Falmouth Board Of Health Pleased With AutoCamp Progress
The Falmouth Board of Health has reached an agreement with the AutoCamp on Palmer Avenue on how it is to maintain the proper function and regulation of its septic systems.
AutoCamp was fined $10,000 by the board earlier this year for operating out of compliance with regulations after it was discovered that the glamping campground had been operating with a failed septic system. AutoCamp failed to notify the board and additional written conditions were not met, prompting the board to bring in a representative from AutoCamp for an explanation on January 31.
As part of the temporary resolutions reached in January, AutoCamp was tasked with acquiring a third-party engineer to assess the current failed system and its history. Additionally, FR Mahoney & Associates, equipment representative for AutoCamp, was tasked with sending weekly results of daily field tests.
Representatives of AutoCamp and a team of consultants were before the board again on Monday, April 11. Kevin Kline of Stantec Consulting briefed the board on the changes that have taken place at AutoCamp.
“A number of things have happened over at AutoCamp,” he said. “The biggest change or modification is that AutoCamp has changed operators. They are now using WhiteWater as their licensed operator. With the change in operations, we've also increased the frequency of operations, so the operator's out there almost every day, just checking it, modifying it.”
Mr. Kline explained that currently AutoCamp is occupied mainly on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with little flow activity going on aside from staff at the camp on weekdays.
“Flows are varying, which means a lot of changes to the operations and to the chemical feeding, and just trying to get it up and running,” Mr. Kline said. “When WhiteWater started [in the] beginning of February [it was] basically starting from scratch. We had the plant running, but it really needed to get the bacteria established, which is tough in the winter, but they have worked at it.”
Mr. Kline reported encouraging results that, beginning in March, meet nitrogen maximum limits and other regulations set forth. Additionally, FR Mahoney has configured the system so that its team can download operational data remotely. FR Mahoney was also able to review data from the entire previous year; that data indicated that AutoCamp had not gone over 10,000 gallons of flow a day on any day.
Heading into the busy season, Mr. Kline said that flows will increase in volume but also will increase in stability, which will be better for the system than being inundated with flow only on the weekends and nothing for the following weekdays.
AutoCamp is also improving on stormwater issues, Mr. Kline said, and has had no problems with septic odors.
Operators from WhiteWater are monitoring data intake from field samples and lab tests on a daily basis. Eric Smith, project executive with WhiteWater, said communication and focus have been the key to its success in finding an operational balance for AutoCamp’s septic system. A master Google spreadsheet has been used to share information across AutoCamp’s various channels and consultant groups.
The board said it was impressed with AutoCamp’s progress. Member George Heufelder asked where things should go from here.
“It seems like quite a bit of fairly intense oversight gets you to near compliance,” he told the AutoCamp representatives. “So, where do we go from here? What do you believe the requirement would be to maintain this at a level where it needs to be?”
Mr. Smith said that as of now, the plan is to continue working toward more-consistent flows and reaching total compliance across the entire wastewater spectrum. As time goes on and stability is reached, he added, AutoCamp will wean off of sending weekly reports based on daily visits and scale back its operations as appropriate, likely landing at some point in the future on three days of onsite work each week with monthly reports to the board.
David Issel, senior vice president of operations for AutoCamp, told the board that AutoCamp is “in it for the long run” and will do what it takes to make sure that things continue to operate as expected at the camp.
“This is a real high priority for our company,” Mr. Issel said. “We understand that things got out of hand and it wasn’t where we wanted it to be last year, but we’re 100 percent committed to making sure that as we move forward it is.”
Mr. Heufelder suggested that the board decide what constitutes an immediate notification of the board in case of any issues with the septic system.
“I think what sort of got things in trouble the first time was that there is in every approval letter something saying that should the system fail, there should be a notification to the board of health in 48 hours and if anything tweaked the board and sort of produced the fine that was issued, it was that…I totally appreciate what you say, ‘We’re in it for the long haul,’ but remember, the board heard that same speech and we expect that when something fails in the field, that there is a notification to the board.”
Mr. Heufelder motioned that, should the amount of nitrogen in the system go above 19 milliliters per liter, AutoCamp must notify the board within 48 hours.
“When it’s functioning fine, we’ll just check the numbers ourselves, I’ll check them weekly,” he said.
Board member Benjamin Van Mooy suggested that the motion be amended to require self-reporting of any septic odors detected by AutoCamp employees or operators to protect abutters from odors. The motion was amended and voted unanimously.
Mimi Dufault, former general manager of the AutoCamp, also clarified what appears to have been a past point of contention with abutters regarding buses coming to the property with guests. Ms. Dufault addressed specific dates cited in an abutters’ letter to the board and explained that when buses come to the campground, it is because there has been a buyout, meaning that the people on those buses are guests, and the buses are there to bring them either to the campground from out of town and/or bring them to offsite events that they may have planned during their trip.
“They were contracted and they had sleeping rooms, so they had rented Airstreams,” she said. “Those were guests of the property, they weren’t brought in from the outside. That’s something we contract with our clients when we do events, is that they have to have the sleeping rooms as part of that.”
AutoCamp is a popular destination for buyout events, she said, explaining that there is already a wedding scheduled for the end of this month followed by a buyout with a nonprofit organization that will be staying at the campground.