Landowner discusses DEQ sewer request

We have new information on the heated Idaho Falls City Council meeting Monday afternoon where members were discussing if the city should give sewer service to a property outside city limits.

Friday morning we learned the Health Department and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality were the ones that asked the city if two car dealerships owned by Stafford Smith could connect to the city’s sewer line.

Smith said he never asked for the request and was unaware of the request talked about in Monday’s meeting. He said it was all a misunderstanding.

“That would be completely inappropriate to do that and unfair, not only to the city of Idaho Falls to ask for the services of Idaho Falls amenities for a piece of property in the county. It would also be unfair to the other people that we’ve made commitments to, to share in the cost of extending the sewer line,” Smith said.

The Eastern Idaho Regional Wastewater System plans to provide sewer service to Smith’s dealerships. The City Council is now reviewing it’s annexation policy because of the request.