Deal to swap for regional sports complex land would help resolve sewer system issues at Raceway Park
By RYAN LANCASTER
Staff Reporter
City of Airway Heights committees are still discussing how a regional community sports complex might be financed before any decision is made on a land agreement between the city and Spokane County.
A memorandum of understanding, approved by county commissioners in late June, would exchange utilities at the county's Raceway Park for a 70-acre portion of adjacent county land. The city is weighing when and how that property could be developed into ball fields and other recreational areas, with the additional prospect of placing a reservoir recharge at the site for the city's developing wastewater treatment facility.
Airway Heights City Council is expected to vote on the MOU in their Aug. 2 meeting, according to city manager Albert Tripp.
County Parks director Doug Chase said a finalized agreement would alleviate state Department of Ecology and Department of Health concerns about a 30-year-old septic lagoon currently in use at the county Raceway Park.
Mike Hepp, a water quality specialist in Ecology's Eastern region office who has been working with the county on this issue, said in light of the county's continued cooperation on the matter the department is now willing to give the county until next fall to discontinue use of the lagoon system and clean it up.
“Even if the agreement with Airway Heights was approved today they couldn't immediately stop using the system,” Hepp said.
Ecology had previously told county officials the Raceway needed to be connected to a public system before July 1 but that an extension could be granted until November 2011, pending approval of the Airway Heights agreement and completion of utility work in the next 14 months.
The sewer isn't the only utility concern at the Raceway Park. The Department of Health last week issued a bottled-water advisory when E. coli was detected in the sink of a staff restroom during routine testing of the facility's tap water.
Raceway manager Cindy Gibbs said in a press release last Friday that the facility is working closely with Health to resolve the issue. “Out of the four test sites, only one was positive for E. coli. While we believe that the contamination is isolated and limited to a private office, we are assisting the Department of Health and have already started servicing the chlorination system to help resolve this issue as quickly as possible,” she said.
Participants and spectators were able to purchase bottled water and food on the premises while the the deparment conducted further testing of the system this week.
In other Airway Heights business, council passed an ordinance in their July 6 meeting that suspends acceptance of land-use applications and comprehensive plan amendments for mining activities.
Tripp said approximately 12 percent of land within the city limits is zoned for mining, a “significant amount” that officials will examine.
“We'd like to take a step back and work on a better understanding of how much we presently have and our future direction, where we'd like to go from here,” he said.
Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].
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