The water reservoir for Water-Sewer District 5 stands next to the district's pump house.
After taking control of the troubled Onalaska Water-Sewer District 5, Lewis County is making plans to mend an agreement with neighboring district 6 and remove a moratorium on building in the Birchfield development.
Lewis County has been in talks to take over management of the troubled Lewis County Water-Sewer District 5 for about a year, and formally did so last month. The district is now called the Middle Fork Water and Sewer System.
At the Lewis County Board of County Commissioners business meeting Monday morning, County Public Works Director Josh Metcalf said he will meet with commissioners from Water-Sewer District 2 to negotiate a temporary agreement to provide sewer services for Middle Fork Water-Sewer System for up to a year.
Initially the BOCC got involved when commissioners from Water-Sewer District 2 determined their 2004 agreement to provide sewer services to then-District 5 was “null and void” in June of 2018, citing a change in the development plan for Birchfield Fully Contained Community, which encompassed District 5, according to prior reporting from The Chronicle.
That led to the county issuing a moratorium over the district, one that has been in place since August of 2018 and has been extended by the BOCC about every six months since it was enacted, most recently on April 27.
Metcalf said in the meeting the intent of the temporary agreement is to give Lewis County time to negotiate a long-term agreement with District 2 to provide sewer services to Onalaska’s Birchfield development.
The Lewis County Board of County Commissioners also passed a notice of public hearing for Ordinance 1319, which will take place on July 27, that would lift the moratorium upon certain building permits within the Middle Fork Water-Sewer System.
However, if the temporary agreement is reached, the BOCC would have an opportunity to lift the moratorium prior to the public hearing on July 27, according to County Manager Erik Martin.
“The (prosecutor’s) office has given us advice that you could lift that moratorium prior to the hearing and then have the public hearing on it to hear what the public had to say about that on the 27th,” Martin said.
At 10 a.m. on July 27, pending any necessary changes due to COVID-19, at the Lewis County Historic Courthouse, the BOCC will take public testimony and written comments concerning the ordinance.
