The WPS and the Northside Community

The White Pine Sash Mill Superfund site is located in the area generally referred to as the ‘Northside’ community. Though it has a stigma from  mainly being inhabited by low income, non-traditional families in the past, the demographic has changed a lot in the last decade or so.  The Northside is now home to many new families and young couples who have moved in to the area due to its proximity to downtown and other city services. 

Since 1996, The Northside Community Devleopment  Corporation has strived to represent the interests of the Northside and improve the community as a whole. Since it has the best interest of the Northside neighborhood in mind, the NMCDC has long advocated for the best cleanup that the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) can provide regardless of costs. Bob Oaks, the current Executive Director, has followed the White Pine Sash Mill Superfund issue since it began. "We have basically been a local watchdog and neighborhood advocacy organization in terms of White Pine's superfund status."  The NMCDC submitted a comment during the public comment period that the DEQ held from March 1st to April 14th 2014.

The official comment can be found here on the NMCDC's website : http://www.nmcdc.org/index.html

Residents of the Northside community themselves have even spoken out against the proposed plan. Heidi West,  featured in the article below, attended the Public Meeting held on March 11, 2014 and gave her peace about why she wanted the residential cleanup and almost broke down in tears.This issue hits home for people who care about the community they live in and want the the best for the future residents who will live here. They want to feel that their opinions and concerns are being heard and truly considered.

According to Oaks,  "This will be the only opportunity to charge the party responsible for cleanup with cleanup costs.  If it is not cleaned up to the best standard now, it is unlikely that it will ever receive added cleanup investment.  It will generationally set in stone limitations for future use."

http://missoulian.com/news/local/missoula-neighborhood-pushes-deq-to-strengthen-cleanup-order-for-northside/article_3a87d02c-b21d-11e3-9b02-001a4bcf887a.html

Lots of community members attended the Public meeting/hearing that the DEQ put on at the Red Lion Inn on March 11, 2014. Though only a few people stayed to giver their public comments verbally, the tone of the questions that people had regarding the plan was less than positive. Oaks, who also attended the meeting with thre rest of the NMCDC staff stated in regard to the public meeting "I thought it a poor showing by MDEQ and that it had a good deal of misinformation and inherently contradictory information.  The main presenter is new to the site and relatively new to MDEQ.  I also felt that a case was being made that cherry picked evidence to justify DEQ's conclusions rather than to describe all the evidence and explain how values were assigned to each input."

The NMCDC believes the DEQ has definitely 'cherry picked' evidence used to support its ruling of anticipated future use as well as the real potential for the site according to the Northside community as a site for potential residential development. According to Oaks the proposed  plan "Establishes different standards for cleanup of former industrial sites in the community based on unclear neighborhood character/quality distinctions".  In other words, the DEQ really hasn't taken into account the amount of backlashing that it's getting and the overwhelming support for a higher standard to be pursued. When asked what his biggest complaint about the issue was so far, he answered "Inadequate cleanup determination".

 In the case that the Record of Decision turns out to be that the site only be cleaned up to commercial standards, the NMCDC is seeking legal advice for how to proceed. When asked what the best use of the site would be regardless of what the DEQ decides, Oaks replied "The highest and best community use would likely be some form of mixed use that could include housing services and job creation.  If the vacant WPS and Clawson sites were combined, they constitute 27 contiguous acres -- close to downtown and adjacent to city services.  It is will be an enormous loss to the neighborhood and the community if these properties are developed piecemeal without a master planning process that includes the adjacent residential neighborhood and the larger community."