A developer shouldn't be made to pay for Spokane County's mistakes.
That's what Greg Blessing told members of the county Hearing Examiner Committee last week.
Blessing, representing a woman who wants to develop two lots near Colbert, told the committee that his client shouldn't be forced to put in a $40,000 public water system because pollution from the old Colbert landfill has contaminated some of the drinking water in the area and made wells unsafe.
It's not Carlene Murphy's fault that county officials allowed toxic wastes to be dumped at the landfill before it was closed, Blessing said.
"It's the county's (fault)," he told the committee at its monthly meeting last Thursday.
But the committee, which makes decision on land-use requests in the unincorporated areas, wasn't swayed.
Murphy will have to hook on to the public water system, committee members decided.
The dispute began in December when Murphy, who did not attend last Thursday's hearing, received permission to move ahead with the project on 10 acres she owns near Newport Highway and Woolard Road.
But the Planning Department attached a condition that she get water for the project from the Whitworth Water District.
The department attached the condition on the advice of the county utilities department.
Bill Wedlake of the utilities department told committee members last week that going with the public water system was the safe, responsible thing to do.
Two aquifers, one atop the other, are found in the area. The two are separated by a layer of soil and rock.
The top aquifer is contaminated with leachate from the Colbert landfill, Wedlake said. The bottom one isn't but could be if Murphy drilled a hole through the top aquifer into the bottom one, he said.
That could jeopardize public health and lead to lawsuits, Wedlake added.
Blessing agreed with Wedlake's assessment but reiterated that none of the problems are Murphy's fault.
In order to connect to the Whitworth water system, Murphy would have to install several hundred feet of pipe that would cost about $40,000, Blessing said. Drilling a well for the two lots would cost about $10,000, he said.
Blessing asked that the committee do one of three things to rectify the situation:
Give Murphy a zone change that would allow her to develop more lots on the 10-acre parcel, thereby diffusing the cost of the water system.
Give Murphy the money for the public water system.
Let her drill wells.
"You've created a 'taking.' You owe her something," Blessing said.
Committee members voted 2-1 to do none of the above.
Instead, they left the public water system condition intact but required that the Whitworth Water District negotiate the price of the system with Murphy.
