Berlin Board of Health clears septic variances for two long-vacant properties

BERLIN — December 2, 2025 — Berlin Board of Health clears septic variances for a commercial garage and a residential upgrade at two long-vacant sites. The board voted unanimously at its December 2 Zoom meeting to approve variances for 102 Derby Road, where a new owner combined two parcels — including one with a fire-damaged house — to support a gravity-fed pipe-and-stone bed Title 5 septic system, with waivers under Regulations 3N and 4D. At the 7:45 p.m. hearing, engineer Scott Hayes of Foresight Engineering presented a plan for 320 Old Central Street, a commercially zoned lot where a demolished single-family home's cesspool and shallow well have been abandoned; the board approved variances under Regulation 4B for deep test holes and percolation tests, plus well and leach field setback waivers, with total sewage flow capped at 220 gallons per day to meet Title 5 nitrogen limits. The board also confirmed a Title 5 pass for 196 Lynen Street and noted that a landfill cap assessment at the transfer station, to be conducted by Tyan Bond, was delayed by weather and is expected to begin within days.