The Lewis County Commission on Monday approved a 20-year lease agreement with Cowlitz Tribal Housing for the lease of part of an administrative building built in 2007 at the South County Airport in Toledo.
In addition to serving as an airport office, the building is also housing a membrane bioreactor modular sewage treatment facility, or MBR, for the tribe. According to county officials, the tribe would have paid $30,960 in annual rent.
But under the agreement, 100 percent of that cost to the tribe is offset by an exchange for the use of one-third of the capacity of the treatment facility by the county. At maximum capacity, the MBR will be capable of treating 60,000 gallons of effluent per day. Use of the facility will in turn allow the county to develop a 14-acre parcel at the airport, something it has wanted to do for 12 years, according to Lewis County Community Development Director Bob Johnson.
“It’s a win-win,” Johnson said. “It will provide some additional economic opportunities at the South County Airport.”
The system would also eventually connect to a regional utility that would serve Vader, Winlock, Toledo and the tribe, according to Commissioner Ron Averill. As part of the lease agreement tribal housing is providing general commercial liability insurance indemnifying the county.
