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WAIVER OF NOTICE
OF
SPECIAL MEETING
APRIL 4, 1973
We, the undersigned, being members of the Town Council
of the Town of Leesburg , in Virginia , do severally waive all
statutory and Charter requirements as to notice of time,
place and purpose of a Special Meeting of the Town Council ,
and consent that the meeting shall be held in the Town Of-
fice, 15 West Market Street, Leesburg, Virginia at 3 :30 P.M. ,
Wednesday, April 4, 1973, for the purpose of clarifying a
procedural problem in the issuance of permits and allowing
persons to connect to the sanitary sewer system .
C
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G . Dewey Hil Mayor
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W _--r F . MurrayerL.� Ridder
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Robert A. Orr C. Terry itus
ohn W. Pumphrey John A. Wallace, Jr!' .
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MINUTES OF SPECIAL CALLED MEETING OF LEESBURG TOWN COUNCIL, APRIL 4, 1973 .
A specialcalled meeting of the Town Council was held in the Town
Office , 15 West Market Street , Leesburg , Virginia at 3 :30 P.M. , Wed-
nesday, April 4 , 1973 .
Present were : Mayor Dewey Hill ; Acting Town Manager Robert C.
Forbes ; Town Attorney George M. Martin; Councilmen Walter F. Murray,
John A. Wallace , Jr . , John W. Pumphrey, C . Terry Titus ; Mr . Kenneth
Rollins ; Dr. Winifred Oyen and Mr . Clark Cox of the Loudoun County
Health Department ; and Mr . W. W. Wiggins , County Engineer. In the ab-
sence of the Clerk , Mrs . Hazel Church was appointed Clerk Pro-Tem. a
Mayor Hill called the meeting to order and stated that he would
like to bring those present up-to-date on the matter at hand. He said
he had been called by Mrs . Mary Ann Newman of Wage Drive this morning .
She advised him that they were in the process of having an open ditch
dug to extend the sanitary sewer line to their residence, and their
plumber had been stopped by a County official, with instructions from
Dr. Oyen of the Health Department . Mr . Hill came immediately to the
Town Office and called Dr. Oyen to get clarification, which subse-
quently led to this meeting . He then asked Dr . Oyen to give her ver-
sion of the matter.
Dr. Oyen stated that building permits have been issued by the
(C` County within the corporate limits of the Town for several years .
Only recently did they realize that there was a section of the Code
of Virginia that called for the Health Department to assure the Build-
ing Inspector that safe , adequate and proper sewage treatment is or
can be made available before the building permit is issued, this sec-
tion of the Code being 32-9, from which she read. She said, as Health
Officer for the County of Loudoun, she is concerned with sewage treat-
ment throughout the entire County, both sewage disposal and sewage
treatment . She said that , since she is responsible under this section
of the law County-wide , she and Mr . Cox had gone to Richmond on Mon-
day of this weektodetermine the adequacy from the State Water Con-
trol Board and their Department of Engineering , so that they could be
assured that adequate treatment and capacity were available . She went
on to say that the Town of Purcellville was not being issued building
permits at this time , Middleburg was not, and that , with all of these
things going on, she and Mr. Cox had gone to Richmond and met with the
Water Pollution Control Board to get information to be assured adequate
treatment and capacity were available . They wanted to consider each
case ori an individual basis . She stated that they have been drafting
a policy , with copies to Mr. Wiggins, Mr. Cox , Mr. Bolen and Mr . De-
vine , and that Mr. Devine had met with them several times . This policy
is based on the above Section 32-9 of the Code of Virginia and on Lees-
burg 's policy , whereby they assume that they have 530 ,000 gallons of
sewage flow available . Dr. Oyen went on to state that she was con-
cerned about buildings being constructed and just standing empty be-
cause permits could not be issued for sewer and that she was attempt-
ing to prevent this .
Mr. Hill wanted to know why this particular individual (Mrs . New-
man) had been stopped from making connection to the Town ' s sewer, par-
ticularly since the house had been built for four or five years and
they were not just tying into the system.
The point they were attempting to clarify was that Dr. Oyen and
Mr. Wiggins were interpreting the phrase "building permit" as meaning
building, plumbing and/or electrical permits and, in this instance, a
plumbing permit had not been issued. Mr . Wiggins said that building
permits deal with construction individually and as a whole - electrical,
mechanical , plumbing, etc . Mr. Hill said that the matter at hand was
just a matter of tying into the line and that the phrase "building per-
mit" was being used in the broadest sense of the word, which would in- `
elude plumbing , even though the house is existing . Mr . Wiggins said it s
still deals with the structural aspect .
Mr . Hill said, in this particular case , the Town has the capacity
in the Plant and that the Water Control Board has not advised the Town
that they are in violation - the Water Control Board has the power to
stop all connections to the sewage disposal system of the Town if the
hydraulic flow exceeds 95% of the permitted flow for a period of ninety
(90) days , and it has not exceeded this flow.
34.
MINUTES OF APRIL 4 , 1973 SPECIAL MEETING.
Dr. Oyen stated that the law says that they have to be assured
that the capacity is there . Mr. Cox said the information they have
been given is that "we are approaching a critical condition. "
Mr. Hill was concerned with the fact that they had been dealing
almost exclusively with the State Water Control Board, and it was quite
a surprise to learn that they had to deal with the Health Department
also on a local level . He wondered who else was going to come in and
tell them what they had to do, what other departments of the local
government .
Dr . Oyen stated she was sure the Council did not want to over-
run the system, but the Health Department had to be assured Leesburg 's
sanitary sewage system was adequate before they could certify to the
Building Inspector. She quoted from a letter from the Assistant At-
torney General to the Town of Leesburg , in which he stated that, in
his opinion, the policy that Leesburg had proposed was legally sound,
based on an assumed capacity of 530,000 gallons of sewage flow.
Mr. Titus stated that he could not understand why they had not
heard from the Water Control Board if they were in violation, that they
had talked with Mr. Hadder and Mr. Sayre and nothing had been said
and he just could not understand it . He stated that it was , in his
opinion, a political question and that the Town had been unfairly
treated . He stated that , if the County staff writes the policy, the
Town is not going to stand a chance - in the political posture - he
said he knew where the information came from that was given the Health
Department and the Water Control Board. He repeated that it was a
political thing and they had had political problems with Mr. Hallett
before.
Mr. Cox explained that they were asking for clarification because
they did not understand the whole thing . He said he knew the BOD had
been over several times and that they were being asked to clear permits,
so they would have to be able to say sewage treatment is available .
He said they did not want to decide how it is to be utilized, their
problem is being able to be in a position to say that it is there and,
therefore , has the clearance .
At this point , Mr. Murray stated that he wouldn ' t be surprised if
the Water Control Board changed its mind by tomorrow, with the usual
change of personnel and change of criteria, and that he would not be
surprised if the Town has to build a holding pond or be asked to double
the size of the system .
Dr. Oyen inquired about the priority list . She said when they
are assured by the State what the Town 's capacity is , they could check
the priority list and issue a permit under No . 1, 2 or 3 . She was re-
ferring to the adopted Policy Statement, whereby certain units , houses
or lots can be served by the Town before others . She asked if the
Town desired them to go ahead and issue permits on No . 1, 2 and 3 of
the priority list .
Mr. Martin wanted to know how long it would be before she would
hear from the State Water Control Board. A general discussion followed
this question .
Mr . Cox said that Leesburg ' s Policy is a long-range one and he
feels the Town should also have a short-range Policy . If they could
find out exactly what is available in terms of capacity and, if that
is existing now, there is no way it could not be utilized.•
Mr. Hill then suggested that they get back to the i aae at hand
and wanted to know about the Newman case . He stated thafriewman situa-
tion is a health hazard. Dr. Oyen stated that it was reported back to
her as having no malfunction. She again asked if they wanted her to
write Mr. Wiggins to go ahead and issue permits under No . 1, 2 and 3
of the priority list and hold up on No . 4 until they know where they
stand. There followed considerable discussion as to why the Town had
not been notified of what was going on . Both Dr. Oyen and Mr. Cox
35
MINUTES OF APRIL 4, 1973 SPECIAL MEETING .
said there had not been time in view of all that happened. There was
considerable discussion relative to No. 4 on the priority list, and
both Mr. Hill and Mr. Titus contended that the Town is legally obli-
gated and committed to No. 4 . Mr. Hill stated this could be handled.
Mr. Murray said he felt sure that , somewhere in this area, there
would be a regional plant . He said he would be sadly disappointed if ,
this would not be a regional plant , and stated that all of us are in- '
volved with people living with healthy conditions .
After much more discussion pro and con, Dr. Oyen finally agreed
to accept the Council ' s Policy Statement and stated that she will write
a letter to that effect .
The meeting adjourned at 5 :35 P.M.
Mayor 1!°
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CC Cle ' of the Council Pro-Tem
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