The city of McCall has stopped assuring sewer service to developers of new subdivisions because of concerns about capacity in McCall's sewer treatment facility, the McCall City Council was told last Thursday.
The action stops new development inside the city indefinitely, but does not prevent previously approved projects or platted lots from receiving sewer hook-ups.
Also, development in areas served by the Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District will continue to be allowed.
"The effect is to have a moratorium on new development," said Shawn Kohtz of Holladay Engineering of Payette, the city's contract engineer. "There is not a moratorium on building permits, but on new development."
Holladay stopped issuing "will serve" letters to new development on Oct. 18, Kohtz told the council during last Thursday's joint meeting between the council and the board of the Payette Lakes Recreational Sewer and Water District.
The meeting was held to discuss growing concerns about the capacity of the town's sewer treatment plant, winter storage pond for wastewater and land available to dispose of treated wastewater.
In the past, Holladay staff and city Public Works Director Bill Keating have both issued "will serve" letters, which give developers assurance that the city can and will handle the number of new sewer hook-ups proposed in a project.
Recently, the city has tried to standardize that process so that only Holladay issues the letters, City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said.
On Oct. 18, Holladay personnel called Kirkpatrick and Keating and said they had concerns about the capacity of the sewer treatment system and that they would stop issuing the letters.
Kirkpatrick and Keating concurred with the decision, and the McCall City Council found out last week.
No letter, no sewer
"Will serve" letters are typically issued to a developer after a project's preliminary plat has been approved and while sewer and water infrastructure is being designed, Kirkpatrick said. The letter must be submitted along with infrastructure plans to the state Department of Environmental Quality for approval, he said.
Without a "will serve" letter from the city, developers cannot complete their application to DEQ. Without approval from DEQ, developers cannot build their infrastructure and cannot complete their subdivisions.
The effect is a stoppage in new development in McCall, Kohtz said.
The stoppage is not a moratorium, Kirkpatrick said. A moratorium is defined by Idaho Code and must be enacted following a specific process, he said.
"This is a pause to give us time to evaluate the situation and decide on the best way to solve some of the concerns," Kirkpatrick said.
The stoppage does not apply to building permits on lots that are already recorded on plat maps, Kirkpatrick said.
"In-fill" development on empty lots around town can continue, because those lots were counted when calculating the capacity of the treatment plant.
The stoppage also does not apply to those who want to connect to the Payette Lakes sewer district's system. That agency will continue with business as usual, including reviewing and accepting new development, Operations Manager Bill Burke said.
New subdivisions affected
The primary development that would be affected is a subdivision, where a developer wants to cut one parcel into several different parcels and sell them as individual lots. Those smaller lots were not counted when calculating the plant's capacity, and thus could cause problems if they are approved.
There are some projects that are currently on the table but do not have "will serve" letters from the city, including five that were reviewed at Tuesday night's McCall Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
None of those developers are ready for a "will serve" letter yet, but all were told when they applied to the city would not issue a letter until its sewer problems are resolved. Several developers attended last Thursday's meeting to find out what happens next. Kirkpatrick told them the city would continue to process all applications as usual, but that obtaining a "will serve" letter would be a condition of final approval.
Council members assured everyone at the meeting that they are taking the problem seriously and working toward a solution.
Mayor Kirk Eimers told attendees the city hopes to have some answers within six months. Space in pond shrinks
The problem centers mainly on McCall's 270-million gallon storage pond that holds treated sewage during the winter before it is mixed with water and pumped south to farmers for irrigation.
The pond was built so the city would stop discharging its treated sewage into the North Fork of the Payette River, which leads to Lake Cascade. The pond has been emptied in each of the last three years, but McCall's growth spurt has city officials worried.
In the last year, the city has issued "will serve" letters or final plats to 683 new dwelling units, including in-fill development.
That leaves space in the pond for only about 836 units, including those accepted by the sewer district.
The sewer district claims 1/3 of the pond's capacity, leaving the city with only 557 units available. But the district also is using only about 15 percent of its capacity currently, which means all of the remaining space belongs to the district, according to Burke and the sewer district board.
At the growth rate McCall has seen over the last year, the pond will be filled to capacity in 2006 or 2007, Kohtz said.
The statistics do not take into account part-time residents or lots that have not yet been built on, but the system must be able to handle a full load of full-time residents, Robertson said.
Leaks targeted
The most immediate solution is likely for the city to repair leaky spots in its sewer system that allow groundwater to flow into the treatment plant, where it takes up valuable space.
Kohtz estimated that 40 to 50 million gallons of water per year leak into the system, and that eliminating that problem could gain space for 483 more dwelling units in the pond.
The city has made "quite a few" repairs over the last 10 years, Kohtz said. City crews have fixed about 75 leaky manholes and leaky sewer pipes around town, and a big repair project under West Lake Street is budgeted for next year.
