County signs buy-sell on land for septage facility; neighbors promise lawsuit

Flathead County is reconsidering a previously rejected Lower Valley property as the potential location for a regional septage treatment facility.

Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a buy-sell agreement to purchase 36.9 acres on Wiley Dike Road for the price of $1.5 million. The agreement sets a deadline of mid-September for the possible purchase.

Commissioners on a split vote in March shot down the property. Commissioners Brad Abell and Randy Brodehl voted against the purchase this spring, but while Brodehl asked county staff several questions about the process of finding a property for the plant on Tuesday neither voiced reasons for their reconsideration.

According to county figures, on any given day up to 40,000 gallons of septage waste needs to be pumped from septic tanks and treated, but with the area’s rapid growth suitable land for disposal of that waste has become scarce. To address the issue the county has been considering construction of a regional septage treatment and biosolids composting facility.

County Administrator Pete Melnick said that despite the commissioner's vote in March, the Wiley Dike property resurfaced as the most viable location for several reasons. Those include that the property is for sale, within budget and it is located near the Lakeside Water and Sewer District, which is willing to accept the facility’s effluent, a necessity for its operation.

“After the no vote earlier in the year, you sent us back to review and look for other properties that might be a better fit,” Melnick told commissioners. “We’ve done an extensive search.”

“This is just the land purchase,” Melnick added. “We have a lot more work to do.”

The county has set aside about $15 million for the plant from American Rescue Plan Act funding and the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Of that, about $7 million must be expended by December 2025.

NEIGHBORS OF the property have been adamantly opposed to the facility’s possible location on Wiley Dike Road since the county first began looking into it last fall. They say the facility’s location there would negatively affect their properties including impacting their rural lifestyle. Supporters of the project, including the Flathead Basin Commission, now known as the Western Montana Conservation Commission, say the construction of a septage facility would address the issue of septic leachate pollution from septic tanks in the Flathead Basin.

Attorney Judd M. Jensen, with Browning Kaleczyc Berry & Hoven, said the law firm has been retained by a group of property owners who oppose the purchase and advised the commissioners that more than 20 owners plan to join a lawsuit against the county over the facility.

The letter claims that the county is planning to overpay for the property, and that the plant would increase traffic on roads and site plans would place truck loading areas too close to homes, both of which would affect property owners.

The letter also claims that property owners would be suffering from inverse condemnation, which describes a situation in which the government takes private property but fails to pay the compensation required for the property forcing the owner to sue to obtain compensation.

“Ultimately, if the county proceeds with the Wiley Dike septage facility, it can expect a court action from several surrounding property owners to enjoin its operation and alternatively to seek compensation for inverse condemnation,” Jensen said.

Mayre Flowers of Citizens for a Better Flathead asked commissioners to hold public hearings regarding the facility, ensure that safeguards are in place in the buy-sale agreement to protect the county, explore other options for the type of treatment process utilized, ensure the environmental suitability of the site before moving forward and make sure that an agreement with the Lakeside district is fully vetted.

“We think you need to further pursue this, but you need to pull this off your agenda today,” Flowers said.

The Evergreen Water and Sewer District, in a letter to commissioners, supported the facility saying it is not only a great value to the district, but also to citizens. The Evergreen district owns 1,600 septic tanks and generates about 350,000 gallons per year in septic tank pumping. For the reliable operation of the sewer system the district needs a septage treatment plant, but constructing its own is not feasible, noted B.J. Lupton, vice president of the Evergreen district.

“I write to urge the commission to take all appropriate action to encourage and push this project forward to completion at your earliest possible time,” Lupton said.

IN SEARCHING for new properties, county officials say they reviewed a couple of dozen locations and narrowed the search down to a few properties that were examined more specifically for the feasibility of locating a septage plant there.

A property in Columbia Falls at 90 acres in size was examined based on the city of Columbia Falls’ wastewater treatment plant’s ability to accept the effluent from the county without inhibiting future growth for the city. However, the environmental analysis found the site to be unsuitable.

“Due to the extent of environmental concerns and significant, expensive and time-consuming remediation efforts required prior to building, this property in Columbia Falls was removed from consideration,” Melnick said in a letter regarding the plant.

The Columbia Falls city council also objected to the plant and told the county so.

A 100-acre property south of Kalispell was examined and it appeared that it would be feasible for the county’s facility to discharge into the city of Kalispell’s system. However, the property is priced at $15 million.

Even if the county acquired the land it would leave inadequate funding for construction of the facility, according to Melnick.

The county has an estimated 30,000 septic tanks, which provide the primary treatment of wastewater before it discharges into a drain field, but some of the leftover matter, known as septage, needs to be removed from the septic tank about every three to five years.

Septic tanks that aren’t pumped can overflow and fail, creating an environmental impact. Septage can’t be disposed of at wastewater treatment facilities in the county’s municipalities because it could disrupt treatment processes in turn causing those plants to exceed state regulations. Septage from the county is currently disposed of through land application, which includes injecting the untreated septage into the soil.

The new facility, which would be the first of its kind in the state if constructed, has been planned for taking untreated septage delivered by truck, then treating it before piping the liquid to a sewer district facility.

The leftover biosolids would be converted into compost.

The buy-sell agreement includes a contingent that the county have an interlocal agreement in place with Lakeside to accept future effluent from the septage plant.

HDR Engineering, the county’s engineer on the project, continues to further develop plans for the treatment facility and is expected to produce an updated business plan for the facility.