As the issues facing Syringa Mobile Home Park’s owner and residents continue, a Poverty on the Palouse forum was held Wednesday to update the public on how various organizations were approaching Syringa.
Maureen Laflin and Jessica Long of the University of Idaho College of Law and Derek Murphy of Real Life on the Palouse discussed the ongoing violations and lawsuits filed against Syringa owner Magar E. Magar.
Laflin described how Magar’s violations have been continuous since he purchased the property in the early 1980s, including recent deficiencies that made the water non-potable from December 2013 to March 20 of this year.
“Magar purchased the property about that time and there’s a series of them with the Department of Environmental Quality. And, so it would be: violation, little change; violation, little change; violation, enough just to get by,” Laflin said. “And what we wanted to do, what we’re asking to do, is say enough is enough. Let’s look at, systemically, what is causing there to be fecal matter in the water.”
Laflin said a series of lawsuits have been filed against Magar, all of which approach the Syringa issues in distinct ways.
“There’s a series of lawsuits now having been filed against Mr. Magar and his relationship with the Syringa Mobile Home Park,” Laflin said. “So, first everybody may know that the (DEQ) sued them, the Idaho Conservation League sued them and we have sued them. They’re all different and distinct in terms of what issues we’re looking at.”
Laflin the DEQ looks at the water and sewage systems and enforce regulations, while the ICL looks at lagoons.
“The lagoons out there seem to be sometimes seeping over into the creek,” Laflin said. “That’s (ICL) looking at sewage being poured into our creek system.”
Long explained the College of Law’s primary focus with their lawsuit — filed on behalf of Syringa residents to try and get them a functioning water and wastewater system.
“So that’s our focus, is really working with what the residents need in order to continue living out there,” Long said. “We were seeking initially just water, and that’s kind of how we started with our cases — just trying to get drinking water out there. And then as the cases progressed, we’re looking into some bigger issues.”
Long said they asked Latah County District Judge John Stegner for a preliminary injunction against Magar in a hearing Tuesday.
“Judge Stegner indicated that he was going to issue a preliminary injunction against Mr. Magar,” Long said. “He’s still working out the details of what that injunction is going to look like, so we’re waiting to see what’s going to come of that. And then hopefully, we can move forward and start doing some of these overall big tests to see what’s going on with the system.”
Andrew Jenson can be reached at [email protected]