District may ask for sewer project bond

Bigfork residents may be receiving a mail ballot this summer for a bond levy that will allow the Bigfork Water and Sewer District to go forward with the next phase of its upgrade project to meet treatment standards and increase capacity.

The sewer district is in the process of planning for the next phase of its expansion and upgrade project that began several years ago, district manager Julie Spencer said.

"We've had to combine a couple phases," Spencer said. "It's so hard building on a small site."

The first phase was a Treatment Plant Headworks Replacement Project that involved $3 million new equipment and building expenses. That work was completed in 2008. This first phase received recognition by winning two "Engineering Excellence" awards from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Montana, one in the water and wastewater category and the other was the grand project award.

The next step is an upgrade and overhaul of the more than 25-year-old wastewater plant with a membrane filtration system that will treat water further than it is now.

These changes were needed, Spencer said, because the Montana Department of Environmental Quality's new permits have much stricter standards than the current plant is able to comply with. The filtration system will significantly increase Bigfork sewer's ability to clean the wastewater before discharging it.

"The new permit amounts are below what our current plant can produce," Spencer said. "We have to do this for compliance."

The expansion also will double the district's existing capacity to be able to accommodate an increase in wastewater projected over the next 20 years. Right now, at peak traffic times and with heavy rain events, the district runs into some problems, Spencer said. This is particularly true around the Fourth of July.

As area developments, such as Saddlehorn, work toward build out, the sewer system needs the added capacity, Spencer said.

Hook-up fees from those new buildings will help pay some of the debt for the project, but funding agencies won't let the district count on hook-ups, which is why a bond levy may be necessary.

Throughout the process, Spencer has said that costs above what can be obtained through grants would likely be taken in the form of loans and customers would be asked to pass a bond levy rather than see a spike in their bills.

The district has received grants for more than $1 million as well as some American Recovery and Reinvestment Act debt forgiveness. The next phase, however, will involve several million dollars for the system and building expenses.

"We're still figuring out the costs," Spencer said.

A consultant will have the details on a bond levy to the district by its May 12 board meeting, Spencer said.

If a bond is needed and approved by the board, ballots will be mailed sometime this summer. If passed, construction will begin this fall. The bond would be assessed over 20 years.

The next phase would violate some zoning regulations, which is why a request from the sewer district appeared before the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee last week and before the Flathead County Board of Adjustment on Tuesday.

The new buildings and access will encroach into the current 20-foot setbacks because of the small size of the property by 5 feet along Harbor Heights Road. The building is anticipated to be approximately 6,300 square feet.

Because the sewer district is a public agency and public facility, the committee and the Board of Adjustment do not have the power to deny the request.

No members of the public spoke in a hearing on the request to construct the new buildings at the BLUAC meeting.