Leaks Stall Development State Says Problems With Water, Sewage Systems Could Pose Threat At Lake Cda Subdivision

People who bought home lots in a Lake Coeur d’Alene subdivision may not be able to build there.

Because of leaky sewage and drinking water systems at Harbor View Estates, state environmental officials will not allow more system hookups starting in mid-January.

An attorney for developer Sherman Farrar said “there’s no question” Farrar will appeal the decision.

“We have a lot of work under way” at the site, said attorney Charles Dodson, adding: “There has never been a health threat.”

Gary Gaffney of the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality agreed there is no health threat now. But, he said, there could be pollution of ground and lake water if the entire 116-lot subdivision is developed without fixing the problems.

Harbor View Estates sits on a bluff above the lake, across from Arrow Point. Twenty-five lots have houses on them.

The developer still owns 38 lots. When all the lots have been sold, Gaffney said, the water and sewer systems will be handed over to the homeowners association.

“We don’t want to see a homeowners association left with a system they have to put a lot of money into down the road,” Gaffney said.

The county issues building permits, and can’t do so without the OK of health officials who enforce the state rules.

Technically, the ban on hookups would be caused by the reinstatement of sanitary restrictions that existed before the subdivision received final approval in the 1980s. It is a rarely used form of enforcement, said Gaffney, and follows years of trying to work with the developers.

“They don’t seem to get things done like they promised,” he said.

The ban would make it difficult for Farrar to sell lots. Its most immediate impact would be on those who’ve invested in lots already and plan to build.

“Hopefully they’ll be calling the Farrars and saying ‘Make good on your promise,”’ said Gaffney.

The water filtration system hasn’t been approved by DEQ and, Gaffney said, the water system is so leaky that only 32 percent of the water is being metered at the customers’ connections.

“Besides reducing the water system of capacity, excessive leakage can present a health hazard to users by making the water system more susceptible to cross-connection contamination,” he wrote to the developer on Nov. 30.

During wet periods of the year, Gaffney wrote, too much surface water infiltrates the wastewater system. That could cause the release of untreated sewage to the environment, he said, as could failure of the 10 pump stations that have not been completed to state specifications.

Mike Anderson, president of the Harbor View Estates homeowners association, said he’s not happy that the state has to take enforcement action. But complaints to the developer haven’t worked, he said.

“They’ve promised us that they were going to fix these things repeatedly in written and oral communication.”

According to Dodson, the association represents a minority of homeowners. Farrar has responded to their concerns, the attorney said, to the point of installing five filter bays to complete the water system when “there was no reason in the world” that many were needed at this stage.

The developer has filed a $264,000 bond to guarantee that the sewer improvements are done, he said. “The bond runs out by the end of May, so improvements have to be completed by then.”

An earlier bond ensuring completion of the water system expired in November 1997, said Anderson, yet that work wasn’t completed until this fall. “So bonds don’t necessarily guarantee the work will be done.”

The water system also serves the 12-lot North Cape and 20-lot Stevens Point subdivisions. Stevens Point uses the Harbor View sewage system as well.