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V. Related IsoH <br />I <br />A. On-Site Systems Management Plan <br />1. Philosophy <br />In 1975 the City of Orono made a commitment to long-term use of on-site <br />sewage treatmettt systems for the majorit}' of future development in the rural areas <br />of the City not adjacem to Lake Minnetonka. The basis for this commitment was <br />a City Council decision to protect the t^lity of Lake Minnetonka by avoiding high- <br />density development within the Lake's watershed. <br />Such development could only be prevented by limiting future extension of <br />municipal sewers, which if installed would be so costly as to drive a demand by <br />developers for smaller lot sizes aiKl higher densities. This "Urbanization <br />Spiral" is documented in Orono's 1980 Communitv’ Management Plan. <br />The Council concluded that a minimum residential lot size of 2 acres (exclusive <br />of wetlands, which are abundant in Orono) was necessary to provide enough area <br />for initial and future drainfield sites. Consequently, 80% of Orono's total land <br />area was rezoned in 1975 to require at least 2 acres per building site. <br />To ensure that septic systems would be constructed and maintained properly, in <br />1978 Orono initiated a comprehensive On-Site Systems Management program and <br />hired a full-time inspector. The inspection program not only dealt with new <br />construction, but included maintenance inspections of all existing systems on a <br />regular basis. <br />Also in 1978, Orono adopted ordinances requiring adherence to a code of septic <br />system regulations identical to or more restrictive than the State regulations (WPC- <br />40) in effect at that time. Funher, the City ordinance established system <br />maintenance requirements and placed the responsibility for maintenance on the <br />individual homeewner, providing penalties for noncompliance. <br />By 1980 the initial round of existing system inspections had been completed and <br />system inventory records created for each of the approximately 1000 systems in the <br />City. The inspection program confirmed, however, that while new development <br />on 2-acre lots could be sustainable without sewers in the long term, pockets of <br />existing development on smaller lots would evenmally have to be served with <br />sewer.