SEELEY LAKE - Realtor Kevin Wetherell’s defense of the proposed Seeley Lake Sewer Project is weak. Here are a few reasons why.
First, it will not appreciably change the water quality in Seeley Lake and the Clearwater River. The District includes less than 25 percent of the lake and riverfront residences, which are most likely polluting our waters. It does not include any of the residences on the three principal creek systems in the area Seeley, Morrell and Trail Creek. It does not address upstream pollution caused by Lake Inez residents. And it does not include ANY of the residences on the Clearwater River.
Second, the project will be expensive and most of the residents in the Sewer District are low-income folks. The district was originally drawn to reflect the lowest income profile possible so that it better-qualified for federal funding back in the Reagan years. The net effect is residents pay around $60 a month for water, one of the highest rates in Western Montana. Then you add the new debt for the just-approved $70 million high school bond (Seeley gets a performing arts stage out of it). THEN you add anywhere from $30-70 a month for a sewer service. That hurts folks and will en total dramatically affect housing costs. Ironically, it will hamper mill employment...workers will not stay in Seeley if they cannot find affordable housing.
Third, the important question of Pyramid Mountain Lumbers’ future. Cheap Canadian lumber imports are dampening prices. Costs are rising and employment turnover is an increasing problem for mill management. Community leaders must carefully weigh a future for Seeley Lake without its major employer. Seeley will undoubtedly go through a major economic slump while it remakes itself when/if Pyramid Mountain Lumber closes. It is highly unlikely Missoula County leaders will appreciably change the business climate they have created in Missoula County.
Fourth, the Sewer District Board has not developed an annexation policy which would welcome and encourage creek and riverfront dwellers to join the District and hook up to the sewer. The State of Montana is selling its many cabin leases in the Clearwater Drainage but the way it stands now there is NO incentive for leaseholders to buy their leases. In part because they would have to probably upgrade their (antiquated) septic systems at great expense and the Sewer District Board has not made it attractive for them to join the District.
For business interests to think of the proposed Seeley Lake Sewer Project as a panacea for future growth is foolhardy. In fact, high utility costs may very well force new development down Highway 83 N onto the flats south of town. The Sewer District chose to locate the sewer treatment plant NORTH of town. The net effect is all sewage effluent will have to be pumped uphill and future growth south of town will be difficult to annex.
Sewer District residents will get the opportunity to vote on the bond issue when the District Board finally arrives at the final costs for the project. I predict the Bond issue will fail and the District Board will have wasted a half a million dollars in study funds.
All Missoula County would have to do to ensure future water quality in the Clearwater Drainage is dye-test lake and riverfront dwellers. If they fail the test, they must upgrade their individual septic systems. The half million dollars spent so far on the Sewer project would have gone a long way toward helping these waterfront residents do the right thing and clean up their septic wastes. And most importantly, County Commissioners must direct its Health Department to re-examine excessive and onerous septic regulations which hamstring development in our rural community.
We must, as a community, do better.
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