Nelson County Government: Bio-Solids Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes-August 30, 2007

Bio-Solids Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes-August 30, 2007

Nelson County Bio-Solids Advisory Committee
August 30, 2007 - Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the fourth meeting of the Nelson County Bio-Solids Advisory Committee conducted on August 30, 2007 at 4:00 p.m. in the Boardroom located in the Nelson County Courthouse are as follows:

Call to Order - The meeting was called to order by Mr. Tommy Bruguiere, Chairman, of the Nelson County Board of Supervisors.

Members present included: Mr. Bruguiere, Tom Eick (Nelson County Health Department), Tim Castillo (Nelson County Service Authority), Phillip D. Payne IV, (Nelson County Attorney) and Steve Carter (County Administrator). Absent were Hughes Swain (Nelson County Farm Bureau), Peter Agelasto (Citizen Representative), Thomas Burnett, Jr. (Citizen Representative) and Gary Scott (Citizen Representative and Chairman of Nelson Citizens Against Toxic Sludge).

Minutes of June 4, 2007 Meeting - The minutes of the Committee’s meeting on June 4, 2007 were not considered.

Discussion of Draft Ordinance – Mr. Payne summarized revisions to the draft bio-solids ordinance that he had completed subsequent to the Board of Supervisors August 14, 2007 public hearing on the ordinance and pursuant to comments received from the Virginia Department of Health and Synagro, Inc. He noted that the input from VDH “addressed minor drafting suggestions which have been incorporated and are of no substantive importance”. With regard to the comments received from Synagro, Mr. Payne stated that the company raised three points pertinent to the draft ordinance including: 1) information not available at the time of initial notice of land application would be identified and provided to the Biosolids Monitor as soon as it becomes available and prior to commencement of land application, 2) Synagro objected to providing the name and addresses of adjoining property owners, noting that this requirement was not in the model ordinance used in developing the County’s draft and that state regulations impose very limited notice requirements on the applicants and, 3) Synagro questioned the draft ordinance’s limitation of placement of biosolids in agricultural zoning districts.

Mr. Payne said he had addressed each of Synagro’s comments with revisions to the draft biosolids ordinance. Specifically, Section 10-33 (f) was revised to provide: “The Biosolids Monitor shall review the notice and documentation provided and shall notify the submitting party in writing of any deficiencies in the submittal within twenty days of receipt. The submitting party will have ten business days to correct the deficiencies unless otherwise permitted by the Biosolids Monitor in writing. In the event information necessary to correct a deficiency is not yet available, then the submitting party shall so advise the Biosolids Monitor and shall provide such information no later than seven days prior to land application”. Secondly, the objection on providing the name and address of adjoining property owners is, per Mr. Payne, resolved by Section 10-33(b) of the draft ordinance, which provides that the Biosolids Monitor is responsible, earlier in the process, to give notice of to adjoining properties, thus addressing this concern. And, lastly, Mr. Payne deleted Section 10-33(a), which limited biosolids application to Agricultural zoning districts, as he could not identify any authority for the locality to limit biosolids to any particular use or any particular zoning districts.

The committee acknowledged and consented to the revisions completed and presented by Mr. Payne, who said he would provide the revised ordinance to County staff to enable the Board of Supervisors to consider adoption of the draft biosolids ordinance at their regular session on September 11, 2007.

Adjournment - The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m. (approximate).

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Stephen A. Carter, Acting Secretary