5/21/2020 BOARD OF HEALTH Minutes

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2. Sign expense warrants. It was understood that expense warrants would have to be signed outside of the meeting, due to there being no Board members physically present at the meeting. 3. Review of Title V Violations—40 Glenneagle Drive. Mr.Harrington commented that this property had a septic inspection performed for property transfer on July 16, 2019. Engineering services were started and, in the process of the reviewing the design, it was noted that the number of bedrooms did not match what was on record with the Town. The Health Department and Assessor's records indicated that three bedrooms were in the dwelling. Requests were made to the Assessor and the Peninsula Council of New Seabury for information relative to any permits or changes to the dwelling in the past. Floor plans were provided by the contractor who was representing the owner. A walk-through inspection was performed, during which four primary bedrooms were observed on the first and second floors. The basement was inspected and three other rooms with privacy, heat, beds, and no means of egress were observed. An order letter was sent to the owners on May 12,2020 regarding the basement bedrooms. Ms. Linn Epstein contacted the Health Department to try to resolve the issue of the basement bedrooms. Several resolutions were discussed, including modifications for a six-foot cased opening per our bedroom definition, removing the beds and heat to remove the requirements of a bedroom, and issuance of a deed restriction so that perspective buyers understand the restrictions on basement rooms. Property owners, Linn and Jonathan Epstein, had dialed-in and Chair Baumgaertel invited them to comment remotely. Ms. Epstein advised the Board that the electric heat had been capped and disconnected from the panel, and thermostats and all furniture had been removed from the basement rooms. She stated that the house was for sale and they did not want to incur a lot of cost to modify the basement. Ms.Warden reiterated the importance of being consistent,and the Board briefly discussed a similar case with a property on Captains Row that had been renovated to add basement rooms. Mr. Harrington explained that, in that situation, the property owner ended up making modifications to reduce number of rooms based on the capacity of the septic. There was a building permit pulled and extensive renovations were being done at the time. Ms. Epstein said that they wanted to be transparent and do the right thing, but they don't want to spend tens of thousands of dollars modifying the rooms. She asked if it would be acceptable if they disconnected and physically removed the electric baseboard heaters. Mr. Harrington reminded the Board that the owners are in the process of upgrading from a three to a four bedroom septic, because there are four primary bedrooms on the first/second floor. Chair Baumgaertel stated that, if I were a new owner of this property, with the layout,the bathroom, and the closets currently downstairs,he would seethe potential for them to be used as bedrooms. He asked if an enforceable agreement would be appropriate and Mr. Harrington answered that the deed restriction is the better document to use because those get recorded, where the enforceable agreement is not designed to be recorded. Chair Baumgaertel noted that there was no feasible way to create a 6' cased opening without removing entire walls, and Mr. Harrington reminded Board members that,without heat or windows,the rooms did not meet the definition of a bedroom. There being no further comments or discussion,Veronica Warden moved to rescind the violation letter for 40 Glenneagle Drive, dated May 12, 2020, with the following conditions: 1) the baseboard heating be removed;2)the panel and thermostats that support the electric heating be removed, and 3) a deed restriction be placed on the property limiting it to four bedrooms. The deed restriction must be recorded at the Barnstable Registry of Deeds filed and a copy of the 3