[June 16, 2011] After years of development, Lockwood sewer system hooks up its first customer Tweet Jun 16, 2011 (Billings Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Fifteen years after a sewer district was established in Lockwood, the system has finally hooked up its first customer. Cellular Plus, at 700 Johnson Lane, was connected to the system last Thursday, with the businesses in Lockwood Square expected to follow suit this week. It has been a long road for the Lockwood Water and Sewer District, and for many people in Lockwood, an unincorporated community of 6,000 people just east of Billings across the Yellowstone River. Cellular Plus President Adam Kimmet said he opened a store about 10 years ago in Lockwood Square, at 2750 Old Hardin Road, because it had its own small-scale sewage-treatment system. "We always wanted to build out in Lockwood, but without the sewer it had always been difficult to make it work," he said. He bought the land on Johnson Lane two years ago, waiting for the sewer district to get up and running. When he heard sewer hookups would be available last fall, he started construction of the new store in August and was open for business in December. Unfortunately, the sewer system was not yet in place. A contractor working to build the main line under Old Hardin Road ran into numerous obstacles, including an old bridge and wet soils. With state approval, Kimmet was allowed to offer his customers the comfort of a heated, handicap-accessible portable outhouse. Now that he finally has sewer service at the new store, and others in Lockwood can look forward to hooking up to the system, Kimmet sees brighter days ahead. "I expect the area to grow considerably with the sewer," he said, with restaurants and grocery stores being the businesses most likely to be attracted to Lockwood. Kimmet's former landlord, Lockwood Square owner Dennis Hemstreet, isn't nearly as optimistic. If you look at plats for the area, he said, it is apparent that there isn't room for many more than 500 new houses, which he says is too low a number to attract many new businesses. "I really don't see that it's going to make Lockwood jump," he said. Even so, he acknowledged that there was an obvious need for the sewer district, since thousands of individual septic systems are badly polluting groundwater in the area. That's why he built his own small treatment system for Lockwood Square, which has 11 retail spaces. That system would have been overwhelmed by the recent opening of Jen's Buffet, a Chinese restaurant, in his shopping center, Hemstreet said. But he allowed the restaurant to open, knowing that the new district was getting ready to offer services. Overall, he said, it's been a trying experience. He stopped charging rent from some of his tenants when the construction on Old Hardin Road continued for many more months than planned, deeply cutting into sales, and now his taxes have gone up $4,000 a month, with more increases on the horizon. Woody Woods, manager of the Lockwood Water and Sewer District, expects the availability of sewer service to be a strong incentive for new and established businesses. "We are seeing interest in not only revitalizing existing businesses, but in bringing new business into Lockwood," he said. The sewer district was established in 1997 and took over the Lockwood Water Users Association in 2001. The district went to voters with bond issues four times before succeeding. It used to be that a supermajority of 60 percent was needed to pass a sewer bond issue, and though the first two bond issues won by a simple majority, they didn't reach the 60 percent threshold. On the third attempt, the issue didn't even win a majority of votes. Before the fourth election in 2008, two things happened. The district reduced its boundaries to take in only the mostly commercial areas along Old Hardin Road, North Frontage Road and properties near the Johnson Lane interchange. And in 2007, the Montana Legislature changed the law so that such bond issues could be approved by a simple majority of voters. In 2008, the issue passed -- winning 61 percent of the vote. The bond issue was for $14 million, with the other $7 million needed for the project coming from a variety of grants. The district contracted to have its sewage treated across the river at the city of Billings' wastewater plant, at a cost of about $20,000 a month. The district had to build a lift station just east of the river and piping attached to the Dick Johnston Bridge to get the sewage to the plant, but at a total cost of only $2 million to $2.5 million. Building its own treatment plant would have cost $12 million to $14 million. "In comparison with building your own facility -- we just couldn't have done it," he said. The first phase of the system involves five projects, three of which are completed, with the other two scheduled for completion by year's end. One segment of the first phase will extend service down Highway 87 to Lockwood School and the Hillside Village mobile home park. In coming years, the system will continue to grow, with plans to offer service to more residential customers in Lockwood. The district already has about $850,000 in grant funding that can be used to defray the costs of Phase 2 expansion, Woods said. Contact Ed Kemmick at [email protected] or 657-1293. To see more of The Billings Gazette or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.billingsgazette.net/. Copyright (c) 2011, Billings Gazette, Mont. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 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