Sewage-plant plans stymied

Plans to build a controversial sewage-treatment plant near the Jordan River in Riverton have once again been stymied, this time by a state court judge.

Third District Court Judge Stephen Roth has denied the South Valley Sewer District's appeal of a Riverton Board of Adjustments decision that revoked a conditional-use permit for the treatment plant, which the sewer district wanted to build in the Jordan River bottoms at about 13500 South.

But the fight is not over.

"We will be appealing the decision," the sewer district's general manager, Craig White, said Thursday.

Roth's ruling last week, while denying the district's appeal, actually sided with the district on most of its arguments, including questions of whether the permit for the plant would have violated city zoning ordinances and whether it would be detrimental to the general welfare of Riverton residents. The denial was based on one argument: that the district's plans would have a negative visual impact on the area.

"Every item but one the judge ruled in our favor," White said. "The only one that he did not was on visual impacts, which was ironic, since neither side argued the concept of visual impacts to the site. That caught us by surprise."

White said the district had planned to build its plant in "rural, barnlike structures." The district owns 120 acres in the area and has promised that the biggest the plant will ever get — 20 years down the road — is 20 acres, leaving 100 acres of open space.

Jeff Salt, who led a group of residents opposed to the plant, said the ruling validated the residents' central concern, even as it dismissed a lot of their arguments.

"We see the ruling as laying a foundation for our basic argument, that the sewer plant has been poorly planned for, that the various impacts to the community have not been fairly or adequately evaluated, and that the alternatives for increasing sewage capacity have not been fully explored."

The sewer district is a part owner of South Valley Wastewater Treatment Facility in West Jordan, but because of rapid growth in the southern suburbs, the district is dumping more sewage into the plant than it has contracted for. Last month, the district pumped 15.5 million gallons of sewage a day into the West Jordan plant — well above the 13.2 million gallons the district contracts for.