Bigfork hotel plan met with traffic, sewer concerns

Concerns about highway safety and available sewer infrastructure could stymie the development of a 65-room hotel in a new subdivision north of Bigfork.

The Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee last week voted unanimously to recommend that the county Board of Adjustment deny Bigfork Hotel Group's proposal for The Fort development off Montana 83. The committee based the decision on its findings that a hotel would generate traffic levels that exceed estimations presented in the subdivision's preliminary plat application, and that questions about sewer capacity and infrastructure remained unanswered.

The three-story hotel would be a Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham. According to the permit application, the hotel is anticipated to produce approximately 531 vehicle trips a day at full capacity.