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A special exception was granted for a community wastewater treatment and disposal system 18 August 2003 for the proposed 66 dwelling Raymond Farm development at the South West corner of US 15/29 and Route 605 as shown in the map below.
The Raymond Farm Development is Located Just East of Warrenton on US 15/29
A Little History
Due to failures of alternative technology wastewater treatment systems in the late 1990's and early 2000's the Fauquier Board of Supervisors adopted a practice of requiring community alternative wastewater treatment plants to be built to the Fauquier County Water and Sanitation Authority (FCWSA) standards, and to be transfered to the FCWSA for operation and maintenance. This practice followed the operational model adopter by Loudoun County based on their experience with these type of systems. An excellent article is availabe at the PUBLIC WORKS magazine web site that addresses public liability for a community wastewater treatment system, and the experiences of Loundoun County. The link for this article is
NOW Raymond Farm. L.C.’s is Requesting to Amend Their Special Exception Raymond Farm currently seeks to modify the proffers and conditions associated with the construction and maintenance of an on-site wastewater collection and treatment system for its residential lots.The applicant had agreed to design an on-site sewage system according to Fauquier County Water and Sanitation Authority (FCWSA) standards, and to convey the system to FCWSA for ownership, maintenance and monitoring.Raymond Farm now seeks to design a system to the newly defined Virginia Department of Health (VDH) standards and to deed it to a private entity for operation and maintenance. Based on past national experience this change would increase the risk of future County liability should this system then fail.
Raymond Farm application was presented to the Planning Commission at their April 29th 2010 public hearing. The Commission recommended denial of the application and forwarded it to the Board of Supervisors for their consideration. At their 12 August Public Hearing on this application the Board of Supervisors postponed action for up to 90 days. On 9 September the Supervisors are conducting a work session on this application. You can read the materials provided for the work session on pages 8 through 31 of the Supervisor's 9 September agenda packet available at http://agenda.fauquiercounty.gov/
Will Fauquier County taxpayers pay for repair costs and environmental impacts if the system fails?CFFC supports denial of this request unless the end result is a FCWSA approved, operated and maintained system.See our analysis below.
CFFC'S ANALYSIS
The applicant agreed at the time of rezoning and special exception approval to design an on-site sewage system according to Fauquier County Water and Sanitation Authority (FCWSA) standards, and to convey the system to FCWSA for ownership maintenance and monitoring.Raymond Farm now seeks to design a system to Virginia Department of Health (VDH) standards and to deed to a private entity for operation and maintenance.However, at the time of the April 29 Planning Commission Public Hearing, the applicant had failed to submit an alternate design, according to the County’s expert, that meets the operation and performance standards desired for such a system.The application leaves many significant concerns open, including the financial and environmental impacts to the County when the system fails.The aesthetic nature and future park use of the property may also be in jeopardy depending upon the system and entity selected.We need to demand answers to these questions as this application proceeds before the Board of Supervisors and support DENIAL of the request unless the result is a FCWSA approved, operated, and maintained system.
Copyright 2006 to 2010, Citizens for Fauquier County
