Developer In Dispute With Health District Landowner Suggests Officials Sabotaged Sewage System

The North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River flows silently by, and the last fall colors are fading. But things aren’t so serene behind the scenes at the Serenity Terrace mobile home park.

The dispute is between owner Thom Lane and government officials who contend sewage disposal there threatens public health. Some of the park’s low-income residents may have to relocate if the latest improvements aren’t OK’d.

“My husband is on disability and we can’t afford to move,” said Patricia Hammeren, who recently post- poned paying rent to see how things worked out.

She likes landlord Lane because he’s gotten rid of trash and troublesome tenants, planted trees and worked on the road.

Lane dislikes Panhandle Health District officials. He accuses them of lying, violating his civil liberties and possibly even sabotaging the park’s sewage system and sending untreated wastewater running down the road.

“Call me paranoid,” Lane said Friday. “But why, if the system has been working perfectly since installation, would it fail at the exact time of the inspection by the Panhandle Health guys?”

That incident occurred Monday. The inspection was taking place under court order, said health district supervisor Ken Lustig. He denied the suggestion of sabotage.

“How does that benefit us? It’s unnecessary and unfortunate to even engage in an inference like that. They’re professionals,” he said of the inspectors.

The 33-year-old, 24-site trailer park is carved into a hillside above the sparkling river. The park’s drainfield systems have failed repeatedly over the years. When that happens, health officials say, it exposes people to disease-causing fecal bacteria. Lane bought the property two years ago, not knowing about its sewage woes. He soon discovered that one of the park’s two drain fields - the newer, larger one - was not included in the 10 acres he purchased. Unable to reach an agreement with the former owner, who still owns that drain field, Lane made plans to build a new one.

Health district officials told him there wasn’t adequate space in the rocky terrain to build it, and recommended he pump the effluent off site.

When Lane persisted, they went to court to stop him from building an illegal system. Lane’s engineer, Jim DeSmet, said he could design a drain field that would work.

But on Sept. 7, the two sides reached an agreement approved by 1st District Judge Craig Kosonen. According to Lane, the health district capitulated because it couldn’t win. Lustig sees it otherwise.

“We said, `Your honor, if he wants to spend his money building something we’re very, very sure isn’t going to work …”

Lane agreed to build a system by Nov. 1 that would meet all standards of the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality. DEQ approves engineering designs for community sub-surface sewer systems. The health district grants permits and enforces the law.

DEQ’s Gary Gaffney said the situation at Serenity Terrace is unusually quarrelsome. He especially doesn’t understand why Lane has in the past ordered health district inspector Nick Motzney off his property.

“That’s never happened before,” he said.

Lane claims that Motzney has a bad attitude and drives fast, endangering children in the park.

On Monday, Nov. 8, Motzney and Bob Eachon went to inspect the installation. That’s when they discovered water running down the road. They suspected overflow from the newly installed tanks where water is filtered before being pumped into the drain field.

The two men took photos, videos and water samples. Laboratory analysis confirmed that it was sewer water.

There was no system failure, Lane said. Someone had flipped a switch, which are outdoors and easily accessible. He’s since put locks on the switch boxes. He’s indignant that the inspectors immediately didn’t warn the trailer park residents or tell the custodian so he could fix the problem. And, having noticed the problem, why didn’t they just flip the switch back, he asked.

“We didn’t know until the next day, when one of the residents reported it,” Lane said.

Lustig said the inspectors reported the problem to their supervisors, Lane’s lawyer was informed as soon as possible.

Lustig had told his staff not to talk with Lane, because relations with him had deteriorated so badly. “His perception of what happens and our understanding of it are usually two different things. We’d just as soon minimize the contact and do exactly what the law tells us to do.”

According to the inspectors, the new drain field doesn’t meet state specifications. Among other complaints:

There’s no culvert, a big pipe that would carry floodwaters from a stream away from the drain field. Lane disagrees with the need for one, because he said the stream rarely has water in it. But on Friday he said it will be installed, estimating the cost at $3,500.

Test wells weren’t installed. Those would allow inspectors to determine how well the water is draining in the shallow soil. Lane remained adamant that he would not install them because they could be sabotaged by someone putting sewage water in them and calling the inspectors.

“He can put locks on them,” said Gaffney.

The drain field is 235 feet shorter than specified. DeSmet, the engineer, knew the drain field was coming up short before it was completed, Gaffney said. “I told him, you’ll just have to decide what to do.”

Because there’s no space to add more pipe, about the only option left is to cut back on the number of mobile homes using the system. Lane doesn’t want to do that - in fact, he’s asked Shoshone County to approve expansion of the park, to add five recreational vehicle sites.

The zoning is on hold until Panhandle Health and DEQ approve the drain field.

Lane has until Monday to meet the DEQ specifications for the sewage system.

Scott Reed, attorney for the health district, has reserved a Dec. 6 court date in case Lane doesn’t meet health district demands. Lane expects an out-of-court agreement.

Lane is best known locally his plans to develop the Silverhorn Alpine Village in Kellogg and for the lawsuit filed by a former partner in that project. James Leimbach tried to get back his investment after discovering that Lane had served time in prison for smuggling cocaine.

Lane talks only of his real estate dealings. He said he specializes in buying distressed properties and fixing them up, such as the old Lincoln School and the Bonneville Hotel in Kellogg.

He figures Serenity Terrace was just a bad investment.

“This cost us $58,000 to install,” he said, explaining the elaborate new sewage system. “That’s a lot of years collecting rent at $160 a month.”