Both sides start to take positive steps on zoning

Opposition was light at a public hearing Thursday on proposed amendments to Lewis and Clark County’s controversial interim zoning regulations, with developers and the local real-estate association telling county commissioners they liked the county’s direction on the issue, though they still disagree on several points.

The proposed amendments are available for review in the commission’s office, in the Planning Department or online. Commissioners will accept written comments on this issue until 5 p.m. today. They’re set to make a decision Tuesday morning.

The amendments free existing homeowners who’ve used a standard septic system or who have obtained or applied for a septic permit before May 15, 2007, from any requirement to upgrade to a more expensive septic system if their current system fails, unless existing county and state sanitation regulations require a higher level of treatment for site-specific reasons.

Residents who applied after that date, along with new requests for septic permits on lots smaller than five acres would be required to install a Level I-b system, though again other regulations will apply. Those cost about half as much as the now-required Level II systems, which run between $13,000 and $18,000 installed.

Anyone who has applied for a Level II system in the past year but hasn’t yet installed it can approach the county Planning Department to secure permission to install a Level I-b system, county sanitarian Frank Preskar said. They won’t be required to pay a new application fee, he said.

Helena Association of Realtors spokesman Mark Simonich said he generally liked the county’s proposal.

“We are very pleased the county has made the changes and moved in the direction it has,” he said.

But Simonich and two partners in a development firm asked commissioners to go a step further and exempt any lots in subdivisions approved prior to that date, which marks the first passage of the interim zoning rules, from the regulations — allowing those lots to be developed with standard septic systems.

While commissioners may address the request Tuesday, County Administrator Ron Alles said the county is drawing a line at grandfathering vacant land that doesn’t have a septic application on file.

Barry Damschen and Ron Johnson, two part-owners of a company working to develop 85 lots near Hauser Lake, asked commissioners to redraw the zoning district’s boundaries. Their development is located on the Spokane Bench formation, outside the Helena Valley watershed and away from its aquifer. Soils in the area consist of heavy clay, and the depth to groundwater is more than 100 feet, Damschen said.

Regardless of the county’s position on water quality and the vulnerability to groundwater contamination in the valley, Damschen and Johnson said, their land presents an entirely different situation. They said there’s little chance for contamination.

Within two months of its approval, buyers grabbed 15 of the 19 first-phase lots for sale in their subdivision, the developers told commissioners. The switch to a Level II requirement and its associated costs have cooled the market, they said, and the company hasn’t sold a lot there in the past 13 months.

The zoning district was based on the boundaries of planning areas that were drawn up for the development of the county’s growth policy, and don’t reflect the boundaries of the Helena Valley.

Commissioner Andy Hunthausen said he’s interested in redrawing the boundary lines and in eventually making the rules even more specific by requiring higher-than-standard levels of treatment only in areas where groundwater is more susceptible to contamination.

The existing rules also trigger expensive replacements for residents who have working but noncompliant standard systems, an issue that has cropped up in real-estate sales and transfers. Sellers or buyers will still be required to bring the system into compliance — perhaps by expanding their drain field to match the number of bedrooms in a home — but will not be required to install an entirely new system as they are under the current rules.

John Herrin, a longtime opponent of the county’s zoning efforts, told Hunthausen he could get caught in the very same situation. The state Department of Revenue lists Hunthausen’s residence as having four bedrooms, while Herrin said its septic permit only lists three.

In fact, Hunthausen’s house is in compliance with its permit — he said the home has always had three bedrooms, and Preskar noted the dwelling was built in 1997, when the county relied on square footage alone to designate the size of septic tanks and drain fields. Hunthausen said the DOR information is in error. He’s contacted the department, and the information should be corrected today, he said.

Herrin later said he was only trying to educate commissioners, and he was a bit insulted when Commission Chairman Ed Tinsley, during the meeting, subsequently said Herrin didn’t know what he was talking about.

“I just wish that he hadn’t attacked me personally, because quite frankly it was unwarranted,” Herrin said.

Tinsley said Herrin had attacked Hunthausen in a public meeting when he should have asked Hunthausen about the information.

“If Mr. Herrin would spend as much time helping us solve the critical problems we’re dealing with in the valley instead of trying to tear people down, we would be a long way toward solving these problems,” Tinsley said.

Herrin said he was only trying to elicit empathy from the commission.

“They could be one of the people that gets in a pickle over these things,” he said.

Written comments may be submitted to the commission’s office at 316 N. Park Ave. Helena MT 59623 by 5 p.m. today.

Reporter Larry Kline: 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com