The Lewiston City Council is planning action following a warning from its Community Development director about Nez Perce County continuing to allow new septic tanks in the Area of City Impact.

Laura Von Tersch sounded the alarm during Monday’s work session in response to the county Planning and Zoning Commission’s recent approval of the development of 16 half-acre lots in the impact zone adjacent to the city limits. Idaho Public Health North Central Idaho District 2 will allow wastewater on the sites to be disposed of via septic systems, while city regulations only allow new systems on lots larger than 1 acre.

“So our input is not being listened to, which is why I’ve kicked it up a level,” Von Tersch said, noting that septic contamination is believed to contribute to high nitrate levels in the third-most polluted watershed in the state, Lindsay Creek. “We’re not getting any cooperation from public health or the county in terms of our land use objectives in the ACI.”

Part of the problem is that Public Health is only looking at potential pollution on a per-lot basis, when a cumulative study of all the additional septic systems needs to be done, Von Tersch said. City Councilor John Bradbury agreed that Public Health is falling short of its duty.

“It’s mind-boggling that they say they can only test individual wells, which doesn’t help us assess the health threat at all, and will not provide the cumulative effect, which is of course the very thing that would affect our health,” Bradbury said. “So they’re providing information that doesn’t help us at all, and denying us information that is critical (in assessing) whether health is affected.”

The city has gone to great lengths in recent years to stem the pollution, enlisting the help of the Lewiston Urban Renewal Agency to extend thousands of feet of new sewer line into the eastern Lewiston Orchards at a cost of about $2 million. Dozens of households have either decommissioned their septic systems or made preparations to do so in the near future.

But the addition of new systems threatens to undo much of the benefit from that work, Von Tersch said. She recommended that the city appeal to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and Public Health to study the cumulative impact to groundwater quality of new septic systems.

She also said more clarity is needed with Public Health concerning septic systems, and asked the council to initiate those discussions. The agency’s contract with the city states the agency will provide environmental health services to the city beyond the services required by statute, rule or regulation to help implement city code requirements related to health and sanitation, Von Tersch said.

Finally, she asked the council to ask Nez Perce County to increase the minimum lot size on which a septic system is permitted to 1 acre on any newly created lots. Councilors agreed to pursue all three recommendations.

Bradbury encouraged a cooperative approach with the Nez Perce County Commission, developers and property owners, since groundwater pollution would ultimately be a threat to the usability of land in both the city and county. And that would negatively affect property values, he said.

A proliferation of septic systems in the Orchards led to the formation of the Lewiston Orchards Sewer District in 1956 and the Central Orchards Sewer District in 1979, when raw effluent started percolating to the surface.

In other business:

Councilors agreed to put off three proposed changes to the Joint Powers Agreement that governs the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Airport Authority as the airport board continues to stabilize operations at the transportation facility.

City Attorney Jana Gomez brought the proposed changes forward Monday after discussions last year with Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman and other officials. The first would expressly place the responsibility to maintain the airport’s commercial certification with the board. The next would separate the Joint Powers Agreement into two documents, with one creating the airport authority and setting up its powers and duties, and another holding the lease agreement with the city and county.

Gomez said the second provision would allow the entities to revisit the least terms without going to the trouble of reopening the entire agreement.

The third change would add two elected officials to the five-member board, likely the mayor of Lewiston and the chair of the county commission. But airport board Chairman Gary Peters asked the council to leave everything as-is for now, since a new airport manager just started and the board seems to be working as a unit for the first time in years.

Councilors generally agreed, and decided to revisit the issues in six to nine months.

Councilors also got a primer on the city’s new internet portal for online residential building permit applications. Building permit representative Katie Hollingshead stepped councilors through the portal, which has been active for about three months.

It allows those seeking a residential building permit to experiment with what they can build or add to their property, then actually fill out a permit application online with live chat assistance from Community Development staff. The portal is available at cityoflewiston.org, and commercial building permit applications may be added in the future.

Councilors also got an update on preparations for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Lewiston Fire Department Chief Travis Myklebust said personnel from several public and private agencies are meeting Monday to coordinate their efforts. The meeting will be led by health department officials from Idaho and Washington.

Myklebust stressed that the best way to help stem the spread of the virus is frequent handwashing, covering coughs and staying out of public places if suffering symptoms of fever, cough or breathing difficulty. Anyone with those symptoms should immediately see a health professional, according to public health officials.

Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.