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Hamm Sewer Request March 19,1999 Page 2 ’ Steve Schirmers has indicated to staff verbally that site #3 north of the driveway was not suitable due to high water table problems, and also does not have a large enough area of suitable slopes to be useful. Site #3 was the only other site that appeared to have any potential when staff reviewed this issue in February. Schirmers has indicated he will provide written comments regarding site #3, for the record. Steve Weckman and I visited the site with Palmer on March 17 to review the possibilities. We noted that while the original tested site had clearly been driven on by trucks, no followup testing had been done to ascertain whether that site may still be viable. One of the reasons it is difficult to find sites on the property is the size of the house. It is 8 bedrooms, plus 1 bedroom in each of the 2 guest houses. As a result, the drainfield sites need to be twice the area needed for a normal 5-bedroom system. We looked at the potential for splitting the flow into two systems on smaller sites, but again the steep slopes throughout the site and the proliferation of roadways, terraces, and other site improvements severly limit the number of available septic sites. The information submitted demonstrates that on this 18-acre property there is one viable primary site and one viable alternate site capable of serving the requirements of the existing house and guest houses. These sites have a number of technical downsides, but the technical downsides do not make the sites unusable. The social ramifications of losing trees and screening to accommodate a septic system, is a separate issue for Council to consider. These same characteristics apply to any number of smaller residential properties throughout the City in similar situations. Zoning and Future Development Based on septic capability, the 18-acre Hamm site has extremely limited developability. If this property was being sold for development using septic systems, it is unlikely that it could support more than 2 or 3 normal sized homes in total. With sewer, the site might accommodate as many as 7 or 8 homes based on a 2-acre minimum lot size. It should be noted that the most southerly portion of the property is within the Shoreland district, less than 1,000' from the lake. Mr. Hamm has no stated intent to develop the property at this time; his goal is to provide for the existing dwellings. Palmer indicates that if the sewer request is granted to serve the main house and two guest houses, Mr. Hamm is willing to accept a restriction of future subdivision of the property to just the three existing units. Staff assumes this means if the main house and two caretaker houses are allowed to connect to sewer now, those buildings could be replaced in kind. Does Council wish this to also mean that if the 18 acres is divided into three lots, that each lot would be allowed one sewer connection? i