County wants wastewater plant at Stockyards site

Spokane County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to abandon a controversial proposal to build a regional wastewater treatment plant at the former Playfair Race Track.

The commissioners settled instead on the former Stockyards site as the location for the proposed plant, canceling a July 20 public hearing on the Playfair site.

The county purchased the Stockyards property in June, and the city of Spokane owns the Playfair site.

The siting decision was made after a meeting between elected officials from the county, and the cities of Spokane and Spokane Valley at Spokane City Hall.

Spokane Mayor Jim West also announced that Spokane would not participate in the proposed regional facility.

West said it would be cheaper for the city to deal with its combined sewer overflow problem by building stormwater catch basins at the Playfair site, which would also be home to a new city sports complex.

East Central Neighborhood Council Chairman Jerry Numbers cheered the decision not to build the sewage treatment plant at Playfair.

“This is good news,” Numbers said.

The neighborhood adamantly opposed putting the facility there because it would limit opportunities for projects more beneficial to the area and could have created odor and traffic issues.

After months of fighting the plan to build the plant at Playfair, Numbers had a hard time Wednesday evening believing that the commissioners had chosen the Stockyards property.

“I’m still not resting comfortable that it’s a done deal,” he said.

Neighborhood opposition contributed to the county’s decision to proceed with the Stockyards site. Other factors included city’s decision not to join in building the plant, an additional $5 million cost to build at Playfair, a lack of room to expand on the site and the possibility that issuing an environmental impact statement for the Playfair site could open up the already approved Stockyards site to legal challenges.

Environmentalists oppose the plant because of the additional discharges it would bring to the already ailing Spokane River.

It’s still unclear whether Spokane County and Spokane Valley will be able to get the permits necessary to build the facility because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said that the Spokane River can’t handle further discharges.

“That’s the elephant in the room,” said Spokane Valley Councilman Dick Denenny.

The Washington Department of Ecology is now working to determine the river’s “total maximum daily load” – meaning the amount of oxygen-depleting discharges it can handle each day. The plant’s fate could hinge on the results of that plan, which is due by the end of the year.

But the county can’t wait until then, said Commissioner Kate McCaslin, who said that the county may sue the Ecology Department if it doesn’t issue the permits.

“There are some very serious consequences if we don’t keep this moving along,” McCaslin said.

The county only has until Aug. 16 to finalize a low-interest loan from Ecology to build the plant. Without the loan, the cost of building jumps dramatically and could mean an additional $500 charge for every new home connected to the sewer system, said Spokane County Utilities Director Bruce Rawls.

As proposed, the new plant would treat 10 million gallons of sewage a day and cost about $100 million, but without Spokane city participation the scope of the project will likely be reduced.

Without the new facility, Spokane County and Spokane Valley will likely run out of sewage treatment capacity by 2009.

But without the permits, just how far should the county proceed, asked Spokane Valley Mayor Mike DeVleming.

Discussion of the permit issues prompted some finger-pointing between county and Spokane Valley officials.

McCaslin and Commissioner Phil Harris argued that the plant would already be under construction if Spokane Valley hadn’t dragged its feet on the project last year.

“With all due respect, we just received the interlocal agreement that spent months on the county side,” shot back DeVleming.

Commissioners and Spokane city representatives also had their share of heated moments at the meeting, over the city’s purchase of the Playfair property and potential contamination of Spokane city wells if the county discharges effluent from the plant into the river near Spokane Community College, as currently proposed.

Rawls and Harris accused Spokane of poisoning the county’s negotiations to purchase the Playfair property by entering into its own discussions with Playfair owner Jack Pring.

“We would appreciate it if you would turn your pipe a little bit downstream,” said West of the proximity of the proposed plant’s discharge pipe to city wells.

But Rawls said that moving the pipe would cost the county and Spokane Valley an extra $2- to $3 million and that additional chlorination would prevent any health impacts.

“I’m not even going to take a chance on contaminating the city’s wells,” said Harris, who said that in addition to it being the “right thing to do,” he had another important reason to protect the wells: “I drink the water in the county courthouse, and that’s city water.”