Loading...
20070404 Gordon Thomas Ltr 05042010GORDON THOMAS HONEYWELL,,. William T. Lynn Direct: (253) 620 -6416 E -mail: wlynn @gth- law.com May 4, 2010 Grant Beck, Director Amy Head Department of Community Development Civil Engineering Manager City of Yelm Shea Carr Jewell PO Box 479 2102H Carriage Drive SW Yelm, WA 98597 Olympia, WA 98502 Re: Creek Street Mixed -Use Water and Sewer Issues Dear Mr. Beck and Ms. Head: This letter is written on behalf of the owner of the above - referenced project regarding: (1) The demand by City reviewers for back -flow protection in the water system; and (2) a City demand for excessive tank storage for the sewage system. In each case, these requirements are in excess of the City- adopted standards. Water System Back -Flow Protection In its comment letter dated February 15, 2010, the City's Review Engineers stated that all of the multi - family buildings and the recreational building will be required to include back -flow prevention assemblies. Yelm Municipal Code (YMC) 13.04.220B states: "The City shall require the installation of back -flow prevention devices on any premises being served by the water system when, in the judgment of the public works director or designated cross - connection control specialist, the nature and extent of activities on the premises would present an immediate and /or dangerous hazard to health should a cross - connection occur." [emphasis added] Here, there is nothing to indicate any hazard, let alone one that might be considered either immediate or dangerous. These are typical multiple - family units; there is nothing about them that would suggest anything other than a very low hazard. We have reviewed Washington State regulations on this subject and they identify a variety of high hazard occupancies such as chemical plants, commercial laundries, food processing plants and Reply to: Tacoma Office Seattle Office 1201 Pacific Ave., Suite 2100 (253) 620 -6500 600 University, Suite 2100 (206) 676 -7500 Tacoma, WA 98402 (253) 6206565 (fax) Seattle, WA 98101 (206) 6767575 (fax) Law Offices I www.gth- law.com 11465471 vl.doci GORDON THOMAS HONEYWELLL,P May 4, 2010 Page 2 mortuaries. No residential uses of any kind are included on the list. We acknowledge that the City's officials have some discretion, but that discretion must be exercised based upon the facts. Here, there are no facts that would support the judgment that has been made. In essence, the official has made a policy decision that re- writes the standard and requires back -flow protection for every use. Sewers The sizing of the tanks for the STEP system requires calculation of the expected flows. The City has adopted a standard in Table 2 of the City Sewer Standards for STEP systems, design flows on a per person basis. The flows per person for multi - family dwellings on Table 2 is 65 gallons per day. That is the City's adopted standard. The City has not adopted a standard to determine the number of persons that should be considered to occupy certain types of residences. In this case, the owners are proposing several sizes of units but we will use the 3- bedroom apartments as an example. In the absence of a standard, one must look elsewhere to determine the appropriate number of people who should be considered to occupy a 3- bedroom apartment. In this case, the owner's engineer looked to the design standards for large on -site sewage systems (LOSS) set forth in the State DOH manual on that subject. He might have selected other sources to estimate the number of individuals per dwelling unit, but this was deemed appropriate because it is used in a similar way and is thus expected to provide a conservative estimate for purposes of the calculation. The owner's engineer took this estimated number of individuals per dwelling unit and multiplied it by the City's adopted sewer flow set forth in Table 2 and arrived at a number that formed the basis for the tank size calculations. The City review letter of February 15, 2010 states on page 3 that the engineer erroneously mixed the City and DOH standards and should have entirely based his design on the DOH standard. That is erroneous. The engineer simply looked to the DOH manual to supply a piece of information not established by City standards, namely the number of persons estimated to occupy a unit of a particular size. He then used that number in combination with a standard the City has adopted (flow of 65 gallons per day per person in apartments) to arrive at an appropriate tank size. Contrary to the comment letter, it would be inappropriate to use the DOH calculations for total flow. For purposes of designing a LOSS system, the DOH assumes a 3- bedroom unit will be occupied by 3.5 persons and will generate a flow of 360 gallons per day. That works out to an expected flow of 102 gallons per person per day which greatly exceeds the standard adopted by the City of Yelm (65 gallons per day). Using the total methodology established by the DOH for LOSS systems would directly contravene the City's adopted standard. [1465471 vl.doc] GORDON THOMAS HONEYWELLLLP May 4, 2010 Page 3 If the City believes that a different number should be used for estimating the number of persons who are expected to occupy a 3- bedroom unit, it could suggest that. The Applicant does not believe there is a better source of information than found in the LOSS standard, but if the City wants to identify a source, it can do that. What the City may not do, however, is use flow numbers for tank sizing that completely deviate from the adopted City standards. That error here would significantly add to the expense of the sewage system and we are instructed to strongly resist that outcome. Both of these matters significantly add to the cost of constructing this project. We are simply asking that the City follow its own adopted codes. If you think it would be useful to meet to discuss these issues, we are certainly willing to do so. Very truly yours, William T. WTL:fto cc: Jeff Woodworth Tim Holderman [1465471 v1.doo]