Lower Valley residents cry foul over septage facility

Residents who live near Wiley Slough in Lower Valley say they enjoy a rural lifestyle complete with a variety of wildlife moving through their properties but fear that would be lost if a county proposal for a new septage treatment facility in the area goes ahead.

Jennifer Tipton says her family has an orchard and raises livestock on their property.

“We’re truly living the American dream, but recently that’s become a nightmare,” she said as neighbors learned the county is examining purchasing property on Wiley Dike Road for the facility.

“It is difficult to see the county stealing the equity in my home and my quality of life,” she added.

County commissioners on Oct. 21 approved a buy-sell agreement with the intent of purchasing 36.9 acres saying the document provides the county the ability to begin further analysis of the property. The potential closing date for the sale is listed as January 2023.

A group of about 25 neighbors concerned about the proposal gathered at the county commissioner’s meeting on Thursday with a handful providing public comment in opposition to the plant being located in their neighborhood.

Anna Mahlen told commissioners that she takes her kayak out on the slough while often watching otters playing in the water. Just that morning, Mahlen said, she watched a blue heron in the slough eating fish.

“This septic facility not only impacts me and my neighbors,” she said. “Human waste is a biological hazard and you’re going to force our families to live right next to this. These proposed changes threaten the character of our neighborhood and the landscape.”

Neighbors questioned whether the land is usable for the facility because of the soils on the property and its location in the floodplain as well as its proximity to conservation easements on nearby properties. The Flathead County GIS Department map shows a portion of the property within the 100-year and 500-year flood plain.

Others said constructing an industrial facility in a residential neighborhood would mean large trucks making multiple trips per day on gravel roads to access the facility. They also suggested that the sale price of $1.5 million is too much for the property.

Russ Heaton said one question is looming over the whole proposal.

“Why would you put an industrial facility like this in an area surrounded by residential, agricultural and conservation easement wetlands?” he asked.

ADDRESSING THE comments, Commissioner Pam Holmquist said a lot of review is needed before the county makes a definitive decision on locating the facility on the Wiley Dike Road property.

“This is not a done deal,” she said. “There still needs to be a lot of research to go through.”

The county has said that the buy-sell agreement simply allows officials to perform testing on the property and move forward with an appraisal because the county under state law could not purchase a property above market value.

Holmquist said the project is in its “infant stages.”

“Even though we’ve thought this has been needed for many years, we haven’t been working on this for 15 years,” she said. “This is one of those things that we knew down the road that would be needed and as the money came in from the [American Rescue Plan Act], the Health Department suggested we look at this because the funds are limited to wastewater.”

The county has experienced rapid growth over the last decade and as a result, the land that’s suitable for the disposal of septic waste has become quite limited. The county has an estimated 30,000 wastewater treatment systems.

HDR Engineering is in the process of creating a plan and design for the septage treatment and biosolids composting facility. The study is expected to be completed by the end of the year including an estimated cost to construct the facilities.

The engineer has been analyzing the county’s needs taking into account 20 and 40-year growth projections.

The septage plant is expected to be capable of processing 5 million gallons of waste and effluent annually for the county.

While the composting facility for biosolids — the byproduct of sewage treatment — would service the septage plant it could also have the potential to serve the county’s municipalities.

The county says it plans to place a page with details about the proposal on its website at https://flathead.mt.gov/.

Features Editor Heidi Desch may be reached at 758-4421 or hdesch@dailyinterlake.com.