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Home My WebLink AboutSoil Monitoring Letter to Roger Peitso - Dated 03-18-16 . �� ! ; j Technical WENCK Memo . . . Responsive partner. Exceptional outcomes. To: Roger Peitso, Building Official, City of Orono From: Peter Miller Professional Soil Scientist (42636) Advanced Designer/Inspector (2341) Date: March 8, 2016 Subject: 540 Big Island Purpose The subject property is a 3.2 acre lot on the southwest end of Big Island on Lake Minnetonka. The property is currently owned by Mr. Gabbriel Jabbour and is for sale. Mr. Shawn Wischmeier has expressed interest in the property and has requested this correspondence with the City of Orono with the ultimate goal to obtain an Individual Sewage Treatment System (ISTS) permit for a proposed cabin on the lot. Due to the time of year, it is not practical to visit the site with the City until spring conditions allow. This memo is intended to inform you as to the background, history, and research that has occurred on the subject site and on Big Island. Our intent would be to submit an ISTS design in spring- summer 2016 for approval and permitting. The goal of this memo is for you to concur with the determination that an in-ground ISTS is suitable for the site to give the potential buyer assurance that an ISTS permit can be issued in the future. Background Big Island is a series of kettle lakes connected by channels and streams, with an underlying soil parent material of glacial till. Big Island, like other islands on the lake, is a glacial deposit of calcareous loamy-clayey soil with undulating, moderate to steep, topography. The Hennepin County Soil Survey maps most of the upland portions of Big Island as Minnesota's state soil; the Lester series. Lester soils are very prevalent across central and southern Minnesota with a commonly distinguished olive brown color in the subsoil with a loam to clay loam texture. On Big Island it is common to see these soils in the summit, shoulder, and back slope landscape positions, with slopes ranging from 6%-20%. Lester soils in these upper landscape positions are typically classified as well drained; meaning they are dry, bright colored, and feature a depth to free water greater than 5 feet below the ground surface. What has confused ISTS practitioners over the years is the presence of features in the soil that appear to be contemporary redoximorphic features, i.e. signatures in the soil that make it look seasonally saturated. These include reddish iron concretions, grayish iron depletions, and whitish calcium carbonates threads. When looking at redoximorphic features in the soil it is important to look at the preponderance of evidence to determine if the features you are observing are indicators of Wenck Associates, Inc. I 7500 Olson Memorial Highway I Suite 300 � Golden Valley, MN 55427 Toll Free 800-472-2232 Main 763-252-6800 Email wenckmp@wenck.com Web wenck.com �^� � Roger Peitso - Building Official WENCK City of Orono � . . Responsive parmer. Exceptional outcomes. contemporary wetness. A Professional Soil Scientist (PSS) is similar to an archeologist in that we need to determine what was here thousands of years ago and why do we see what we see today. We weigh all available evidence to determine how the landscape formed, how the soil formed, and what factors (climate, relief, vegetation, organisms, geology/parent material, precipitation, run-on/off, etc.) contribute to the current morphological features observed in the soil. The Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resource Conservation Service) used PSS to conduct the National Cooperative Soil Survey. Soil classifications and descriptions are based on consideration of all the factors mentioned above, including contemporary versus historic hydrologic considerations. In previous versions of the Soil Survey the Lester series had the term ��relict redoximorphic features" included within the series description. PSS who mapped these soils looked at all the evidence and determined that these glacial soils in upper landscape positions exhibited features that indicated wetness at some time in the past (thousands of years perhaps), but it is not contemporary. While ISTS practitioners receive training to interpret soil science to the best of their abilities, the economic realities of the industry do not allow for a deeper verification of what they see. When challenged, and with the potential to enter a lawsuit over a soil interpretation, it is not surprising an ISTS practitioner would be conservative in their interpretations. After pressure from the ISTS industry, because ISTS practitioners were incorrectly applying the relict tag to currently saturated soils as a "way out of a mound", the NRCS removed the term relict from series descriptions in Minnesota. Many soil series in other states (South and North Dakota for example) still maintain the relict description. Big Island We have been evaluating soils and ISTS suitability on Big Island from 2002-2016. At this same time we have been concurrently evaluating similar glacial soils across western Hennepin County, Carver County, Meeker County, McLeod County, and Wright County where similar glacial geology exists to Big Island. In the early 2000's we were making interpretations for ISTS suitability on Big Island for subsurface ISTS drain fields. At that time we were completing soil verifications with the City of Orono before soil verifications were required by rule. Then City of Orono ISTS Inspector Matt Bolterman visited as many as a dozen sites to witness the completion of soil borings for design, as well as installations. After Mr. Bolterman left, Willie Gibbs made visits to Big Island to review monitoring wells and piezometers installed on the island and to review soils. Mr. Gibbs visited the subject site at 540 Big Island around 2009. The third inspector we visited the island with was Loren Kohnen of Metro West Inspections in 2014. City of Orono records should have recorded these visits for the following properties: 540 Bi Island 510 Bi Island 150 Bi Island 440 Bi Island 210 Bi Island 140 Bi Island 450 Bi Island 190 Bi Island 120 Bi Island 620 Bi Island 180 Bi Island 130 Bi Island 470 Bi Island 170 Bi Island 460 Bi Island 560 Bi Island 160 Bi Island 4455 Ba side Road 2 T:\2015\7echnical Memo_Fina!030816.docx � � �n� Roger Peitso Building Official WENCK City of Orono . . . Responsive partner. Exceptional outmmes. Around the mid-2000's our ISTS work on Big Island was questioned because we disagreed with some ISTS practitioners' soil interpretations. In response, we decided to install piezometers and monitoring wells on the properties highlighted above. The first set of piezometers and wells were installed at 170 Big Island for the Palm family and monitored for three years. The results of the monitoring showed that the features in the soil were relict. Documentation was submitted to the City of Orono and an ISTS was permitted and installed. Subsequent to that investigation, additional piezometers and monitoring wells were installed at other properties in 2007-2008. Over 10 years of monitoring has occurred on Big Island. Concurrently, we were monitoring others sites in Hennepin County in similar soils at varying landscape positions. Here is what we have learned so far: Lester soils with slopes in excess of approximately 6% on summits, shoulders, and upper back slopes do not receive enough water (rain and run- on) to maintain saturation in the topsoil or subsoil for long enough durations to cause an anaerobic condition that could affect ISTS effluent treatment. When observing the Big Island sites at the wettest and highest water times of year (including May 18 and 22, 2014 when Lake Minnetonka approached the 100-year high water level), no free water was observed in any of the piezometers or monitoring wells. The soil texture, slope, and upper landscape positions of these sites shed water down slope and prolonged seasonal saturation does not occu r. Investigation at 540 Big Island The property was first investigated in 2007 with the completion of soil borings in the central portion of the lot near the top of a rise. The top of the rise is a logical location for a cabin and the soil borings were completed in the general vicinity with the purpose of determining ISTS suitability. The soil parent material for the area features high chroma loam soils with threads of calcium carbonates (often misidentified as low chroma iron reductions) and reddish iron concretions. These features were observed on the soil borings at 540 Big Island. These soil features are a result of the soil parent material, and not a fluctuating seasonal water table. Saturated conditions were not observed in the soil borings, or in the three piezometers and one monitoring well installed in October 2007 and monitored through 2014, so an in-ground trench system is proposed. In conclusion, the site is suitable for a subsurface drain field. Seven years (2007-2014) of site-specific well and piezometer monitoring data indicate the site does not experience seasonal saturation within 6 feet of the surface, even during record high water levels and record precipitation (2014). Observed soil mottling is due to calcium carbonates and iron concretions, and not due to seasonal soil saturation. Any observed redoximorphic features should be considered relict, and not representative of current hydrologic conditions. 3 T:\2015\Technical Memo_Final 030816.docx l ' Hennepin County Property Map Date: 3/8/2016 �� .� �. � ; 1 inch =200 feet i PARCEL ID: 2211723420001 Comments: OWNER NAME: Gabriel Jabbour 540 Big Island PARCELADDRESS: 540 Big Island, Orono MN 55331 PROPERTY TYPE: Seasonal-Residential Rec HOMESTEAD: Non-Homestead PARCELAREA: 3.2 acres, 139,192 sq ft A T-B:Abstract MARKETVi4LUE: $357,000 Thisdata(i)isfurnished'As�s'witnno representation as to completeness or TAX TOTAL: $4,125.64 aceuracy;(ii)is furnished with no warranty of any kind;and(iii)is notsuitable for legal,engineering or surveying purposes. SAL E PR ICE: $405,�� Hen nepin County shall not be liable for any damage,injury or loss resulting from this data. 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Soil Profile Description Date Completed: 10/24/2007 Test Pit# Piezometer 3 Completed By: Peter Miller, PSS Equipment: 4" Bucket Auger Project Jabbour 540 Big Island Highest Known Water >48" Landscape Position Side Slope Vegetation Maple Basswood Forest Mapped Soil Type Parent Material Till Horizon Bottom Depth Matrix (inches) Color Texture Redoximorphic Features Notes 6 lOYR 2/2 loam 19 lOYR 4/3 clay loam Sand grains on ped faces,few 2.SYR 4/4 ochre concretions 35 lOYR 4/4 clay loam Few 2.SYR 4/6 concentrations Clay films on ped faces, few 2.SYR 4/4 oclire concretions Many medium distinct lOYR 6/2 42 2.SY 5/3 clay loam depletions and lOYR 5/6 Few 2.SYR 3/4 ochre concretions redoximorphic concentrations Many medium distinct lOYR 6/2 48 2.SY 6/4 sandy loam/loam depletions and I OYR 5/6 Carbonates,very dry redoximorphic concentrations i � Roger Peitso From: Roger Peitso Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 10:29 AM To: 'Peter G. Miller' Subject: RE: 540 Big Island Peter, I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I have read your report and I am willing to agree with the findings. In our certification classes they have just recently with the past 5 years or more started education in regards to relic mottling and consecrations created calcium carbonate from moisture flowing through the soils verses mottling of soils due to the seasonal high water table. I will put a copy of your report on file and please give me a call when you get back from vacation. I would like to go out to Big Island in the near future to look at some of the soils when you would be there. Sincerely, Roger From: Peter G. Miller [mailto:pmiller@wenck.com] Sent:Thursday, March 17, 2016 2:30 PM To: Roger Peitso<rpeitso@ci.orono.mn.us> Subject: 540 Big Island Roger, Attached is a report on the monitoring that has occurred at 540 Big Island.The current owner has the lot for sale and an interested buyer has inquired as to the type of ISTS that could be permitted and installed.This memo is applicable to all the properties we have investigated on Big island as you and I have discussed in the recent past. The goal of this submittal today is to bring you up to speed on the investigations completed on Big Island and have you concur with the findings to date that an in-ground system could likely work(after a full design of the system is completed and submitted for permitting).The potential buyer wants some assurance that he could get a permit before signing a purchase agreement. Once signed he will initiate design and permitting before closing. Thank you and please call with questions. Peter G. Miller Executive Vice President pmiller@wenck.com � D 763.252.6821 � C 763.370.5961 1