Berlin Board of Health Unanimously Grants Variances for Highland Street Septic Repair

BERLIN -- October 21, 2025, Berlin Board of Health approves multiple variances for a failing septic system on a constrained residential lot. The board voted unanimously at its October 21 meeting to grant approximately seven or eight variances allowing a replacement Presby alternative leaching system at 147 Highland Street, where a decades-old clay bell system installed without aggregate had partially failed due to distribution problems. Engineer Peter Beam presented the plan, which relocates the septic tank, uses a gravity-fed system with three 40-foot Presby lines, and requires a deed restriction acknowledging the alternative technology. The board's agent confirmed soil conditions matched neighboring properties and called the project "an improvement certainly over what's there." The board also reviewed four new variance-free septic plans on Randall Road and received word that the town's landfill cap assessment application was returned by the DEP as deficient, requiring five additional test pits on the landfill's north boundary before the review can proceed.