Kalispell City Council to consider signing off on mobile home communities' grant applications

Kalispell City Council will vote to sign off on applications from two mobile home communities for federal funding to connect their properties to the municipality’s sewer system at its Monday meeting.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at 201 First Ave. E. and can be attended virtually via Zoom.

The grant applications are being filed by NeighborWorks Montana, a local housing nonprofit, on behalf of Morning Star Community, Inc. and Green Acres Cooperative, Inc.

Although they are applying for federal funding for the infrastructure projects, they must first get city approval on the applications.

Both communities' septic systems are over 50 years old and are at the end of their useful life, according to a memo by Planning Director Jarod Nygren.

The city already approved these requests in 2022, but the applications were not selected for funding, so the communities are trying again, according to Nygren.

COUNCIL WILL also vote on a resolution of intent to set public hearings for May 15 and June 19, 2023, to take comment on new pretreatment and nondomestic sewer use program regulations.

Setting dates for public hearings is a required step in adopting the new regulations, which are meant to protect the environment and the city’s wastewater treatment plant from toxic or dangerous industrial discharges.

City staff has been working on the regulatory framework for years in consultation with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, according to Public Works Director Susie Turner.

Federal law now requires the city to adopt and enforce pretreatment regulations because of the size of Kalispell’s treatment plant.

Reporter Adrian Knowler can be reached at 758-4407 or aknowler@dailyinterlake.com.