Septic installers/designers say their situation is critical

Spring is sure to come and when it does, the county’s many septic installers should be digging in the dirt. But currently at least 17 of them are not happy with the county’s septic ordinance to the point of hanging up their backhoes.

According to one Gunflint Trail installer, the problems have reached crisis proportions. Three meetings with Planning and Zoning personnel have already be held, a fourth is scheduled for April 8.

At issue is the wording and administration of the ordinance. What installers refer to as “county regulatory overreach.” They also don’t like the way they’re being treated.

They argue that due to the geography of Cook County, to make septic systems work here requires flexibility and creativity, but the county regulations are often more stringent than state regulations. They also feel their credentials are being called into question. The county septic installers not only have years of experience, but hundreds of hours of continuing education.

Installers have several language changes they’d like to see in the county septic ordinance. The number and frequency of inspections, they maintain, slows down construction time. Also, design changes to accommodate unforeseen circumstances in construction are required during the short construction season rather than when the project is finished. A time as well as trust issue for the installers.

“Abandonment” is another big issue with installers. Often they are required to destroy old systems – typically outhouses -- before the new ones are complete, leaving no operating system. The county requires a certificate of compliance on a new installation, but while the certificate is issued to the landowner, the county holds the installer responsible for destroying the old system, sometimes holding up issuing a new permit until the abandonment issue is resolved. Installers also want the time for both compliance with destruction as well as for the valid construction permit to be lengthened.

Changes in the ordinance and the way it’s carried out are framed within what installers see as a lack of trust, arbitrary interpretation of the rules -- even alleged abuse of power. Their frustration is palpable and they’re at the end of their regulatory ropes. They’ve been working with the Cook County Chamber of Commerce to articulate their concerns. The Chamber’s goals include looking at regulations that unreasonably repress economic development.

Planning and Zoning administrator Tim Nelson is arguing that his office and the installers have “an overabundance of cases” pending. Suspending inspections for a time would help alleviate the backlog. Whether or not the septic crisis will be eased after the county board voted for a suspension of lakeshore septic inspections for as much as two years, remains to be seen.