Subdivision gets sewer approval

The Daily Inter Lake

The proposed Cottonwood Estates subdivision broke through a stalemate over sewer design with the Kalispell Public Works department Monday night, giving developers the go-ahead to apply for state permission to build.

Developers of Cottonwood Estates, a proposed 91-unit housing subdivision east of Helena Flats Road, won Kalispell City Council approval Monday night to build a force-main system with a pump in each home instead of the city's required gravity-style sewer with centralized pumping system.

The primary concern is water pollution in the high-groundwater area in and east of Evergreen, where the subdivision is planned.

It's outside the city and the Evergreen sewer district, but an agreement with Evergreen allows 100,000 gallons a day to be sent from an outlying district through the Evergreen district for processing at the Kalispell wastewater treatment plant. About 400 homes would use up that 100,000-gallon capacity.

Developers had started the process with a May 2004 letter requesting the alternate sewer design.

Kalispell Public Works Director Jim Hansz ultimately recommended denial because it does not meet city standards. He argued modern materials in a gravity system would prevent infiltration problems that could pollute groundwater.

Tom Cowan of Carver Engineering, the engineering firm for both Cottonwood Estates and the Evergreen Sewer District, explained the grinder pump system is standard in Whitefish and used often elsewhere. It's the best solution for gravel soils that cave in when excavated throughout that area, he said, and for the shallow depth of sewer lines dictated by high groundwater.

Developers now must work with the Department of Environmental Quality and Evergreen sewer officials for final design approval.

For more on this story, read Wednesday's Daily Inter Lake.