PRAIRIE GROVE -- A $1 million low-interest loan approved in July for the Valley View sewer system was finalized Tuesday, according to Jerry Kopke with Communities Unlimited.
Washington County Property Owners Improvement District No. 5 will use the loan from Arkansas Natural Resources Commission for engineering and design work and to obtain easements to connect the area to Prairie Grove's sewer system.
The improvement district is the owner of a community sewer system that provides service to about 500 customers in Valley View Estates, Walnut Grove Acres and Meadow Sweet subdivisions.
Complaints from residents about the sewer system started in 2011 on the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality's website. Numerous state inspections found untreated wastewater overflowed from the system's aerator holding pond.
The system was placed in receivership in April in response to a lawsuit filed by Washington County, Farmington, Prairie Grove, Rausch Coleman Valley View and Valley View Estates Subdivision Property Owners Association. The lawsuit asked the court to appoint a receiver to take over the sewer system because of the "danger of harm to the health and safety of residents in the subdivision and the danger to the environment as a whole."
Washington County Circuit Judge John Threet appointed Jerry Kopke and Communities Unlimited as the receiver. Threet signed the latest order on Nov. 13 to allow the improvement district to enter into an agreement with the Resources Commission for the loan.
Communities Unlimited has borrowed about $1.9 million, including the latest loan, to pay for ongoing costs with the sewer system, according to the lawsuit. Some of the money is paying to haul sewage to Prairie Grove's sewer plant until construction is finished to connect to Prairie Grove's sewer system. Sewage from houses served by the system goes into the holding pond and from there it has been pumped and hauled by private companies.
From Jan. 25 to Oct. 24, the Prairie Grove plant received 16 million gallons of sewage that cost $99,000, according to Larry Oelrich, director of administrative services and public works.
City officials, Communities Unlimited and representatives of the improvement district are still discussing the details of a contract for sewer service. The contract will have to be approved by the Prairie Grove City Council and the district's commissioners.
Communities Unlimited will seek another loan from the commission for construction costs, Kopke said. Engineering plans should be ready in mid-December and then the receiver will seek construction bids, he said.
Construction could start in January and should take six to nine months, engineers have told Kopke.
The lawsuit is pending in Circuit Court and has had multiple filings of counter claims and responses. A March 5, 2018, trial date has been set. Defendants in the original suit are Valley View Golf LLC, the improvement district and former commissioners with the improvement district.
NW News on 11/30/2017