County OKs Evergreen sewer plant land option

The Daily Inter Lake

A 10-year option giving the Evergreen Sewer District the right to buy 11.6 acres of county property at half price was approved by the Flathead County commissioners on Tuesday.

The option is contingent upon Evergreen building a sewage treatment plant on the property, which is located east of Willow Glen Drive and south of the Vo-Ag school, adjacent to the Stillwater River.

Commissioners Bob Watne and Gary Hall voted to approve the option; commissioner Joe Brenneman, who has previously expressed opposition to the move, was at a meeting in Helena.

Evergreen has been working to secure the property for more than a year as part of an effort to build its own treatment plant. The district currently purchases treatment capacity from Kalispell.

Given that the Vo-Ag site is located within a half mile of Evergreen's existing sewer line, it likely would be much cheaper to build a new plant there rather than at other potential sites.

Now that the option is in hand, the district will conduct a formal feasibility study to determine if this property can support a treatment facility.

Evergreen officials have previously suggested that it could cost as much as $25 million for a plant that would handle 2 million gallons of sewage per day, or about four times as much as the district currently handles.