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8/11/2025
Utility system work nears completion
Black Eagle is nearing the finish line on major sewer and water improvements, capping a multi-decade effort to upgrade the critical infrastructure.
That’s a big deal for the town, not just because much of the water and sewer system was nearly a century old, but also because the system had a bit of an ad hoc quality. As Black Eagle developed along the Missouri River northeast of Great Falls in the early 20th century to support the workforce of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company smelter, utility lines were routed, rerouted and sometimes tapped in unpermitted ways.
Sarah Peck, manager of the Black Eagle water and sewer district, said workers uncovered private sewer and water lines that tied into the main system and sometimes ran for blocks beneath residents’ yards. Other lines simply hit dead ends.
“I’d go stop, and you’d have all these guys looking in the hole shaking their heads,” Peck told Montana Free Press last week. “We had so much unknown.”
The current phase of work represents more than $4 million of investment in the utility systems, Peck said. That money came from state grants, district funds and infrastructure money from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Work on the water system included replacing water distribution lines and fire hydrants. Sewer system upgrades included replacing more than 3,500 feet of piping and upgrading connections and other pieces of the network.
As with many projects in Black Eagle, the improvements are part of a longer tail of work being done in the town of fewer than 1,000. Peck said that some of the work began in the early ‘80s, shortly after the smelter shut down. The water and sewer district is now eyeing a finish line.
“We will have pretty much everything that we know is wrong [fixed], which is really good,” Peck said. “Because when we got it from the Anaconda Company, we did the initial work in 1981 with some grants.”
Improvements over the years have been done in tandem with pollution cleanup. The water and sewer district saw opportunities to install new pipes while crews had already dug up contaminated soil to remove.
Separate from the water and sewer work, federally directed cleanup continues to remove polluted ground that is the legacy of the Anaconda smelter’s operations. An update from the Black Eagle Technical Advisory Group, a coalition of local, state and federal stakeholders, said that soil at 54 residences has been dug up and removed this year. The project has a goal to remove soil from 144 homes this year.
Decades of smelter pollution contaminated residents’ yards with harmful levels of lead and arsenic. Cleanup work began last year, and evaluations are being done to address pollution in the larger area where the smelter formerly operated.
But for the water and sewer system, there is light at the end of the tunnel. While there will be some details to finish next year, much of the work will be done by the fall.
“We’ll have almost everything done probably by the end of September,” Peck said.
Photo op
A buck, one of two spotted in the area, rests in a residential yard at 29th Street and Seventh Avenue South last week.
Calling all photographers: Submit a photo for Great Falls This Week to [email protected].
Cannabis grow permit narrowly passes
The Great Falls City Commission last week approved a conditional use permit for the city’s first marijuana cultivation facility. The measure passed on a 3-2 vote, which is unusually close for this commission.
Bobby Long, who owns the regional business Flower, plans to open a retail dispensary in September at his Crescent Circle building, just off Sixth Street Southwest. The growing side of the business will need to wait until 2027 to open due to a new state law that “froze the footprint” of newly licensed facilities.
While cannabis retail is allowed in that area of Great Falls, a conditional use permit was necessary for the cultivation side. The conditions of the permit prohibit outdoor growing, require a security plan and prohibit signs that indicate a cultivation site, among others.
At an Aug. 5 meeting, Commissioners Rick Tryon and Susan Wolff voted against the conditional use permit. Tryon said that he felt forced into approval by the staff report, which indicated that the commission would need to support its disapproval with concrete reasons.
“We don’t get that alternative view,” Tryon said. “So we are sort of forced to vote yes on this, because we don’t have the findings of fact otherwise. We have no basis to vote no. So we’re put in a box. Kind of like we have a gun to our head.”
Prior to this commission vote, Neighborhood Council No. 2 voted to “not oppose” the permit while expressing concerns that cannabis businesses have congregated in the neighborhood. City zoning forces cannabis businesses into industrial areas.
The city’s Planning Advisory Board/Zoning Commission approved the permit in June.
Commissioner Wolff voted against the permit and expressed concern about the cannabis industry’s impact on public safety enforcement.
“That’s why I will vote a no, because I just think I know the citizens said we want this, we’ve made this legal,” Wolff said. “But I cannot support that knowing the burdens it’s going to put on other departments.”
Long, the business owner, has run a cannabis business in Missoula since the late ‘00s. He’s since expanded in western Montana, but the Great Falls location is his first retail expansion in eight years. He told MTFP that Great Falls will be a hub for retail expansion farther east into Montana.
“What I’m doing is taking a system of cultivation that’s stable and applying that system here,” he said.
His building, formerly home to the troubled Friesen Nutrition business, is Long’s first commercial property. He hopes to open the retail shop in mid-September.
Great Walls returns
The Great Walls Montana art event runs all week, and downtown will get nine new murals as a result.
The artists will be working on their walls in the alley behind Central Avenue’s Times Square Building (between Fifth Street and Sixth Street). Several buildings along that corridor will get fresh paint.
The artists are Bublegumsr, fio.silva, sybe.1, zurik_1, wes7svn, orluarts, zachcurtisartwork, and jagid. Longtime curator Cameron Moberg is also participating.
Artist workshops are scheduled for Aug. 12 from 9 a.m. to noon at NeighborWorks Great Falls. The workshops include an hour of classroom time with Moberg and hands-on experience. The Downtown Great Falls Association is also looking for artists for traffic signal box work.
More information can be found on the event page.
5 things to know in Great Falls
While not quite Yukon, pop star Justin Bieber has been getting a northern summer experience in central Montana recently. Last week, the pop star’s visit to Roadhouse Diner made waves, and his Instagram page was filled with river floats, shooting sports and familiar Montana scenery.
The Great Falls City Commission approved a preliminary budget and property tax levy last week. The city opted for an inflationary levy increase of 2.11%, which will add nearly $450,000 to the general fund budget. That amounts to an annual increase of $7.74 for a $300,000 home and $17.80 for a $600,000 home. The general fund will also be supported by $647,845 in reserve funds to meet expenses. Outside of the general fund, the city’s budget will grow from new utility rates that the commission approved earlier this year. Later this month, the commission will consider higher assessments for the boulevard district, Portage Meadows district, street maintenance and street lighting.
Cascade County and the city of Great Falls are working toward a joint committee that will administer millions of dollars in opioid settlement money in the coming years. The funds are the result of lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies and the Sackler family of Purdue Pharma over the distribution of pain medications that laid the foundation for a national addiction and overdose epidemic. The share of funds currently available for the Cascade County region is $1.2 million, and local governments must set up joint committees to consider grant applications. The money is intended to benefit programs that support drug abuse prevention and treatment. Additional funds will be released in subsequent years, and each local jurisdiction will also have some money directly allocated to it. Both Cascade County and Great Falls commissions have heard initial plans for a joint committee, but neither entity has given final approval.
The city has settled a lawsuit against a south Great Falls property owner who allegedly blocked crews from making utility upgrades. The city sued earlier this year, claiming the property owner, Kyle Harlan, wasn’t honoring a utility easement that allows the city to install sewer and water lines. Harlan claimed the city overstepped its authority to work on his land. The settlement stipulates access for the city “at reasonable times and with reasonable notice” and says that Harlan “shall not interfere with” that work. There is no monetary award in the settlement.
Great Falls outdoor pools are closing this month for the season. Those include the Electric City Water Park, which will close on Aug. 17 due to a lifeguard shortage, according to a city press release. Jaycee Pool closed on Sunday, Aug. 10. Water Tower Pool didn’t open at all this year due to a lifeguard shortage, according to the city.
