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Neighbor appeals Sabroso water plan Hay grower: Hearing was needed By Wendy Siporen PHOENIX � Sabroso Co. will have to argue its case before the state Land Use Board of Appeals before it gets final permission to irrigate 50 acres between Phoenix and Talent with wastewater from its Medford fruit-processing plant. Tim Farrell, neighbor to the project at the corner of Colver and Hartley roads, filed an appeal to the state board arguing that Jackson County should have notified neighbors and held a hearing before ruling that the project complied with the property�s exclusive farm use zoning. Neighbors opposed to the city of Ashland�s plan to irrigate with sewage wastewater successfully challenged a similar decision made by Jackson County last year. In January, the state Court of Appeals ruled that the county must hold a hearing and determine whether spraying effluent and spreading cleaned sewage sludge as fertilizer is a farm use under county land-use ordinances. While Sabroso�s plans don�t include sewage � just water that has been used to rinse fruit prior to processing � the issue with the county is the same. "They made a zoning decision," said Farrell, who grows hay on his 8.6 acres on Hartley Road. "I appealed to LUBA based on the fact that they denied me and my neighbors a hearing." "The individual has the right to appeal," said Sabroso environmental manager Tim Heim. "We feel it should go to LUBA." LUBA will schedule a hearing after Farrell files legal papers arguing his case. While Farrell prepares his challenge, Sabroso has been busy digging the two-acre holding pond where up to 3.7 million gallons of fruit water will be aerated and await spraying on the site. Heim said construction will be complete this week, two weeks before a Department of Environmental Quality hearing scheduled for July 6. The construction is proceeding under a general DEQ permit issued to Sabroso in 1995, according to Jon Gasik, a senior engineer with Medford DEQ. The permit allows small food processors to irrigate with up to 25,000 gallons of wastewater per day. Heim says the facility will be ready to operate when a new DEQ permit is issued that will allow Sabroso to irrigate with up to 100,000 gallons a day. But Farrell questions why Sabroso was allowed to begin construction of the pond before it secured its new DEQ permit. "It�s highly unusual to spend all that money on something you don�t have a permit for," he said. "It�s pretty hard to undig a half-million (dollar) hole." Farrell said he didn�t have the $5,000 to buy a bond required to stop the construction. Sabroso has been exceeding its industrial waste discharge permit for several years and is under a compliance schedule with the Medford wastewater treatment plant. On July 1 the company won�t be able to discharge as much wastewater to the plant, hence the pressure to finish construction. If it violates the limits, the company could face fines as much as $2,400 per day. But Heim said Sabroso intends to meet those requirements and won�t have to scale back production while it waits for the new DEQ permit. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA