Dresden eyes septic inspection law

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By Jay Mullen

A law requiring septic inspections by a certified septic inspector prior to any conveyance of property that has an on-site wastewater system could be adopted by the town of Dresden.

The law would only affect those living within the jurisdiction of the town of Dresden and the Lake George Park.

At the most recent town board meeting Kathy LaBombard spoke to the board about the potential for drafting the law, saying that she and her committee would do the leg work and bring it to the board for approval.

LaBombard went to Huletts Landing and had more than 200 residents sign petitions expressing their interest in the process.

“We had to find out whether or not the people in Huletts Landing within the Lake George Park are interested and want something like this enacted in their part of the world,” she said.

LaBombard said that when she went to Huletts Landing only around 5% of people she spoke to did not sign the petition, indicating that the interest for something like this is very high.

The people of Huletts Landing want to continue to protect the value of their properties and the quality of the lake water that most of them drink, she said.

Chris Navitsky, a waterkeeper with the FUND for Lake George, will be helping LaBombard and her committee with the process. LaBombard said that Navitsky is not new to this sort of thing because Queensbury, Bolton Landing and Lake George Village have this law already in place.

“He was very instrumental in helping those places to enact this law,” LaBombard said.

Navitsky informed the board that they have developed a website for residents to learn more about the septic system and what they can do about it. That website is safesepticsystems.org.

They also developed partnerships with Adirondack Trust Company and Glens Falls National Bank. Navitsky said that this will help people throughout the process, which can be an expensive one.

“(Adirondack Trust and Glens Falls National) will provide no and low interest loans to people to update their systems, which we thought was something to really help encourage that and take a little bit of the financial concern out of that,” he said.

LaBombard told the board that this would be good for Dresden.

Not only would this law ensure that the water quality of Lake George is good, but it would also keep the value of those homes as high as possible. She said that the tax revenue from those homes supports Dresden to a large extent.

“I think that if we can keep the value of those homes by keeping the lake around those homes as pristine as we possibly can, then the town of Dresden also benefits,” she said.

Before a law would be passed by the board there would be a public hearing so residents can express their opinions on the subject. Town supervisor Paul Ferguson said that this wouldn’t be happening until around next July. There is not a set date as of now.

“They are doing all of the foot work and getting back to the council this spring,” he said.