Judge allows Crow's Nest developer to continue drain field testing and related clearing as long as it's limited and reseeding follows

By MEGHANN COTTER

Date published: 11/8/2006

By MEGHANN COTTER

A McLean developer can continue its drain field testing and related clearing activities on Crow's Nest without county permits, a Circuit Court judge ruled yesterday.

But workers must keep land disturbance to a minimum and immediately re-cover impacted areas with soil, seed and straw. And that goes for any other landowner conducting similar work in preparation for a subdivision plan.

Judge H. Harrison Braxton said Stafford supervisors left it up to the courts to set such guidelines for drain field work when they failed to outline a process in an ordinance passed earlier this year.

"They have essentially left developers out to fend for themselves as to solutions to accomplish this requirement," he said.

The new ordinance requires the preliminary subdivision plan, rather than later construction documents, to include proof that each lot can support a septic system.

In September, Stafford Lakes Limited Partnership began efforts to file a subdivision plan for a portion of the property not included in prior applications.

They hired a soil evaluator to dig test pits for each proposed drain field. That involved clearing vegetation and small trees to move backhoes between lots.

County officials issued a stop-work order, saying the company needed to pay fees, submit erosion-control plans and get a permit before clearing more than 2,500 square feet.

Attorney Clark Leming, who represents the developer, then asked the court for a ruling.

He argued yesterday that county and state codes don't classify clearing related to drain field testing as a land disturbance. And a number of planning process experts testified that the digging and vegetation removal was no more than necessary to complete the job.

Danny Hatch, a certified soil scientist, said that the test-pit process takes about an hour per lot. Pits are a little smaller than a grave site, and they are all refilled with the dirt taken out of them after data is collected.

Paths carved between lots just remove what's necessary to get equipment through.

"Its not like a construction site where you are just totally denuding all vegetation that's out there," he said.

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Date published: 11/8/2006