03/09/93 Wardell/Dan Johns LetterMarch 9, 1993
U.S. Senator Max Baucus
715 South Main Street
Kalispell, Montana 59901
RE: City of Kalispell -
Kalispell Pee Wee
Baseball
Dear Senator Baucus:
The purpose of this letter is to respond to a communication
your office received from Mr. Dan Johns of Kalispell Pee Wee
Baseball. In his February 23, 1993 letter to your office in
Kalispell, Mr. Johns expresses his displeasure at not being able to
acquire a tract of land upon which could be constructed a baseball
complex. The particular tract of land Mr. Johns refers to is a 40-
acre parcel which has been used since 1981 for subsurface disposal
of municipal sewage sludge generated by the Kalispell wastewater
treatment plant.
Considering all of the social, economic and environmental
difficulties which face today's children, Mr. Johns should be
applauded for his efforts at developing a facility which will
benefit a youth sports program. However, there are three issues
which must be considered and/or resolved before the subject land
can be released.
First, there is the issue of federal participation in the
original purchase of the land. When sludge disposal at the
Kalispell wastewater plant became a problem in the late 19701s, the
EPA's Construction Grants Program, through the Montana Department
of Health and Environmental Sciences (MDHES), assisted in the
purchase of the land by paying 75% of the $120,000 assessed value.
As part of the agreement in purchase of the land, the property
became subject to the Code of Federal Regulations - 40 CFR Part
31.31(c). This section of the rules states "When real property
(acquired under a grant) is no longer needed for the originally
authorized purpose (disposal of sewage sludge), the grantee or
subgrantee will request disposition instructions from the awarding
agency (EPA). The instructions will provide for one of the
following alternatives:". The rule goes on to provide for three
alternatives for land disposition: (1) retain title after
compensating the awarding agency considering original participation
percentage and current fair market value of the property; (2) sell
pllini on Re�yded Paper
the property and compensate the awarding agency similar ,to above,
and; (3):.Transfer the title to the awarding agency or to a third
party approved by the awarding agency. According to 'these rules
which must govern the disposal of aU real property purchased with
federal grant assistance, leasing the property to Pee Wee Baseball
for construction of a baseball complex is' clearly not possible.
Any assistance your office can provide in overcoming this hurdle
would be greatly appreciated.
Second, there is the issue of safety. This site has been used
for over a decade as a disposal site for wastewater treatment plant
residue. While stabilized sludge from a non -heavily -industrialized
city would not typically pose a threat to human health, in this
case we must consider the nature of contact between humans and the
dues. A spectator need only watch a single game on a rainy day
observe how close the contact between soil and player is. In
-�-r to get a firm handle on exactly what levels of pollutants may
>t at the site, we strongly suggest the city to collect and
yze a series of soil samples before they assume that the site
ompletely safe for Pee Wee baseball players. As an additional
, there are suspicions that when the city was still employing
=,Purifax" sludge treatment process (which was abandoned in the
-y 1980' s due to unresolvable problems), this tract of land was
ui�; for trench disposal of unstabilized sludge. This poses
`;I nz scantly greater importance to e questio of whether the
site is safe for other uses.
Finally, there is the issue of whether the City of Kalispell
is no longer in need of the site for sludge disposal. This
question has been somewhat addressed by the March 3, 1993 letter
from Glen Neier (Kalispell City Attorney) to Steve Pilcher
(Administrator of the Environmental Sciences Division- MDHES). In
this letter, Mr. Neier identifies several other sites which could
be used for sludge disposal in the event that Glacier Gold Compost
does not go forward. We feel that the City of Kalispell still
needs to develop a contingency plan which identifies and secures
alternatives for sludge disposal in this event.
It is important to note that it is not the intention of EPA or
the Montana Water Quality Bureau to "thwart" the efforts of
Kalispell Pee Wee Baseball to develop a ballpark at the site.
However, the EPA and MDHES must follow the rules for disposal of
property acquired through the Construction Grants process. Those
rules cannot simply be ignored because somebody speculates that the
land can be put to other use. If your office can be of assistance
in resolving the grant issue, and the other questions can be
f�=,)rably resolved, the EPA and MDHES would be more than happy to
r, ease the property for use by the Pee Wee's.
K
If you have further questions or commentary on this matter,
please don't hesitate to call me at (406)449-5414.
Ia:
l� kul
John F. Wardell, Director
Montana Office
cc: Dan Johns, Kalispell Pee Wee Baseball
Glen Meier, Kalispell City Attorney
Dave Schacterle, SRC
Robert Babb, Kalispell Director of Public Works
Scott Anderson, HES/WQB
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