Belgrade South Water Tower - Belgrade, MT
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member T0SHEA
N 45° 46.397 W 111° 10.126
12T E 486878 N 5068872
New in 2008, the construction of Belgrade's second water tower was necessitated by the city's recent growth surge.
Waymark Code: WM1065V
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 03/05/2019
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member fi67
Views: 1

First put into use in July of 2008, this shiny new water tower supplements another older tower to provide a million gallons of storage in total. Built at a cost of $1.5 million, the 125 foot tall structure holds a 500,000 gallon tank.

Since its completion, the water tower has become festooned with an array of cell phone antennas, telemetry antennas and other, unidentifiable, antennas. We've found this to be the norm, however.

The tower was initially scheduled to be paid for by a $716,000 grant from the federal government and two smaller payments from developments which would benefit from the tower. One of the developments' financiers has fallen on hard times, however, resulting in non payment and a quick reshuffling of city budget money to pay for the tower. The following news story supplies further detail.
New water tower nearly operational
By michael tucker | Jul 25, 2008
Next Friday, Belgrade city workers are slated to flip the switch and start pumping 500,000 gallons of water into the newly constructed water tower on the south side of town, City Manager Joe Menicucci said. On Wednesday, painters were applying the finishing touches on the 125-foot tower that should put an end to the water supply issue, Menicucci said.

When both towers are on-line, the city will have a million-gallon reserve which will easily supply the city daily consumption of more than 577,000 gallons. Belgrade has been operating on the edge of the supply limit and a new tower was needed to accommodate the mushrooming growth experienced during the past years, Menicucci said.

But the plan to pay for the roughly $1.5 million tank has been altered somewhat. Originally, Belgrade secured about $716,000 from the federal government in a 2005 appropriations bill and two developments would pick up the rest of the tab. Meadowlark Ranch subdivision contributed $300,000 but the $500,000 from Ryen Glenn Estates developers hasn’t come through yet, Menicucci said. To make up the difference, city officials will move some money around in the budget designated for different projects.

Epic Development, the company developing the 170-acre Ryen Glenn Estates subdivision northeast of the city, is currently being sued by Williams Plumbing, Heating and Utilities for nearly $1 million in infrastructure installations, according to court records. The project’s money dried up after Epic’s primary lender, ANB Financial of Bentonville, Ark., failed in May and is currently in receivership, the suit said.

Developers were slated to get final plat in May but pulled the item off the agenda at the last minute, Belgrade Planner Jason Karp said. On Monday, the Belgrade City Council voted unanimously to extend Ryen Glenn's preliminary plat for one year. The move will bide time for developers to seek a solution.

Controversy aside, the new tower is one of many water projects slated in the coming years, Menicucci said. Several mainlines around town will be replaced with larger diameter pipes and workers will continue to fix leaks in the older section of town.
From the Trail Daily Times
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