Environmental regulators reopen public comment on proposed wastewater treatment plant near Lake Maumelle


Arkansas environmental regulators have reopened the public comment period for a proposed wastewater treatment plant meant to serve a future subdivision in northwestern Pulaski County near Lake Maumelle, central Arkansas' largest drinking water source.

The proposed treatment plant is tied to the Paradise Valley Subdivision and planned for an area near Roland Cutoff Road.

Plans call for a facility that would discharge treated wastewater into a tributary of Mill Bayou. Water in the tributary runs to the bayou itself, which then flows into the Arkansas River.

Despite an earlier phase of public input, the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment's Division of Environmental Quality reopened the comment period for another 30 days earlier this month.

Based on when regulators issued notice, the latest round of public comment should close during the first week of April.

Rick Ferguson, the developer behind the planned subdivision, did not reply to a request for comment via email Monday afternoon.

Officials at the Department of Energy and Environment likewise did not provide responses to questions on the renewed comment period via email.

Two Central Arkansas Water officials could not be reached for comment Monday regarding whether the utility has taken a position on the proposed treatment plant.

In a Jan. 6 letter to Ferguson that identified him as the president of Southwest Equity Investments LLC, a Division of Environmental Quality official told him regulators needed more information to move ahead with the permit.

Bryan Leamons, a senior operations manager within the agency's Office of Water Quality, wrote that his office had received a Dec. 17 approval letter from the Arkansas Department of Health pertaining to the proposed wastewater treatment plant.

Nevertheless, Leamons asked for additional documentation related to the proposed plant and subdivision.

Leamons wrote that in order to complete the permitting process and "acknowledging the previous and above-listed discrepancies in the application," the Division of Environmental Quality had determined an additional 30-day public comment period was "necessary in order to provide opportunity for public review and comment."

Doug Ford, an engineer with Pollution Management Inc., responded Jan. 18 to Leamons' request for additional information in a letter sent on behalf of Ferguson and the planned subdivision.

A nonprofit dubbed the Pinnacle Mountain Community Coalition has been formed to allow residents to raise objections to the development, according to an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article published in October.

Chris Centofante, the group's president, in a statement included with a March 17 news release said the community was "grateful" for the opportunity to provide comments and potentially appeal an adverse decision.

"The Paradise Valley development will leap-frog into an area that has no infrastructure to support it, most notably for sewage," she said, "and its Treatment Plant will discharge treated waste into our Mill Bayou turning it into a sewer conduit and is expected to bring vapors and hazardous algal blooms in contact with people and wildlife."


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