Protecting a clean water resource for the
Washington D.C. region
Board of Directors
March 10, 2017
Anne James
President
Thomas Leedy
Vice President
Treasurer
Sylvia Tognetti
Secretary
Jay Cinque
Immediate Past
President
Anne Cinque
Jim Choukas-Bradley
Scott Fosler
Royce Hanson
Norman Mease
Cathy Wiss
Tenley Wurglitz
To: David W. Lake, Special Assistant/Office of Water and Wastewater Policy
From: The Board of the Friends of Ten Mile Creek and Little Seneca Reservoir
Subject: Possible changes to sewer plan service extension to RE-1 zoned properties with
septic systems older than 1975
After consideration of the Concept Policy to Allow Sewer Service to RE-1 Zoned Areas with
Septic Systems older than 1975, we see no need for this change of policy, which would
involve a change in sewer service category for R-1 zoned areas. The ostensible reason for
this change seems to be a presumption that all septic systems installed before 1975 present
a public health hazard. No evidence supports this conclusion other than that the technology
apparently changed after that date. Extensive, or even individual system failures were not
alleged, much less proved. Current policy permits provision of sewer service in event of an
unrepeatable failure on an individualized basis. The proposal, therefore, is a solution in
search of a problem, which does not exist.
There are three more good reasons for not changing current policy:
Advisory Committee
Diane Cameron
Jean Findlay
Neal Fitzpatrick
Mike Gravitz
Hamza Kahn
Caroline Taylor
Outreach Coordinator
Ellen Letourneau
1. A change in category would be contrary to master plans, and thus, a conceivable conflict
with state law - this requires that major actions must be consistent with the comprehensive
plan of the county. It has been long-standing policy in this county that sewer service should
not be provided to areas planned for low density exurban and rural uses. This policy was
designed to ensure sustenance of the character of such neighborhoods, and recognized that
low-density zones, such as R-1 represent the maximum density permitted rather than a
guarantee that it can be achieved if land form and soils are not suited to support it. In other
words, these communities are designed to be compatible with their natural conditions,
rather than engineered to ignore them.
2. Furthermore, sewering the homes in these communities can impose substantial costs on
homeowners because of the length of frontages and connections in large-lot neighborhoods.
3. There is a substantial risk that changing the sewer category of such areas opens them to
successful attempts to rezone them for more intensive development, since a change in
sewer service has been found to provide a basis for claiming that there has been a change in
the character of a neighborhood. Finney v. Halle 241 Md. 224 (Md. 1966), the Maryland
Court of Appeals said: "We have heretofore indicated that a change in conditions may be
found in new or expanded sewer facilities. See White v. County Board of Appeals, 219 Md.
136, 144, 148 A.2d 420, 423-424 (1959). See also Rohde v. County Board, 234 Md. 259, 268,
199 A.2d 216, 221 (1964).
Finney v. Halle 241 Md. 224 (Md. 1966)
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