing the houses, even if the dilution may be at an acceptable level when averaged across the entire tract.
   "Members of the board were just a little more comfortable with the model we’ve been using," Mr. Henry said.
   For that reason, the Board of Health decided the ordinance would not be safe for areas that would use well water that might be contaminated by the surrounding septic systems.
   Planning Board Vice-Chairman Kent Youngberg said the Planning Board, which looked at the ordinance at its meeting Monday night, will recommend that the Township Committee delay its decision on the conservation design ordinance until the DEP releases revised guidelines concerning nitrate dilution in the coming months, though the new findings are not expected to differ significantly.
   "This ordinance relies on approval of the (state) nitrate-dilution model," he said. "And as long as the DEP is considering changes to that model, the prudent course would seem to be delaying consideration of the ordinance."