Door County Sanitarian Issues: Using the potty in your Door County home: Septic Issues and Making Changes. It's funny writing about something that is so mundane: using the potty, so to speak, but I've written a lot of previous posts about how a property transfer works in Door County in regards to the Sanitarian's ordinance that kicks in with the transfer of a sale of Door County property.
I've been waiting to write again...because there's a new loophole. The State passed a Bill stating that a County does not have jurisdiction to override State rules in terms of septic issues....and Door County had a more stringent policy than the State of Wisconsin's rule.
What does this actually mean for a Door County Buyer or Seller?
Probably very little in terms of immediate change. After a meeting this week with the Brokers and the County's corporation counsel, the County will still mandate inspections every three years, and will encourage testing for transfers.
As I generally work as a Door County Buyer agent, this makes a lot of sense to me to protect a purchaser---and even as a strong listing broker, it makes sense to me, also, for the protection of my listing clients. I generally encourage my Sellers to know the status of their septic systems (steel holding tanks will fail every time). We price homes with the understanding that there will be a working septic system and potable water, which is why we have our well water, well mechanical and septic contingencies in our Door County Addendum A, which is an adopted State Bar form that is used in the transfer of 99% of single family homes (and has provisions that are adopted and used in other transactions, too, including commercial transactions).
As such, if you're going to buy a home in Door County and we need to discuss septic issues, please contact me so we can discuss these issues as we look at the homes you want to buy.
As I've previously written, Door County only has two municipalities with public sewer and water (Sister Bay and Sturgeon Bay), but it does have several that have sanitary districts for sewer, including the Village of Ephraim, Town of Baileys Harbor and Town of Gibraltar. Liberty Grove shares space with Sister Bay for it's Sanitary District #1 in certain areas where Liberty Grove residents can have access to public sewer and water in limited areas of the Town of Liberty Grove, including Hillcrest Road, Beach Road and parts of Highway 42 with commercial and/or high density residential developments like Yacht Harbor Shores Condominiums, which are luxury condominium homes for sale by JJ's Restaurant, Waterfront Restaurant, the Door County Ice Cream Factory and Base Camp Coffee.
I will still encourage my Sellers to know the status of their septic systems prior
to a sale so there are no surprises. When you're ready to purchase your Door County dream home, let's be aware of all of our options if you buy in an area that isn't serviced by municipal sewer. If you plan to purchase a home in one of the areas in Door County that isn't serviced by municipal sewer, we WILL be talking about going potty in Door County. Door County Sanitarian Issues: Septic Issues and Making Changes. Door County Sanitarian Issues in Home Buying, or "Potty Mouth".
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