Berlin Board of Health Sets May 5 Variance Hearing for Linden Street Septic Redesign

BERLIN — April 21, 2026 — Berlin Board of Health schedules a septic variance hearing and holds a barn permit pending conservation review. The board, meeting via Zoom on April 21, set a May 5 hearing for a single reserve-area pump variance at Lot 2 on Linden Street — down from three variances required under a prior approved design, with two eliminated by recent regulation revisions — as the applicant pushes toward a July framing start. The board also reviewed plans for a gravity-fed septic system at a barn at 26 Amos Wheeler Road, a 1,500-gallon two-compartment tank running 281 feet downhill to an eight-bedroom-capacity Presby leach bed, but withheld approval pending confirmation from the Conservation Commission that the project, which abuts the 100-foot wetland buffer zone, has been reviewed. Four Title 5 inspections — 225 West Street, 19 Estabrook Lane, 187 Highland Street, and 72 Central Street — were accepted as passing. A board member reported Phase 1 landfill testing is complete and a report is headed to DEP around Town Meeting on May 4, where two Board of Health articles — a hazardous waste day request and a landfill cap — will be before residents.