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Three area mobile home parks are facing water problems.
By CHRISTY LATTIN
LVN Community News Editor
Three mobile home parks located off South Maine Street are facing water quality issues, but the remedy will be expensive.
The South Maine, Tolas and Deluxe mobile home parks are facing a deadline to become compliant with the Environmental Protection Agency’s safe drinking water standards, specifically the revised arsenic standard of 10 parts per billion. The new standard was issued in 2001, and the initial deadline was January 2006.
Although the parks are located off South Maine Street, they have never been annexed into Fallon and are islands of county land surrounded by the incorporated city. The parks are supplied water from individual wells and are not eligible to receive city water because they are not incorporated into the city.
The city, which has an ordinance stating it cannot serve customers outside its limits, is holding strong to that ordinance which requires improvements to property before it can be annexed. Those improvements include bringing electrical and plumbing components up to code, and installing curbs, gutters, sidewalks and paving all roadways.
“If we have to hook up to the city’s water main and do those street improvements, I would probably lose money and have to close down,” said Jim Vandivier, owner of the Tolas Mobile Home Park. “What the city wants is too expensive.”
County, city and state officials have been meeting with the park owners to come to a viable solution. The state has even asked for the assistance of a water engineering firm to investigate and find reasonable solutions. But none seems to be easily attainable.
Some suggested solutions have included pushing treated county water through the city’s pipes in exchange for servicing the parks or having the county build a pipeline from its treatment plant to the east side of town. Another solution is to create a centralized arsenic water treatment plant to service the three parks, but the water engineering firm said it would cost $1.5 million to $2 million.
“We really want to help them, but it’s technically unacceptable to run a water main seven miles and cross three canals,” said Mischa Stojicevic, Churchill County capital projects and engineering manager.
Stojicevic said he understands the city’s strict policy regarding improvements in order to annex, but he feels all parties can arrive at a solution.
“We need to find some temporary solution for three to five years which will resolve the health problem,” Stojicevic said. “As a human, I think we need to find some solution. After that, work out the parks’ improvements. Maybe then do the annexation.”
Stojicevic suggests installing one master meter which would measure the amount of water being sent to the parks. The county would pay the city for the water and then the parks would deliver the water to its residents.
But the city is holding its ground and adhering to its ordinances.
“Everybody’s got to pay their fair share,” said Jim Souba, city engineer. “If we let them in for free, then we’ve unfairly taxed all the others. It’s a pay-as-you-go system, and the city has set up rates to be a economical as possible. It’s just not fair to all the current city users.”
Mayor Ken Tedford, when asked if the city is being fair by holding the low-income parks to the annexation requirements, said the rules are the same for all developments in the city.
“It wouldn’t matter if they were rich,” he said, adding that residents in the Manchester Circle area paid for improvements in their neighborhood through an improvement district.
Tedford said the city is already working to improve conditions in two other trailers parks located within the city which were grandfathered in before the ordinance with annexation requirements was adopted. Those parks are facing substantial upgrades, which the owner may or may not be able to complete. If not, the park may have to close.
“If you displace these people, where can they go?” Tedford asked. “That’s the social issue. We’ve spent a lot of time discussing this. If it was easy, we would have figured this out. It’s just not easy. I don’t want to put people out on the street.”
Tedford said the responsibility for providing safe drinking water to the parks lies with the park owners. He said the mobile home parks have remained on the periphery of the city for decades in order to avoid paying higher taxes in exchange for city services. Only when the federal government adopted the new arsenic standards did the parks seek to receive city services.
“Now they believe the city owes them. There’s a reason why these parks were built on the fringe of the city and didn’t annex — the owners didn’t want to pay. They can’t make everybody else pay for them. They have to pay to be a part of the system. Once you do, you have a right and are entitled to (city services).
“We have a heart. We are concerned about their conditions,” Tedford said.
Jennifer Carr, chief of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection’s Safe Drinking Water bureau, said the Tolas and Deluxe parks have lower arsenic levels than the South Maine park and are eligible for an extension of their exemption agreement. They have until January 2011 to comply, but South Maine is facing a January 2009 deadline.
All three mobile home parks are on the state’s revolving loan fund priority list to receive low interest rates, Carr said. The state environmental commission will consider granting two-year extensions to small water systems servicing under 30 homes at its Nov. 12 meeting.
“Our goal is to get them into compliance without penalties,” said Dante Pistone, NDEP public information officer. “We don’t want to make the problem any worse than it is.”
Are these three parks in eminent danger of being shut down?
“Not by the NDEP,” Carr said.
LVN Community News Editor
Three mobile home parks located off South Maine Street are facing water quality issues, but the remedy will be expensive.
The South Maine, Tolas and Deluxe mobile home parks are facing a deadline to become compliant with the Environmental Protection Agency’s safe drinking water standards, specifically the revised arsenic standard of 10 parts per billion. The new standard was issued in 2001, and the initial deadline was January 2006.
Although the parks are located off South Maine Street, they have never been annexed into Fallon and are islands of county land surrounded by the incorporated city. The parks are supplied water from individual wells and are not eligible to receive city water because they are not incorporated into the city.
The city, which has an ordinance stating it cannot serve customers outside its limits, is holding strong to that ordinance which requires improvements to property before it can be annexed. Those improvements include bringing electrical and plumbing components up to code, and installing curbs, gutters, sidewalks and paving all roadways.
“If we have to hook up to the city’s water main and do those street improvements, I would probably lose money and have to close down,” said Jim Vandivier, owner of the Tolas Mobile Home Park. “What the city wants is too expensive.”
County, city and state officials have been meeting with the park owners to come to a viable solution. The state has even asked for the assistance of a water engineering firm to investigate and find reasonable solutions. But none seems to be easily attainable.
Some suggested solutions have included pushing treated county water through the city’s pipes in exchange for servicing the parks or having the county build a pipeline from its treatment plant to the east side of town. Another solution is to create a centralized arsenic water treatment plant to service the three parks, but the water engineering firm said it would cost $1.5 million to $2 million.
“We really want to help them, but it’s technically unacceptable to run a water main seven miles and cross three canals,” said Mischa Stojicevic, Churchill County capital projects and engineering manager.
Stojicevic said he understands the city’s strict policy regarding improvements in order to annex, but he feels all parties can arrive at a solution.
“We need to find some temporary solution for three to five years which will resolve the health problem,” Stojicevic said. “As a human, I think we need to find some solution. After that, work out the parks’ improvements. Maybe then do the annexation.”
Stojicevic suggests installing one master meter which would measure the amount of water being sent to the parks. The county would pay the city for the water and then the parks would deliver the water to its residents.
But the city is holding its ground and adhering to its ordinances.
“Everybody’s got to pay their fair share,” said Jim Souba, city engineer. “If we let them in for free, then we’ve unfairly taxed all the others. It’s a pay-as-you-go system, and the city has set up rates to be a economical as possible. It’s just not fair to all the current city users.”
Mayor Ken Tedford, when asked if the city is being fair by holding the low-income parks to the annexation requirements, said the rules are the same for all developments in the city.
“It wouldn’t matter if they were rich,” he said, adding that residents in the Manchester Circle area paid for improvements in their neighborhood through an improvement district.
Tedford said the city is already working to improve conditions in two other trailers parks located within the city which were grandfathered in before the ordinance with annexation requirements was adopted. Those parks are facing substantial upgrades, which the owner may or may not be able to complete. If not, the park may have to close.
“If you displace these people, where can they go?” Tedford asked. “That’s the social issue. We’ve spent a lot of time discussing this. If it was easy, we would have figured this out. It’s just not easy. I don’t want to put people out on the street.”
Tedford said the responsibility for providing safe drinking water to the parks lies with the park owners. He said the mobile home parks have remained on the periphery of the city for decades in order to avoid paying higher taxes in exchange for city services. Only when the federal government adopted the new arsenic standards did the parks seek to receive city services.
“Now they believe the city owes them. There’s a reason why these parks were built on the fringe of the city and didn’t annex — the owners didn’t want to pay. They can’t make everybody else pay for them. They have to pay to be a part of the system. Once you do, you have a right and are entitled to (city services).
“We have a heart. We are concerned about their conditions,” Tedford said.
Jennifer Carr, chief of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection’s Safe Drinking Water bureau, said the Tolas and Deluxe parks have lower arsenic levels than the South Maine park and are eligible for an extension of their exemption agreement. They have until January 2011 to comply, but South Maine is facing a January 2009 deadline.
All three mobile home parks are on the state’s revolving loan fund priority list to receive low interest rates, Carr said. The state environmental commission will consider granting two-year extensions to small water systems servicing under 30 homes at its Nov. 12 meeting.
“Our goal is to get them into compliance without penalties,” said Dante Pistone, NDEP public information officer. “We don’t want to make the problem any worse than it is.”
Are these three parks in eminent danger of being shut down?
“Not by the NDEP,” Carr said.
