By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
The discussion over a proposed residential subdivision south of Hays quickly turned to a discussion on water and septic systems at Monday’s Ellis County Commission meeting.
In an effort to resolve the issue of the Blue Sky Acres residential development south of Hays on Highway 183, the county commission placed the final plat back on the commission’s agenda for Monday’s meeting. The move was made, at the request of the commission, even after a motion on the measure failed to get a second at a prior meeting.
After much discussion and input from the public, the commission voted 1-to-1 on the final plat, defeating the measure. Commissioner Barb Wasinger and County Counselor Bill Jeter recused themselves because of conflicts of interest.
At the meeting, Commissioner Marcy McClelland, who chose not to second a motion to vote on the final plat the Nov. 7 meeting, read a prepared statement saying she has concerns about the environmental impact.
“Where is the water from these six new septic systems going?” McClelland said. “We all know it goes down in the ground.”
McClelland said she has suffered times without water and has a well contaminated. She said she “chose to look beyond the dollar signs to the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Ellis County.”
County Commissioner Dean Haselhorst estimated the six new houses would generate approximately $20,000 per year in tax revenue.
McClelland added the septic systems could possibly contaminate the existing water wells used by residents in the VonFeldt Addition, which is directly east of the proposed residential subdivision.
Haselhorst said he has not experienced any problems and added the new systems are much more efficient than the systems put in in the 1970s in the VonFeldt Addition.
“I still have a septic system on Canterbury, along with seven other homes along Canterbury. They have been there since 1976,” Haselhorst said “We’ve had no issues with that.”
Property owner Mary Alice Unrein said she has consulted with the Kansas Water Office, and they have told her the proposed septic systems would not contaminate the groundwater. Unrein even changed the layout of the plat from eight lots to six – increasing the size of the lost from 2 acres to 2.5 acres at the urging of the County Zoning and Planning department in an effort to avoid any issues with septic systems.
Unrein claimed the current property owners in the VonFeldt Addition “will contaminate themselves first” because they do not have the updated septic tanks in place.
“There’s no way, they (KWO) told me, that I will be contaminating any of their property, at all, or their water,” Unrein said.
Terry Krannawitter lives in the VonFeldt division and disputed Unrein’s claim about the septic systems and said he has a new system and knows of another resident in the area with one as well.
He is also concerned with the amount of water available in the area.
“That’s one of the reasons we are fighting, to try to keep our survival out there,” he said.
Krannawitter, when asked, said he does not have a plan at the moment to deal with the possibility of running out of water. He said if that happens that will have to connect to another water source.
“That’s my concern,” said Krannawitter “That this doesn’t happen before we run out of water. … If the wells go dry or there’s contamination, all we have left out there is firewood.”
Unrein has talked with the Trego County Rural Water District about bringing water from the line just a mile west of the property to that area.
Haselhorst suggested the residents in VonFeldt reach out to Unrein and the RWD and work together to bring water to that area. It could be an answer to their water issues.
“If that option was available, I think I’d want to get on board with Mary Alice,” he said.
But McClelland and her husband, Tom, contend if drought conditions persist, the RWD could shut off water to the residential locations in the district.
Haselhorst said that after talking with the RWD, they have connected more than 300 homes to water and Doonan Peterbilt north of Hays is also on the Trego RWD.
Haselhorst said, “I think rural water would be a much more sustainable source than what a water well is.”
Unrein says she had a water well service test a well on the property that can provide water to 10 homes. She also owns 135 acres in that area and can “do what I want” with water on her land and “drill as many domestic as I want to on my land.”
“They’re going to have to start solving their problem theirselves,” said Unrein.
Tom Drees, serving as legal counsel for the commission, said the proposal has been approved by the county zoning and planning department, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the KWO.
He added the objection by McClelland based on the possible contamination from a septic system is “almost a policy decision.”
McClelland said she is not opposed to septic systems and said they will have to be used for future development in the county.
During the vote, Haselhorst voted in favor of the plat and McClelland voted in opposition, causing Wasinger to say “oh, my God.”
County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes said the commission will send a letter to the city informing them of the county commission’s decision.
Because the property is in the extraterritorial jurisdiction the city’s planning commission already approved the plat.
In other business, Director of Fire and Emergency management Darren Myers updated the commission on the process of updating the dispatch equipment. He said some of the equipment is more than 20 years old and must be replaced. They plan to bringing information to the commission next month.