Wastewater hearing postponed

COEUR d'ALENE — Folks wanting to voice their opinions about a proposed regional wastewater treatment and reuse facility in northern Kootenai County will have to wait.

The public hearing scheduled for Thursday at North Idaho College — on Mort Construction's request for a conditional-use permit to build the facility south of Brunner Road between Diagonal Road and Old Highway 95 — has been postponed indefinitely.

"The applicant requires additional time to gather and prepare supplemental supporting research and testimony in favor of the proposal," Drew Dittman, principal at Lake City Engineering wrote in an email to a Kootenai County planner on Tuesday. "Due to scheduling conflicts, we have not been able to have several key meetings with the appropriate jurisdictional agencies and affected parties that are germane to this application. We understand that there will be additional noticing fees and possible venue fees (for the hearing)."

David Callahan, the county's community development director, said his department had received 380 comments as of Monday afternoon about the Silver Hills wastewater facility proposal.

Mort Construction is representing property owners Silver Hills Land and Cattle Co. of Spokane and Kootenai Land Co., LLC, of Wallace. Dennis Swartout is the president of Silver Hills.

From a planning perspective, Callahan said, the postponed hearing is frustrating, but the applicants have the right to postpone it as well.

"It's entirely out of our control, a frustration of the public process," he said. "It is also somewhat unusual. In the course of 35 years, I've had three of these."

Callahan said it would have been nice for the proponents to have their homework done before making the application.

"That would have made it more efficient for us because, as time goes by, conditions change," he said. "There may be new neighbors, new housing and new development laws. That can change how we process the application."

The hiccup in the timing of the public hearing also disrupts the staff planning time toward the application, Callahan said.

"That's why I'd like to see this go forward as reasonably and practically as possible," he said.

Callahan said he hopes the hearing will be scheduled within six months at the latest and preferably within three months.

If the hearing isn't rescheduled within the next six months or so, it's possible the county will ask for another application, he said.

Callahan said he doesn't believe the proponents are waiting for the county's new development code to be adopted before proceeding.

"I believe this has more to do with making sure they have the proper information gathered so they have full confidence at the hearing," he said. "There's also not a lot of changes (in the new proposed development code) when it comes to conditional-use permits."

The facility would collect wastewater, treat it and land-apply it over 515 acres. The facility could eventually serve as many as 2,500 residences along U.S. 95 from Chilco to south of Athol.

Proponents argue that, if growth occurs, the wastewater facility is better for the environment than septic tanks.

"This will keep our aquifer cleaner and allow more modern land development planning practices to meet demand as it arises," Bayview residents Doug and Lorraine Landwehr wrote in an email to the county.

The facility would be privately funded and paid for by those who choose to connect to and use the system. If the facility is built, the North Kootenai Sewer and Water District would run the facility.

Opponents believe the facility would lead to growth and ruin the rural landscape of the northern part of the county.