Residents at Landmark Village mobile home park on Milam Road are far from content over the recent sewage spill that filled their homes with nauseating smells and triggered concerns for public health.

Quick action by Fayette County brought praise from Landmark residents at the Dec. 14 County Commission meeting. That praise was paired with a request that residents join forces with the county to address concerns before they become problems and to explore the amendment of applicable ordinances as a way to bolster public health and safety.

“I appreciate the professional way you’ve gone about educating us about this problem,” Chairman Greg Dunn said to Sierra Leone and the other Landmark Village residents in attendance, referring to problems specific to Landmark and to hundreds in the larger community reporting illnesses from the onion-like chemical odor from the nearby Philip Services Corp. (PSC) waste treatment plant. “You went through the onions and now through feces. That’s more than anybody should have to deal with.”

Sierra Leone and others at Landmark Village had recently alerted Fayette County to the presence of open sewage on the property after sewage pumps failed and residents reported a lack of action from Landmark owner Affordable Residential Communities (ARC).

Sierra Leone noted the quick and persistent action by Fayette County with public health issues faced at the mobile home park. That praise was accompanied by a determined call for assistance in problem areas appropriate for county response. Issues such as abandoned homes, the large number of people residing in some homes and increased criminal activity top the list of residents’ growing concerns, she said.

“The residents at Landmark Village and all mobile home communities in Fayette County need your help. We are not asking you to fix our problems, we are asking you to work with us to resolve our problems,” Sierra Leone said. “We are asking tonight that you continue to work with us in obtaining safe, healthy and clean communities to live in. There are a large number of citizens in our community that want Landmark and the other mobile home communities to be a valuable and good part of Fayette County.”

Multiple trips and many hours spent by various county employees over recent problems related to the failed sewer system, the insistence of county and state officials that the problem be addressed and the potential for raw sewage to have made its way from a feeder creek adjacent to the Landmark pump station and into Whitewater Creek figures into the need for appropriate follow-up, Sierra Leone said.

Those are only some of the issues facing Landmark and other mobile home communities, she said. And the resolution to some of the larger community’s problems, she added, would be appropriately addressed through an examination and possible amending of existing county ordinances.

“Ordinances and/or laws must change with the times or they risk becoming antiquated, ineffective and of no use to the locality they are supposed to protect,” Sierra Leone said. “There is no way we can have safe, healthy and clean communities if our existing ordinances do not provide the means to swiftly, efficiently and effectively resolve serious issues like the ones Landmark is now facing. The county should be concerned that it is facing issues like Landmark, Marnell, Lake Edith and PSC. It is is very inefficient for government to try and fix problems after they have occurred.”

One of those issues, that of the recent raw sewage spill and the potential contamination of Whitewater Creek, was addressed by biologist Dennis Chase. He noted Whitewater as one of six stream segments in violation of state clean water regulations.

“We have poor water quality coming in (to Whitewater Creek) and Landmark is not helping,” Chase said. “You’ve got (Landmark’s) attention right now. The sewer system there is 25 years old and we have no idea about the problems, real or potential. The danger is that after six months or a year we’ll go back to the way it was before. The county needs to find a way to help up front.”

Sierra Leone requested to be placed on the agenda and to work with commissioners to find a resolution to citizen’s concerns.

“The citizens would like to work with you in reforming and/or amending ordinances that affect us and our communities,” she said. “We are aware that you are limited in your manpower and we do not want to overburden you. So I and many other concerned residents of Fayette County will be your additional manpower. This horrible and hazardous situation at Landmark has opened the door for many positive opportunities between the county, the cities and the residents.”