PARK CITY — A sewage leak that contaminated well water in a Park City neighborhood over the weekend has forced tenants out of the Homestead Apartments and reignited years of frustration among residents who say the property has long put the town at risk.
Watch Park City residents describe the sewage contamination problem:
Stillwater County officials issued a boil water advisory Saturday afternoon for a two-block radius surrounding the apartment complex after crews discovered coliform bacteria in the area’s well system. Emergency personnel and health department officials were on scene to cap water sources.
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"As far as we can tell, there's a sewer leak on the property somewhere leaching into the ground," said nearby resident Ben Goldy, who owns the property directly behind the complex.
Goldy said previous water issues from the property have caused him to modify his own water system.
"We've got several thousand dollars tied up in a water system in our house. We wound up with E. coli on one of our properties," said Goldy. "The nitrates were so high that we had to have another osmosis system put in. A lot of the people in town have had to do the same thing."
The contamination is the latest incident tied to the property, which has been the subject of ongoing legal disputes between the county and property owner Gary Weitz. The Stillwater County Board of Health sued Weitz, seeking an adequate inspection of the building, which residents have repeatedly described as unsafe. Stillwater County Judge Matthew J. Wald heard arguments Thursday but delayed a ruling.
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Two days later, the raw sewage surfaced.
“We went to court, and the judge had said he would meet with the two attorneys in two weeks to make a decision, and two days later, here we are,” said Goldy.
Goldy said that after the leak was reported, a judge signed an order allowing officials to take immediate action to contain the contamination.
By Sunday, representatives from the sewer district, a plumbing contractor, Ridge Pointe Builders, and County Commissioner Roger Webb were on site attempting to locate the water lines. Webb said the work could take days because the line sits as deep as 11 feet underground.
"We'll come back in with a steel cage," said Webb. "Our concern is that the walls are going to flake off like this one already has. It's a safety issue.”
While the county continues to investigate, Goldy said the Stillwater County Health Department and the Sheriff's Office have issued a cease-and-desist order on the property, requiring Homestead tenants to vacate immediately until the building can be deemed safe.
Some residents say the conditions under Weitz’s management have been deteriorating for nearly two decades.
"He isn't treating people very well over there. He doesn't care about his tenants at all, at all. It's all about the money for him," said longtime Park City resident Bonnie Jo Cardenas. "The folks that are residents over there, they have to move immediately. They cannot stay, which is really hard for them. It's costing the whole town a lot of money.”
The Homestead property has faced similar scrutiny before. In 2021, county officials documented raw sewage draining from the building, causing nitrate levels in nearby wells to spike. The contamination forced Park City High School to switch to bottled water for drinking and cooking before eventually moving its well, and homeowners near the property were constantly testing the water's nitrate levels.
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Goldy said Weitz was previously ordered by a court to remove two trailers from the site, but they later returned months later.
Last year, Webb was searching for volunteers to join a class action lawsuit against the landlord, and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) reopened the case on the property.
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Across the street at Pop’s Inn, a bar, casino, and restaurant where Cardenas works, the business has recently installed its own filtration system and regularly purchases bottled water and ice during contamination events. Doing so has cost them thousands.
"We have a water filtering system, but nevertheless, you can check for the nitrates, but you cannot check for any bacterias," said Cardenas. "This happened a couple of years ago, and it ran into the thousands here because every day, (we purchased) cases upon cases of water, big bags of ice. We could not use any of the water here for any reason."
She added that the issue has extended beyond the two-block advisory area. At her home, roughly four blocks away, she is still boiling her water and mainly uses bottled water.
Behind the frustration lies a growing sentiment that residents believe this latest contamination, and the forced evacuations, may finally push the situation to a breaking point. They hope the property can be removed and the dangerous conditions cleaned up.
“There's a lot of people that are upset because it took so long, but it's being done now," said Goldy. “It's crazy it went on this long.”
"Everybody around is affected by it, and it's time to do something. It's time to shut it down," added Cardenas. "Hopefully, this will be resolved soon, and it will test out properly. But for right now, all we can do is just keep buying the water and bring it in.”
Stillwater County officials have not said when the advisory will be lifted. Testing and repairs are expected to continue into the week.
