Prairie Grove Withdraws From Sewer Suit

PRAIRIE GROVE — The city of Prairie Grove has withdrawn as a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against Valley View Golf and Washington County Property Owners Improvement District No. 5, according to city attorney Steven Parker.

Parker said he filed the motion to withdraw Aug. 1. Washington County Circuit Judge John Threet signed it the same day.

“We got what we were looking for, to get Stewart and company out of it,” Parker said last week.

Parker was referring to three former commissioners with the Property Owners Improvement District: Joe Stewart, Jennifer Stewart and John Lipsmeyer. The three resigned earlier this year as commissioners and are no longer with the district. At the same time, Communities Unlimited of Fayetteville was named receiver for the district.

The improvement district owns and operates a community-based sewer system that provides sewer service to Valley View Estates. Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality has cited the sewer system for many violations the past four years.

Larry Oelrich, Prairie Grove’s director of Administrative Services and Public Works, said the city’s main goal was to have someone in charge who could run the sewer treatment system responsibly.

“We felt like after four years it was time to have someone in there willing to be a player,” Oelrich said. “Right now, we have a responsible party operating the system and it’s going in the direction it needs to.”

Remaining plaintiffs in the suit are Washington County, city of Farmington, Rausch Coleman Valley View, and Valley View Estates Subdivision Property Owners Association.

William Stephenson, property owners president, Friday said the POA also planned to withdraw as plaintiffs in the next few weeks for the same reason: they wanted the three commissioners to resign their positions.

“We’re hoping for a good outcome and it will be a benefit to everyone,” Stephenson said.

The Stewarts and Lipsmeyer are named as defendants individually in the suit.

A hearing on motions filed in the lawsuit was scheduled for Aug. 1-2, but that hearing has been postponed. John Eldridge, attorney for the receiver, on Thursday said Threet encouraged both sides to try to reach an agreement to move forward. Eldridge said he could not comment any further on the matter.

Steve Zega, county attorney, said he has not been involved in the negotiations, but has been kept abreast of discussions.

One of the main discussions has been about the use of two irrigation ponds located on the golf course near the Valley View club house, Zega said.

Plaintiffs contend the ponds are a part of the sewer system and are essential to the treatment system. Their motion claims authority for the ponds falls under the receivership and that Valley View should not be allowed to use the ponds to irrigate the golf course.

The defendants countered with a motion stating the ponds belong to Valley View Golf and are located on property that belongs to the golf course. In essence, defendants say, the receiver is trying to seize possession of private property.

Zega said attorneys are trying to come to an agreement on the ponds that would be a temporary solution acceptable to Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality so that the sewer treatment system can operate as designed.

The improvement district’s wastewater permit with ADEQ expired in January. The receiver is charged with bringing the system into compliance with state laws and obtaining a new wastewater permit from ADEQ.

The way the sewer system is supposed to work, in simple terms, is that untreated wastewater goes from homes to a lagoon where solids are broken up through 30 aerator pumps that add oxygen to the wastewater. When the pond reaches a certain level, wastewater goes through an exit pipe into a facility to be treated. From there, the treated water is pumped through pipes to the two irrigation ponds near the golf club. This water is used to irrigate the golf course.

John Peiserich, attorney for Valley View Golf, Lipsmeyer and the Stewarts, on Thursday said he had forwarded a proposal to Eldridge that he believes would be acceptable to both sides and also to ADEQ.

Peiserich said one of the golf course’s concerns is that the receiver does not have experience operating a golf course. He said he proposes for the improvement district to treat the water and give the treated water to the golf course.

“We’ll put it out on the golf course in the way that’s best for the golf course,” Peiserich said.

For now, the system cannot send treated water to the irrigation ponds on the golf course. When the lagoon fills to a certain point, wastewater is hauled to Prairie Grove’s sewer plant to be treated.

According to Oelrich, Prairie Grove sewer plant took in 396,400 gallons of wastewater in May and 1.2 million gallons in early July for a total cost of about $10,000. Thursday, Oelrich said the receiver had sent notice that more wastewater would be hauled to the city sewer plant in the near future.