Local Upgrade Approvals Request | Town of Harvard MA

The Board of Health recognizes the need to have a consistent approach for the evaluation of local upgrade approvals particularly for septic plans developed for seasonal dwellings. These dwellings are primarily within the watershed of Bare Hill Pond. The Board will evaluate all variance requests against full compliance with Title 5. All permits shall show, via a tabular addendum, a list of such criteria and which criteria will or will not be met and the reasons.

The following criteria shall be used to evaluate such permit applications:

The size of the lot relative to the number of bedrooms in the current dwelling. Title 5 requires 10,000ft² of land per bedroom when considering septic and well permits.
The well offset requirement of 100ft is expected and should be met for all local upgrade considerations.
Critical evaluation of septic design. All variance and local upgrade approval requests are required to include an analysis specific to the site to include treatment alternatives.
Drinking water quality report(s) and quantity (yield) data regardless of any requirement specified in Title 5 for all upgrade requests.

As part of a local upgrade request, the applicant shall complete the following form, Analysis of Local Upgrade Conditions. This form shall be submitted electronically with the design plans and/or in hard copy.