E. BOWEN, )
)
Petitioner, )
)
vs. ) CASE NO. 81-1904
) STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF ) HEALTH AND REHABILITATIVE )
SERVICES, )
)
Respondent. )
)
RECOMMENDED ORDER
Pursuant to notice, the Division of Administrative Hearings, by its duly designated Hearing Officer, K. N. Ayers, held a public hearing in the above- styled case on 9 November 1981 at Jacksonville, Florida.
APPEARANCES
For Petitioner: Petitioner was not present For Respondent: Leo J. Stellwagen, Esquire
District IV Counsel Department of Health and
Rehabilitative Services Post Office Box 2417F Jacksonville, Florida 32231
By letter dated July 16, 1981, L. Michael Wetherington, P. E. requested an administrative hearing to contest the denial of the application for an individual sewage disposal system to service a proposed Waffle House Restaurant in Jacksonville. The application had been denied by Respondent because the estimated daily flow for a restaurant of this capacity would exceed the maximum authorized for a septic tank permit.
At the commencement of the hearing, Wetherington was present with the intent of representing Petitioner in these proceedings. Inquiries regarding his knowledge of the Administrative Procedures Act and administrative law quickly led to the acknowledgment by Wetherington that he was not qualified to represent Petitioner. Wetherington was allowed to testify on behalf of Petitioner and offered two exhibits into evidence. Objections to these exhibits were sustained. Respondent then called one witness and one exhibit (Exhibit 3) was admitted without objection.
FINDINGS OF FACT
Petitioner proposes to build a 41-seat capacity Waffle House Restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida, and install a septic tank to take the discharge from the restaurant.
Petitioner offered copies of water bills for Waffle House Restaurants operating in Clearwater and Altamonte Springs having the same seating capacity as the proposed Waffle House Restaurant for which a permit is here sought. These were copies of documents of which the witness had no personal knowledge, was not custodian of, and could not authenticate. Objection to their admission into evidence was sustained.
Absent meter readings for the amount of water actually used by a commercial facility, Section 10D-6.26, Florida Administrative Code, provides a 24-hour restaurant will be credited with having a 75-gallon discharge per day per seat into septic tanks. The limit on the discharge to septic tanks in the area of the proposed restaurant is 2,000 gallons per day.
The criteria established in Section 10D-6.26, Florida Administrative Code, for a 41-seat, 24-hour per day operating restaurant is in excess of 3,000 gallons per day discharge.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction over the parties to, and the subject matter of, these proceedings.
The burden is on the Petitioner to establish that he is entitled to the relief sought. Here, no evidence was presented by Petitioner to sustain this burden of proof. It is, therefore,
