Millpond residents raise alarm as Philomath development continues

The home, which she shares with her husband and their 11–year-old son, is decorated on the inside with signs containing messages like “HOME” and “Let us come together and say grace.”

Green leafy plants fill the space, Christian crosses cast silhouettes in small windows and a bouquet of sunflowers and roses rest atop a countertop. An energetic corgi named Lola runs from person to person, panting gleefully.

The interior tells a story of comfort and family. But through a small sliding back door that opens to Krantz’s backyard, a different story is told.

Multiple metal discs are embedded in her lawn, reading “Observation Monitoring.” A PVC pipe emerges from a vent on the side of her house. And across the street, mountains of dirt larger than the houses before them proliferate the horizon.

Krantz lives in the Millpond Crossing subdivision, an in-progress residential development in Philomath. It’s built atop the site of an old sawmill, and as a result, pockets of the neighborhood are home to high levels of methane.

Krantz’s backyard is considered the hotspot, she said. Readings using the monitoring points in her yard have picked up methane levels as high as 50%, she said, and most recently around 30%.

Levels between 5% and 15% are considered explosive. According to Krantz, her property also features high levels of oil, diesel, hydrogen sulfide and other chemicals.

In 2021, the Department of Environmental Quality warned Millpond Crossing residents to forgo outdoor flames and anything that could generate sparks. While this advisory since has been lifted, recent recommendations include not altering garage or crawlspace fans, alarms and vents, as well as ensuring crawlspace vents are unblocked and uncovered.

Monitoring for methane onsite has remained inconsistent, except for between October 2022 and September 2023, according to Oregon DEQ Public Affairs Specialist Dylan Darling.

Krantz said her property has been tested only a handful of times in the four years her family has lived at Millpond Crossing.

They moved to Philomath from eastern Washington in 2021 after her husband got a job in the small town. They had no idea of Millpond Crossing's history when they closed on their house.

“I absolutely wish we hadn’t moved here,” Krantz said.

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High methane levels are just one of many struggles Krantz and several of her neighbors have faced since purchasing their homes in the controversial subdivision. They've experienced issue ranging from medical problems to electrical disasters, taking an emotional, psychological and financial toll on the residents, who said they’ve repeatedly begged the city and local agencies for assistance.

Krantz even wrote to Erin Brockovich, the famous whistleblower who sued an electric company connected to groundwater contamination in a small town, in a moment of sheer desperation.

“Your home is supposed to be your sanctuary, your place of peace,” Krantz said, “and it is everything but that for us.”

More complicated than anticipated

Here's the timeline that brought about the Krantz family nightmare.

Developer Levi Miller and his company MPC Builders LLC bought the Millpond Crossing property in February 2018. The former mill site operated under various names between 1955 and 1998, according to DEQ documents that state log ponds onsite were filled with wood waste, construction debris and other hazardous substances in the 1980s.

A court document adds to that list oil filters, batteries, waste oils and plastics.

Decaying wood debris can generate methane gas, but it wasn’t the only hazard discovered. In May 2018, a consultant found contaminants in the area of the filled log ponds, including diesel and oil. It also found metals, such as arsenic, barium, chromium, cadmium, lead, mercury selenium and silver.

In 2019, the DEQ requested methane gas testing at the site. Initial testing was done in June 2020, and a court document indicates gas was found in 12 of 13 samples.

By the time testing was underway, some Millpond Crossing residents had already moved in.

In June 2021, DEQ recommended that the city of Philomath pause new construction until further methane investigation was completed, and if necessary, a methane mitigation plan was fully implemented. The city obliged.

By July 2021, the agency and the developer entered into a consent order to investigate hazardous substances on the property and determine removal and/or remediation measures. That included a methane work plan due in August 2021, which was approved and implemented, according to DEQ.

In November 2022, the city of Philomath once again halted the developer’s work after Miller proposed and began work on an elevation grade lower than what had been approved by the city, Philomath City Manager Chris Workman told Mid-Valley Media.

“We didn’t want him creating a floodplain,” Workman said.

Ultimately, a compromise was reached between the developer and Philomath, with a grading plan that allowed the homes to be slightly lower than initially proposed, he said.

The developer responds

When contacted by Mid-Valley Media, Miller said he would only answer questions via email, despite attempts to arrange a phone call.

In his email, he included information from MPC’s environmental consultant PBS. According to a memo prepared by Workman, PBS has been on and off of the Millpond Crossing project based on MPC’s ability to pay for its services, which has wavered.

According to the materials sent to Mid-Valley Media by Miller, PBS determined that concentrations of methane gas at the site vary depending on the location and time of year.

“Results of crawl space monitoring (indicate) that the methane is not mobilizing into the occupied homes. Monitoring of utility confined spaces indicates the same,” it reads.

Concentrations of methane that indicate a risk have been identified where wood waste is present, the summary continues. But there have been no recorded observations of methane emissions at measurable levels at the surface. Records, it continues, indicate that methane quickly dissipates when exposed to oxygen.

Hydrogen sulfide is a byproduct of anaerobic decay of the wood waste source material, and some areas of hydrogen sulfide have also been observed on site. “Results have shown that elevated concentrations of (hydrogen sulfide) in ambient air is not present,” the recap reads.

The project is rolling out in several phases, and removal of all of the former pond's fill material — added soil and rock used to level an area for construction — is underway for a sub-phase of the second phase — or phase 2B — as well as in future phases.

“Source removal appears to be an effective remedial alternative, achieving 100% removal of the methane generating material,” the recap continues.

Homes currently in development are also being constructed with mitigation measures, and all homes are being equipped with utility conduit seals, according to the summary.

But according to the DEQ, Phase 1 and 2 homes were constructed with limited protections from methane gas and other biogases.

The first two phases of homes were sealed in 2023, but they did not have organic material removal occur in their back and front yards — though it did occur in other areas, like underneath the houses, according to Miller. Krantz lives in a second phase home, she told Mid-Valley Media.

The mitigation work completed for homes in phase 2B may serve as a model moving forward, according to Darling. This has included the removal of decomposing wood waste buried in the former log ponds, as well as the installation of soil gas vapor barriers and soil gas collection systems.

“DEQ considers newly constructed residential homes at the development safe only after all approved mitigation measures have been properly completed under the supervision of a third-party environmental professional,” Darling wrote to Mid-Valley Media.

“Currently, DEQ is working with the developer to make sure that mitigation work for Phase 2B and other future phases of development are done correctly and under qualified supervision.”

Organic material that has been removed as part of this work make up the dirt piles, surrounded by small lakes of water, that have formed across from Krantz’s house, generating an eyesore for, and consternation from, local residents.

The city also has heard concerns from neighbors about the water being retained off site, Workman said. But Miller doesn’t yet have the storm system necessary to mitigate that issue.

According to Workman, each project phase was given two years, making it about a 10-year project.

But it goes without saying that it’s been more complicated than anticipated. The project, still in its second stage, is now seven years in. According to the DEQ, 212 homes are planned in total.

Laundry list of worries

Brooke Heaton moved to Philomath in 2021, along with her husband, 6-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son. Like Krantz’s, Heaton’s family lives in a second phase home.

Since moving into Millpond Crossing, Heaton has begun using a wheelchair about 70% of the time due to an autoimmune disease she didn't know she had. Stress flared a lot of residents’ preexisting conditions, Heaton said — whether it’s just emotional and financial stress or components of the environment, she doesn’t know.

Right now, she said, she and her husband are digging up their backyard themselves, since it isn’t being done by the developer.

Krantz has lost so much hair this year that she’s had to start wearing extensions, she said. She can’t sleep, either, with so much stress and anxiety plaguing her.

“It’s been a horrific thing, as a mom, worrying constantly … is my son going to get sick down the road from this?” she said.

Though it's hardly conclusive, the residents have been spotting worrisome trends.

In December, Krantz's family had to put down their 11-year-old dog, Boomer, who suddenly developed cancer. Her neighbors next door had to put their dog down for the same reason.

Heaton, who lives two doors from Krantz, thinks that her own dog also has cancer, though the cause of her animal’s illness has not yet been identified. A recent video of the dog shows her walking inside Heaton’s house from the backyard, her ribs visibly protruding beneath her fur.

Krantz said she went a year without methane monitors in her crawlspace or garage, which went undiscovered until an inspection.

Even more alarming, at the same inspection, she learned the fan meant to vent air out of the crawlspace and into the yard was in fact installed backward, meaning it was funneling air from outside in.

According to Miller, his company performed inspections of ventilation fans and methane detection alarms for two years, he said, during which time it found a few instances of alarms unplugged and/or removed, and in these instances the alarms were “promptly replaced.”

“We also discovered a few fans inoperable that were replaced immediately,” he wrote.

Although it’s been more than two years, he continued, the company is always available to do additional inspections, though at this time there are no requests for them.

Of hundreds of tests conducted over the last 3½ years, he continued, no methane has ever been detected inside of these homes.

The latest round of crawlspace testing occurred in every house in February, according to Miller.

Darling confirmed to Mid-Valley Media that this was the first sitewide methane monitoring effort since September 2023.

Issues with the homes at the Millpond Crossing subdivision extend beyond methane-related concerns. Heaton has had three washers and dryers and two refrigerators break. In 2023, her house flooded.

“You buy a new home and you think of all these projects you want to do and fix it up and make it your own,” she said, “and all of it’s just being put in to fix problems you should’ve never been responsible for.”

Krantz retained an attorney out of Portland — it took about a year to find someone who didn’t have a conflict of interest, she said — to sue Miller. She said the legal process has almost bankrupted her family.

Shortly after Miller got wind of the litigation, Krantz alleged, he relocated a portable bathroom that had been at the subdivision for about six months in front of her house.

But it’s far from the only legal entanglement in which Miller has found himself related to Millpond Crossing. Just as an example, in January, a construction company sued Miller’s company after a check for installation of siding bounced.

“To date, although demanded, Defendant Miller and Defendant MPC Builders LLC have not paid the Plaintiff for the work performed, and the invoices remain unpaid,” the court filing reads. The total amount owed, it continues, is $56,020.

Residents describe Miller as aggressive and punitive. Heaton also is concerned about the way he treats his workers — often immigrants, she said. She’s taken raincoats to them when they’re working on roofs, without harnesses, in the pouring rain. She said one worker has come to her home, multiple times, to tell her he wasn’t being paid for his work.

“He was desperate,” she said. “He was trying to keep some connection to this neighborhood.”

According to Miller, one resident did call the Occupational Health and Safety Administration and filed a complaint regarding his job site. An OSHA representative responded, performed a site inspection and found the company in compliance, dismissing the complaint.

“MPC has received no other complaints regarding employees and work site conditions,” Miller wrote.

City Manager Workman told Mid-Valley Media that accusations about workers' pay have not been brought to the city’s attention, and that the city is not the regulatory agency for those kinds of concerns, regardless.

A 'mess on our hands'

On March 11, Workman delivered an update on Millpond Crossing to the City Council.

In 2021, 16th Street was dug up in several places to allow for new water and sewer connections, which still have been completed. The work was scheduled to take place on March 13 and 14, but he was dubious.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Workman said.

Sure enough, the repaving was postponed due to weather issues, Workman told Mid-Valley Media. He hasn’t been provided with a new date yet.

During the meeting, Workman acknowledged some of the many difficulties being faced by Millpond Crossing residents.

“There’s property owners on North Timothy Street; they’ve got a ditch behind their house,” he said. “They would like a backyard ... they don’t have it, still, three years later, because the storm line hasn’t been submitted, hasn’t been approved, hasn’t been constructed. They’re waiting. Very frustrating.”

Additionally, in early 2022, it was discovered that many houses on Krantz and Heaton’s side of the street did not meet the minimum setback requirements from the side yard property lines. Whoever placed the stakes in the ground demarcated the lot lines was wrong in about one-third of them.

That resulted in 12 houses being built too close to the property line, Workman said. Krantz and Heaton’s homes were both impacted, they said.

For over two years, the city has been attempting to broker a lot line adjustment between many residents and the developer, but some neighbors have been less responsive on the issue than others, Workman told Mid-Valley Media.

Moving forward, he said, the city is retooling its approach to address the problem. One possibility is to threaten fines.

During the meeting, Workman acknowledged the need for housing in Philomath and the lengths other cities go to entice developers to their land.

“That’s not to say we don’t expect developers to act in good faith,” he said, “but at the same time, when we have a developer at the door wanting to develop in Philomath, it’s really hard for me at the city to put unnecessary obstacles in the developer’s way.”

His primary concern, he said, was always the city and its liability. Philomath will continue to hold the developer accountable to requirements, he said, but he can’t do more than that.

“Rose-colored glasses on,” he said, “I think it’s going to look awesome.”

Workman doesn't blame Millpond Crossing residents for being upset, but it's important the city focus on constructive ways to deal with the problem.

“If we push too hard, that developer will go away,” he said. “We’ll have our own mess on our hands.”

For Mayor Christopher McMorran's part, he said he would feel frustrated if he lived in the Millpond Crossing development.

“I hope that none of what we do is interpreted as downplaying that,” he said. “I think we also want to close this chapter and learn from it and move on to something better in the future, but part of closing this chapter is finishing the project.”

To Mid-Valley Media, Workman acknowledged that Millpond Crossing still faces many challenges — financial and environmental constraints chief among them.

Hindsight is 20/20 and mistakes are always going to be made, he said, but “you do the best you can."

Some of the residents that spoke with Mid-Valley Media disagreed with Workman’s approach to the matter.

“Is it the right thing to do to hire developers that don’t have adequate financing to get things done where they need to be done?” said a resident who asked to remain anonymous due to family concerns. “Is it the right thing to do to hire developers that have had a slipshod reputation of work, that are horrible with communicating, that cut corners?”

‘We’re stuck’

Small town politics run deep in Philomath, Krantz said, and people are afraid of community retribution.

Heaton said she struggles with even feeling like she can speak out.

“I go to church with this man,” she said, referring to Workman. “I pass bread with him.”

But Workman expressed the opposite sentiment. He said being a small community makes it possible for people to engage in potentially difficult conversations.

“You’re not a nameless face in the crowd; you’re a neighbor,” he said in an interview. “You’re someone I’m going to run into at the grocery store.”

If anything, he said, this makes the city staff and officials work that much harder — to do well by their neighbors and to hold developers accountable.

And he’s happy that Miller is still in town.

“I think it’s commendable, despite the pros and cons, that Levi Miller is still at the table in Philomath, willing and wanting to build houses here,” Workman said.

Miller said in an email that he has family ties to the area spanning over 130 years.

“While the project has taken some very unexpected and unfortunate turns and delays, I am very proud of the project, what we have done and are continuing to do within the city of Philomath,” he wrote.

Workman said that the vast majority of people living in Millpond Crossing, which was meant to attract first-time homebuyers, are “very happy,” and that he still has a vision for the development despite the challenges. He has friends who would love to be able to buy a home in town with their children.

“These houses are important,” he said. “It’s not about numbers, it’s not about growing the city’s population — it’s about people that want to live in Philomath that currently can’t.

"To get real high-level, it’s about helping people achieve the American dream of home ownership,” Workman said. And if his role in that is helping a developer to get through a difficult development, he said, then that’s what he’s going to do.

But for Krantz, this hasn’t been a dream — it’s been a nightmare. The only blessing to come out of the situation, she said, is the tight community that’s developed on her street. The neighbors care for each other’s children, she said, and everybody shares cellphone numbers.

“We have cookouts, we have birthday parties,” she said. “I could not have gotten through all of this without the support of each other.”

Still, Krantz and the other Millpond Crossing residents who spoke with Mid-Valley Media want the development of the area to stop.

According to Darling, the DEQ does not have the authority to halt development at Millpond Crossing, but it does have the regulatory authority to enforce compliance, in part with fines, if the work is not done in a way that protects public safety.

With infrastructure for the first two phases still underway, the developer is looking to the future. According to Miller, the upcoming phase will feature both townhomes and single-family detached homes.

“When the project is complete it will include a new city park with a sports court, a playground geared for both toddlers and older children and a small playing field, all paid for by MPC, that will enhance the entire community and be for all families in the Philomath area to enjoy,” he wrote.

A pilot study to determine the feasibility for vapor extraction technology as a means of site remediation for occupants in the first two phases is slated for this spring, according to PBS materials provided by Miller.

This was delayed due to funding issues, Darling wrote to Mid-Valley Media, but represents an initial step toward methane remediation for these homes.

In the meantime, Krantz can’t sell her house, she said — her family doesn’t even have a legal deed or legal property lines right now. Besides, she wouldn’t want to put another family in her situation.

“We’re stuck,” she said. “We’re literally being held hostage in a house that we don’t know is safe.”

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