Huetter moves closer to hooking into sewer

Huetter is closer to getting sewer, and that means the two-block town may have a chance to grow.

Voters in this city of about 100 people squeezed between Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls along Seltice Way passed a $500,000 bond in November to construct a collection system that will hook into Coeur d’Alene’s sewer lines.

The money, which will come from a $36 monthly fee added on to residents’ utility bills, also will go toward drilling a second city well, a 140,000-gallon water reservoir and 2,600 feet of water lines.

Huetter’s city clerk refused to comment on the bond or what it means for the city, but Huetter’s bond attorney – Walter Steed of Moscow – said it is key to allowing the town to grow.

“It will get them off of septic systems,” he said, adding that it would end current building restrictions.

In 2003, Coeur d’Alene agreed to provide sewer service to Huetter. The deal was part of an annexation agreement with the developers of the Mill River, an up scale riverfront housing development on the former Crown Pacific mill site. Coeur d’Alene agreed to offer Huetter 200 sewer hookups, which would do away with the septic tanks that are currently lingering over the aquifer. But Huetter had to pay to develop the collection system, and residents will have to pay to hook into the system.

Coeur d’Alene Wastewater Superintendent Sid Fredrickson said he wasn’t aware of Huetter’s bond and that the city hasn’t yet spoken with him about the collection system that would allow Coeur d’Alene to treat Huetter’s sewage at its plant.

“I don’t know where they are with it,” Fredrickson said. “But it’s not going to happen fast.”

In addition to the bond, Huetter must secure a community development block grant to start the project that has a $1.2 million price tag. Steed said the city should know by April whether it gets the grant. If so, construction would soon begin; it is possible that Huetter residents can start hooking into the sewer by late 2006 or early 2007, he said.

If the city doesn’t get the grant, Steed said he imagines Huetter will reapply.