##VIDEO ID:IG8EI4cXdC0## October 23rd 2024 meeting of the town of Littleton Board of Health in attendance we have today Kevin Davis Dan Kane G fralone myself Matt Wason as well as our support agents Jim graffy and Francis dagel we'll start our agenda with a 7 o'clock public hearing on 181 Foster Street from civil Solutions in Kirk fatrick Kirk would you like to try to show your screen or you want me to do it I'll give it a shot all right can you hear me I can hear you all [Music] right it's not asking me the uh up there Kirk you'll be rejoining it's a panelist now try sharing he's coming yeah I think we succeeded here uh we can see you and hear you excellent I'm Kirk Fitzpatrick with civil Solutions and I'm here on behalf of Peter Scott Construction for 181 Foster Street basically what we have proposed before you is an upgrade for replacement dwelling currently there's a four-bedroom dwelling shown here in the front that has a failed septic system this house probably hasn't not been occupied over 20 years and it had some type of an old system here that's actually kind of just the collapsed hole at this point uh the property is serviced by Town water um it's kind of a slightly regular shap lot it's kind of rectangle in the front and then it's got a leg that flares out um to the right rear so we went out and conducted multiple test holes we did three in this back area here and we also tried some up in the front thinking it might fit in better there but this test hole that I'm hovering over here actually had refusal at 40 inches with solid ledge so that prohibits the placement of a system over in this side so we actually went back and dug an additional test hole just to confirm that we do have four feet of natural occurring pervious material in this immediate area of this system here what we're proposing to do is to put a new 4bedroom house it's going to be moved back a little bit uh to give a front yard and also makes the building comply with zoning then the system is going to come out to a new 1500 gallon two compartment septic tank and that's going to feed a presan viral septic that's 12 feet wide by 42 feet long so the testiles showed four feet of a Sandy loone we had a percolation rate of four minutes an inch and we had a seasonal eye water table that varied from 36 Ines to 42 Ines so we're requesting for a reduction in the groundwater offset from four feet to two feet with the use of the Presby and also for fill within 10 feet of our property line which is really just right in this corner of the system here I did speak with the neighbors iume they're they're probably on here at 171 Foster Street I know they have some concerns about the proximity of the system to the lot line um it does maintain the 10 foot offset and then the fill is less than the 10 foot um I was going to recommend that we provide a Swale along the edge of the lot line and then that sale would curve in at along the toe of the slope and direct any surface run off off the system back onto the main um section of the property here kind of hovering over uh they did have a question why we hadn't explored placing the system left rear corner of the house um there's really not room behind the house because you're going to be 20t off the system with a full foundation and then 10 ft off the lot line and that's only about 35 fet from the house to the rear lot line the only possible location would be over here on the corner but the grade Rises up there um I would be concerned that that ledge is prohibitive there and it would also require a pump if we were to place it over here in this corner just given the nature of the the groundwater in this area um may we have happy to answer any questions that the board may have uh first can we get your interpretation Francis Andor Jim sure I'll I'll start um I did this I witnessed the well testing out there reviewed the plan um again as Kurt mentioned a combination of ledge and kind of a strange lot configuration the benefit um where the system is placed it is a a decent slope downhill and with the Swale as Kurt mentioned around that system should really address any concerns of runoff onto the ab Butter's property um using the groundwater offset helps to keep the mound height down and helps raid it along that property line so again as a repair area is Town water I think it's a reasonable approach to fix the septic system on that site Francis anything further from your end no all right questions from the board Kevin Davis so specifically um rotating the uh Presby system an additional 45 degrees towards north uh towards north so know roting it rotating at 45 degrees towards the the right clockwise um would and positioning it with the Swale would that uh adversely affect uh how the neighbors and how the spill would go and all that we be farther away than the 10 feet and all that other kind of good stuff so no do you understand what the question I'm asking I think so I think you're suggesting we maybe hold with the debox is and rotate the system clockwise um I think that would actually make it worse I try to run the system parallel to the Contour of the land if I rotate the system clockwise um it gets steeper as you go further back and this this 93 Contour is going to get pushed over and then you're going to end up actually with additional fill in this corner I did look at trying to um run the system more parallel to the lot line but if you were to rotate the debox more towards the house then the system starts coming up in elevation to maintain the groundwater offset and it doesn't rectify the proximity of the fill to the lot line so I I think really the best solution is to add a Swale and I'm happy to add that to the plan and I'll make sure it goes in I didn't want to modify the plan priority seeing it since I just got this information late this afternoon okay thank you no further questions question G Falone did we lose youo we jum uh Dan K uh I think I kind of had that same question so is a this is a tear down and rebuild you kind of addressed a little bit that the relocation of the house was to bring it closer to compliance with zoning offsets um and you mentioned you really can't go behind because you because there's ledge behind and a pump chamber I guess there's any way to rework the design of the house that may be able to adjust this a few feet so that it's not so it's does not require fill within 10 feet of the lot line I I I think this is still the best place to put the system given the fact that we know there's four feet of perious soil in this area I I don't think the house placement um necessarily would impact where I think the system should go I definitely think this is the best place to put the system um I think trying to it won't even if we'd have to push the house significantly forward to try to fot something in here and then it wouldn't the zoning offset um and I would be concerned that ledge it's closer to the ground or closer to grade here the old house does not have a full Foundation um it does have it has a basement but you can't stand up in it so I think as you go towards the back this there's more perious soil so I really think that's the best place to have the system I just don't think you have the area behind the house to to fit it without significantly moving the house forward and I I think it would be prohibitive to try to get a system in there do you Happ to know how big the existing house is how many rooms I do not it is a four bedroom uh I don't think I have any further questions at this time all right question Kevin Baker uh my only question I just missed the first minute of Kirk's presentation this is uh Jim you're treating it as a repair but it's new construction so like many of the houses the tear down rebuilds they're looked at as replacement houses even though it's a brand new house going in there it's it's same number of bedrooms so it's not constituted as new construction in accordance with the code uh that was the only question I had I guess I would add is even if the house were not being torn down and replaced I would place the system where we have it because that's where it makes it by gravity and there's four feet of perious soil there thank you I guess Kirk that's that was my follow question because I'm similarly looking at the back of the house or even kind of Tuck behind the garage there so were you were you able to do test holes over there or you just know from the prior construction you're saying that that's you're not going to be able to have any depth there I I think there's probably reduced depth there just given the fact that the house doesn't have a full foundation and my thinking was if it went over there the grade is going to come up significantly um which is going to raise the grade of the house unless you put in a pump and then that fill would still be in place on this side of the house and the fill within 10 feet of a lot line is really just that Contour 95 and it's it's not it's probably a 7 to1 slope there so it's not the minimum 3 to1 slope as it is off this back corner here so I don't think you're going to get a lot of runoff coming off that system but I think the best thing to do is to add a Swale just to ensure that we don't push any water over the lot line all right back to you Kevin Davis um so if we do have to modify the drawing um or plan sorry do we uh want to um is it normal just to wait for the drawing to be revved and brought back before the board or do we just say hey this is part you know make it part of the motion that this well has to be added in y y y I think that would be depending on the pleasure of the board you could approve it conditionally based upon the addition that he's referring to or you could say we would prefer continuous to see updated plans I I would ask that the board consider approving it subject to the swell being added to the plan and submitted to Jim gy for approval bir um before we go to anywhere else are there any audience members who are neighbors or concerned about this that want to speak please raise your hand and I have Ed gavagan please state your name and address for the record and you're on mute I can you hear me just check yes perfect sorry my name is Ed gavan I'm um living at 171 fost Street so just next door to the right of the property and just to say you've answered in this meeting all of the questions we had for it so I'd like to thank every one who I know I've never met in person genuinely every single question we and query we had written down you just kind of answered it and questioned it and our only addition would be we would love an extra swelling just for any additional runoff and apart from that I don't think we have any objections and we're very excited to have a new build next to us because we're we're pro the building just worried about run off that was it really just to stop right there all right thank you very much for being here and letting us know I believe there was a second hand raise I didn't see the name Mr chair was Natasha had her hand raised or their hand raised Natasha lanti I actually um you already heard from my husband so I'm also at 171 um so yeah we we would appreciate the additional swell but again thank you to everyone here for asking the right questions CU those are exactly the questions we had perfect thank you no further uh input from the audience it looks like so what is the plure of the board keev Baker like to make a motion to approve the plan as presented with the addition of the Swale as discussed Kevin Davis uh friendly amendment to include uh the um the reduction in the uh groundwater offset from 4 feet to 2 feet and the variant uh to allow um fill within 10 ft of a lot line Mr Baker are you okay with those additions to your motion we have a motion up second and a second roll call vote Kevin Baker Kevin Baker votes yes Kevin Davis Kevin Davis votes yes do know Fred you okay can you hear me yes can you hear me we can hear you Gino can you hear me no okay you hear me that's it you have a a vote on the motion I'm I understand what what he's going through but the question is I have no problem as Baker says they did a pretty good job I think very well we have a motion on the floor do you have a vote Yes I'm going to vote Yes I say yes very well Doo says yes Dan Kane Dan Kane votes yes Matt won votes yes motion is passed Thank you Kirk thank you and don't go anywhere I'm not our 705 public hearing on 192 tan road again I'm Kirk Fitzpatrick with civil Solutions and I'm here on behalf of Kyle man of Mighty small trust for 192 to hadwan Road and I'd like to share the plan if I can we'll give it a shot here so basically what we have proposed before you is actually similar to the last one uh there's an existing four bedroom dwelling here in the front of the property um which is currently served by a setic tank in the backyard and then a leech field down in this flatter area this property the house is actually in pretty tough shape uh so they're proposing to tear it down and build a new four-bedroom house shown here we conducted some soil testing towards the rear of the property I'll zoom in a little bit here we actually did three test holes uh we a seasonal high water table at 24 in and the soil was actually a lonely sand and it perked two minutes an inch which is kind of unusual for this area um we tried the perk in multiple spots but it was consistently two minutes an inch um so what we're proposing is to come out to a new 1500 gon Tu compartment tank and that's going to feed a pisan viral sected leechfield 12T wide by 42 ft long um and this system is designed with a reduced groundwater offset to make it by gravity just because uh with the groundwater at two feet if we go with the 4 foot offset the require a pump system um or the the excuse me or the house would have to be elevated further and more grading brought in more fill brought in we're able to do it with a two foot offset which also allows us to maintain the fill 10 feet off of the lot line happy to answer any questions the board may have all right Jam or Francis first I don't have any questions make sense Jim I think I actually misspoke with the ground water off so it's a reduction from 5 feet to three feet because it's is that correct what you're asking for five foot to three foot five five foot to three foot okay and and it's really I I designed it with a flat bed um so the three- foot offset is right along the lane continues to slope as it goes back so we have a three foot offset right along the front edge closest to the house by the time you get to the back you have at least a four foot off down here in the corner probably four and a half do we have you back Jim think that as a note we'll go to questions and come back to Jim if he reconnects so Kevin Baker questions uh no no questions I mean 2 minutes an inch 3 foot groundwater offset pretty standard uh seems like they did a good job okay kin Davis so okay so uh Kirk just real quick so there's no way to put a traditional septic field in here because of the ground rer offset that's that's a kind of a statement and kind of a question at the same time and then there's no other go ahead I'm sorry I was going to say that just the Presby allows us to reduce the size of it and and the groundwater reduction with approval from the board and I think the advantage to that is it does allow us to maintain the fill 10 feet off the lot line um if we went with a conventional system and the full groundwater offset we'd probably have filled right to the lot lines both on both sides and in the rear got it okay I have no other questions do know fatalone questions I have I have no question thank you Dan Kane I have no questions this time very well I also have no questions any audience members with a question please raise your hand uh nobody else uh Jim Reg joing it looks like go ahead Dan no I was going to say Jim's in the audience if you want to bring him up and see if he has any other input I I promoted he's coming back yay Jim let us know if you're back Jim we're ready for you Francis do you want to maybe phone Jim yeah okay very least just to find out if he has any comments on this plan Jim we we see your video can you hear us can you look up if you can hear us Jim there is intense conversation anybody good at lip reading Jim apologizes he's having some technical difficulties um he did say he had no issue with the project he thought it was a thoughtful design and makees sense for the site very well thank you for facilitating that Kev Baker I'd like to make a motion to app approve the plan as presented uh and uh Grant the variance uh for the groundwater offset uh from 5 feet to 3 feet with the use of the Presby and viros septic teing field I we have a motion in a second roll call vote Kevin Baker Kevin Baker votes yes Kevin Davis Kevin Davis votes yes G Falone yes Dan Kane Dan Kane votes yes and Matt won votes yes thank you very much Kirk for your presentation thank you and have a good night thank you our next agenda item is our 710 p.m discussion on a code of conduct before we jump to that just so that I don't forget um I would propose that in the future we keep all of our public hearings to 10-minute agenda items at the minimum does that sound good I don't know if we've ever been able to do one in five minutes flat even with technical even without technical difficulties so 710 discussion code of conduct I apologize I was not at the last meeting but I know there was some review of the um updated edits Kevin Davis told me about so one question we had Kevin Davis go ahead here real quick it looks like the item K that's in number three was not stricken that's what we talked about last meeting was to strike that um so well before we get uh there's a question as to whether we need a public hearing to adopt this code of conduct as a board or if we can just vote ourselves and adopt it does anybody have any feelings or understanding about that there so what I would propose is to to be safe we add it to our next agenda as a public hearing um with the correction that Kevin Davis just mentioned and I would ask that we get a copy out um that's with with no more edits so approve all the edits so that it's a final review copy let's get that sent out to the board if we could therefore we could vote on it at our next meeting as a public hearing does that sound good I have heads and thumbs awesome we'll move on now to the 7:15 p.m. infectious disease decision support tool please hold welcome back to the fall so our update on covid-19 the current predominant variant is KP 311 we've running out of numbers and letters for our variants but it's just another variant that's out there um where it is our vaccination is hopefully going to work well against it to our right is our updated weekly case counts so as you can see um pretty middling in the basically five or less case counts per week um the vaccination information unfortunately is not available yet this is actually from the end of of the summer um Massachusetts has not posted any vaccination data for towns uh hopefully that is going to come out at the end of October which is basically right now um but they they posted that the data would become available as vaccines were available and as several of us know vaccines are readily available so we'll start posting the vaccination information as much as possible I I did post this up here just so we have a reminder of last season where we attained um a in 32 a half% for our Co vaccinations which is I think far below the Target that we would like to have um so that is going to start to become a Forefront of our conversation and sideline Francis when is our next vaccination clinic um so we had one last night and then we're planning to do one more covid only Clinic um but we're still planning the date it will probably be the week of November 18th very well so that's the full week before uh Thanksgiving week good thank you for that sorry to put on spot um Wastewater numbers are kind of in the low middling level so they've been kind of sitting down there for a while we'll keep monitoring that it's not kind of not quite the end of Arbus season we all obviously went through our Triple E um fun a little back but it's getting cold out there's been a frost kind of barely I'm sure not seen a lot of mosquitoes anymore but technically we are still at a moderate risk for Triple E and our westn virus risk has dropped down to low so it's just keep an eye on your property it doesn't hurt to make sure you don't have the Sandy water make sure you're not attracting any mosquitoes it's getting dark earlier so keep in mind if you um are outside doing activities family members in sports or other activities wouldn't hurt to keep using um bug spray to help keep your mosquito risk down for influenza similarly um we don't have vaccination data yet so this is from last season and uh the state level is currently low so not a major concern there early in the season and then RSV um also is low and unfortunately that's another source from the CDC that they used to provide State information which was nice and now I believe it's going to be chopped regionally so I don't know if we'll be able to um provide a state risk anymore but we'll be able to provide a New England is how they will present that so any questions I see shaking heads good um as kind of mentioned covid vaccines flu vaccines are both readily available in our community if you want to go to a local pharmacy you can do that um the CDC is suggesting this year to just go ahead and get both at the same time um you get one in each arm you want to get the covid shot in your non-dominant arm because it's going to hurt more uh and other than that please go get yourself vaccinated now or as my signtific NE did she got it in the arm that uh she didn't sleep on so she could still sleep at night oh but you get one in each side so you still end up with not a great sleeping situation but that's a good good information as well don't want to sleep on your covid shoulder oh yeah yeah yeah that brings us to administrative matters uh we have meeting minute approval on the agenda for August 28th those were included in the packet with an update today um um but I believe they were discussed at last meeting I have not reviewed them because I they're I either have a problem with the on drive folder or they're not there so have people reviewed the August 28th and can enough people vote on it Dam I did not see an update was there there was an update this afternoon late out afternoon that that go to our Littleton addresses yes the the meeting packet sent out this afternoon had an updated August 28th the the changes were uh primarily just changes at the top of the form on who is in attendance on titles okay so I guess the packet eye open still has some some errors in the member present line but okay yeah same um I haven't looked at the updated one that went out can we put that to the next meeting I mean I think we I think we can look at it still just make the edits unless I need has anything else but um I I think you're right Dan I think the one in the packet that is the most updated packet that we just got out does have a couple of Corrections but no it's it still needs some edits so yes let's push that one off and similar to the October 9th are not posted so we'll have to push that off as well uh brings us to correspondence I am not aware of any corresponden Francis do you have anything to present here got a few administrative upd dates um so we did the clinic last night for flu and covid um there was a total of 142 flu vaccinations provided and 42 covid vaccinations um the volunteer Corps was there to help us as well they were really great as always um so we talked with their coordinator last night and um we're scheduling the next one for November and they'll be there to help with that as well so we'll do the same thing where there be a pre-registration and we'll do further registration once they come in for their V forms um so any the last one any insight as to why our flu vaccination rate was more than triple our covid vaccination rate um no I mean it could be a variety of social related factors um but for the most part we did receive a lot of children for the flu um which changed the numbers a little a little bit um it was mostly older adults for the co so um I don't know I mean it's possible people got it earlier in the season it's possible people don't want to get it that has been a theme recently um it's hard to say I think we just have to keep promoting the education um because I think there's a lot of misinformation about vaccines and how they update to keep with current trends that are not really acknowledged so um we'll just keep on top of that and hopefully have a better roll out next year earlier too all right sorry keep going um we completed our first round of interviews for the administrative assistant this week um um we do have some good candidates on this round so we are going to do second round on Monday and have a decision hopefully that day perfect um also we are planning to do a Naran training um on the week of November 18th um it's going to be about a 45 minute training it will have a live so presentation uh for educational purposes along with the training itself um in addition to that um we are also applying for the community KNX loone program um so that would enable us to get prar can that we could distribute to the public whereas instead of having to go for a pharmacy or something like that and paying $50 um they be able to receive it and receive instruction from us when receiving it for a no cost what day is going to be November yep probably the week of November 18th okay November 18th thank you uh no Gino no date set yet probably that week okay I hope they send us on a email yep we're going to do advertising and send out something within the week so thank you anything else Francis um nope um Shaker Lane School we did um some soil testing today it was interesting they went to two different test sites so that's moving along but they're going to come along for formal Parks probably in a month that's the only big project going on right now besides the everchanging 550 King all right uh board member updates Kevin Baker Gavin Davis don't have anything to say I don't have anything thank you Gan oone I don't have anything else and Dan Kane believe it or not I have nothing for tonight so I have nothing to add I know it's odd I know we're still working hard doesn't mean anything okay um so I'll I'll mention that the board members here and Francis uh we held a retreat on this past Monday um to talk about vision and future projects for our health department as everybody knows we haven't had a health department as a town so this is a new thing hiring Francis was just the first small step in a long journey to Littleton having its own health department so um it was a good session for a few hours where we could kind of come together and get to be on the same page of what we envision down the road the health department and the health of our community looks like so um you're going to see evidence of that as we kind of continue to move forward in terms of uh how our projects are selected and how we kind of present to the community um priorities that we think this board should be focusing on and how Francis is going to tackle those and continue creating our future so it was very exciting I appreciate everybody for taking the time to do that and um it was a good kind of next step in determining where we're going to go and one of the big e that's going to come out is the community health assessment which work has started on that by Francis um but that's going to be a big Community push to Gathering information so we talked a bit about ideas for how we can make sure the community gets engaged with that process so more to come and hopefully you will be seeing more information about that all over the place whether it's Facebook or newsletters or this meeting or banners hanging over the street or signs on the side of the road we're going to try to make a big communication push for that project because it's really critical for us to make sure we have the right map for our future [Music] so on Monday and what what hour Monday of October uh the one we just had on Monday so it was the 21st we're not we're not another yet you know today is the 23rd today's the 23rd we met on the 21st there is no future meeting planned if that's what you're asking about oh okay thank you but there will be one send an email oh you'll you'll hear about it Gino I we we're not g to do another one for many months probably okay we'll make sure you're there again all right yeah October 23rd we have right now then you say Board of Health is going to be the November 18 2024 am I correct uh our next meeting for is November 13th um and since we're on the topic our subsequent meeting is scheduled for Wednesday the 27th the day before Thanksgiving okay I I see some I see some shaking heads so should we um reschedule that meeting or just cancel it this is a good time to talk about our schedule our December meetings are scheduled for the 11th and the 25th that's going to work okay so what do you folks say should we uh cancel the 27th and then in December meet on the 4th and the 18th instead or just have the meeting on the 11th I like the idea of okay I like your what you just said okay I like the idea of having one meeting a month it's our own Christmas present to ourselves I like that too our own holiday present to ourselves I should say it that way Dan do you have an opinion um I think I'm okay with that I'm to just will ask Francis that obviously is if we're getting a number of re coming in trying to get stuff done before holidays or or New Year um then we could always schedule an additional meeting in there if we need to if it looks like there's enough a demand but no I'm okay with one long meeting if we can meet the the needs of the residents and not work on Christmas for this okay we'll keep it at November 13th and nove and December 11th cancel the 27th of November cancel the 25th of December and then if it seems like we have a lot of material coming up we can change December back to two weeks on the 4th and 18th okay is that okay all right make sure they send everybody their email so we know exactly because first you saying that 18 then you say the 13 you're going to confuse everybody so for now Doo can come back on November 13th because we're having that meeting no matter what and then no matter what we are not meeting the day before Thanksgiving okay and we'll finalize the we'll finalize the December schedule at that meeting next in two weeks okay yes Dan uh just if I can just to make sure so Gino did want to make sure that no one's confused just to make sure we're clear so our next scheduled meeting is going to be I'm pulling it up on my calendar again November 13th on the week of November 18th no date yet but during that week the department of the Littleton Department of Health will be running a Naran training program please watch for more information if you're interested after that our next scheduled Board of Health regular meeting is on December 11th so we have a meeting we have a unscheduled but a week of the November 18th Naran class for the community and then we have our December meeting on the 11th and that may change if we have more workload we may add an additional meeting but just so anybody's clear and for G you you as well we have one upcoming meeting in November there's a community training class for Naran in November and then we'll have our December meeting that's it that's good thank you Dan sorry thank you Mr chair good good good nothing further yes Doo I'm okay yeah okay anybody want to make a motion Kevin Baker make a motion to adjourn I'll second the motion to adjourn thank you have Motion in a second roll call vote Kevin Baker Kevin Baker second Kevin Davis Kevin Davis votes yes Jer alone yes Dan Kane Dan Kane votes yes and Matt vot yes thank you all enjoy the weekend good meeting and yes enjoy the weekend thank you Francis thank you Jim if you're still here thank you guys thank you Dave thank you Brenda