Arkansas environmental regulators reopened the public comment period on a proposed wastewater treatment station that will serve a future subdivision located in northwestern Pulaski County, near Lake Maumelle. This plant is central Arkansas’ largest drinking water source.
The proposed treatment facility is located in an area near Roland Cutoff Road and is connected to the Paradise Valley Subdivision.
A facility would be built that would treat wastewater and discharge it into Mill Bayou’s tributary. The tributary water flows to the bayou, which then flows into Arkansas River.
Despite the fact that the earlier phase of public input was closed, the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment’s Division of Environmental Quality opened the comment period for 30 more days earlier in the month.
Based on the date regulators sent notice, the last round of public comments should close in the first week April.
Rick Ferguson, the developer behind this subdivision, did not respond to an email request for comment Monday afternoon.
Officials from the Department of Energy and Environment also did not respond via email to questions about the renewed comment period.
Two Central Arkansas Water officials were unable to be reached Monday for comment on whether the utility had taken a position regarding the proposed treatment facility.
A Jan. 6 letter to Ferguson identified him as the president of Southwest Equity Investments LLC. A Division of Environmental Quality official informed Ferguson that regulators needed more information in order to proceed with the permit.
Bryan Leamons, a senior operation manager within the agency’s Office of Water Quality, wrote to confirm that his office had received a Dec. 17, approval letter from Arkansas Department of Health regarding the proposed wastewater treatment plant.
Leamons requested additional documentation regarding the proposed plant and subdivision.
Leamons stated that to complete the permit process and “acknowledging previous and above-listed discrepancies” in the application, the Division of Environmental Quality had decided that an additional 30-day period for public comment was “necessary” to allow public review and comment.
Doug Ford, an engineer at Pollution Management Inc., replied Jan. 18 to Leamons’ request for more information in a letter that was sent on behalf Ferguson and the planned subdivision.
According to an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Article published in October, a nonprofit named the Pinnacle Mountain Coalition was created to allow residents and others to raise objections to development.
Chris Centofante was the group’s president. He said in a statement attached to a March 17 news release that the community was “grateful” for being able to make comments and potentially appeal an adverse ruling.
“The Paradise Valley Development will leap-frog into an environment that has no infrastructure to support, most notably for wastewater,” she stated. “The Treatment Plant will discharge treated waste into our Mill Bayou, turning it into a sewer conduit, and is expected to bring dangerous algal blooms and vapors into contact with people and wildlife.”