NORTHPORT -- A tentative settlement may resolve a legal dispute over the environmental impact of a wastewater treatment plant in Leelanau Township.
Concerns over the potential discharge of up to 400,000 gallons of wastewater per day from a treatment facility under construction in Northport prompted private property owners and an environmental group to file suit last summer against the village, township and county.
The suit sought to change the plant's discharge method to prevent possible contamination to groundwater of adjacent property owners and Northport Creek, a state designated trout stream.
Under a proposed settlement reached May 2, the municipalities will continue with plans to discharge treated effluent into the ground, but will be required to conduct bi-monthly tests to monitor contamination, said Kristyn Houle, attorney for the plaintiffs.
"They are going to pay for the monitoring and share (the results) with our expert consultants so we can keep a really close eye on the impact," Houle said, adding that the lawsuit likely will be dismissed without prejudice when the agreement is finalized.
"We are going to put together what we think a good monitoring plan looks like and send that over to the defendants," she said.
Chris Grobbel works as a consultant for Leelanau Forum, an environmental group that joined adjacent property owners as lawsuit plaintiffs. He said items such as the contaminants to be tested, acceptable levels of those contaminants and other specifics must be determined before the settlement is finalized.
Such testing is expected to begin next spring, when production from the $15 million facility reaches 70,000 gallons of treated effluent a day, he said.
If tests show elevated levels of contaminants and the problem is not corrected, the Forum and landowners can file a new lawsuit, Houle said.
The settlement will allow village officials to concentrate on the facility off West Street. The lawsuit has weighed on the village, administrator Greg King said, and officials are looking forward to an August start-up.
"This is a big thing off our minds, so now we can focus more on building the facility. We have probably spent over $200,000 in legal fees on this. Now I can spend money on putting pipe in the ground," he said.
"We feel pretty good about the whole system," King added. "A lot of the testing we were going to be doing anyway."
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