Flathead County Commission awarded the bid for construction of the first stage of Bigfork’s new stormwater system last week, but construction won’t begin until next spring after a Bigfork landowner filed a protest with the state over the scope of the project’s environmental assessment.
Nelcon, a Kalispell construction firm, bid the lowest for the Grand Drive section of the project, saying they could complete the work for $420,000. Of the four bids received, Randy Gembala Excavating, Inc. came in the highest at $526,447.
All of the bids came in under projected cost, according to the Bigfork Stormwater Advisory Committee.
The Grand Drive phase includes upgrading the drainage system and installing underground filtration in a three-step process, including four Filterra units along Grand Drive, a hydrodynamic separator to remove sediment and another, multi-armed filtration system.
One landowner in Bigfork, William Myers, filed a protest with the state Department of Commerce over the project’s environmental assessment, writing that the public was not provided adequate time to comment on the project, according to Commerce Department documents.
A letter to the Commerce Department from Myers’ lawyer, James Bartlett, said Myers was also concerned that a hydrologist had not been employed for the study, and that the study did not properly address groundwater that could flow onto his property if the filtration units are installed.
Despite the objections, the Commerce Department ruled on Oct. 25 that an adequate environmental assessment had occurred, and gave the county the green light to award the project’s bid.
With the bids awarded weeks later than expected, the project – once slated to begin this fall – will not break ground until the spring, said Susan Hanson, BSAC chairperson.
“We just can’t do it in time for snow-fly,” Hanson said last week.
There was initially concern the delay would cause a loss of Treasure State Endowment Program money, but Hanson said those funds were secured on Oct. 27. However, some funding may still be at risk due to deadline pressures if the project is not done all at once.
Some grants have a June 30, 2011 spending deadline, Hanson said, meaning there might be a problem avoiding Bigfork’s summer tourism season if money is to be spent in time.
Tests in the past two decades determined Bigfork’s stormwater drains directly into Bigfork Bay, Flathead Lake and the Swan River, bringing with it toxins, oil and unhealthy amounts of fecal coliform bacteria.
The county created the BSAC to find out how the drainage system – an uncharted maze that has been in place since the mid-1950s – needed to be fixed.