Smith Valley minor subdivisions receive partial approval

Final plats for three minor subdivisions in Smith Valley were approved Thursday by the Flathead County commissioners, despite concerns that they might violate local subdivision laws.

A fourth, related subdivision was denied because two of the commissioners declined to second the motion to approve it.

The Nez Perce, Cheyenne, Cherokee and Chippewa subdivisions were each submitted to the Flathead County Planning Office as five-lot minor subdivisions in 2003. The commissioners subsequently waived preliminary plat approval, meaning the projects were allowed to proceed.

Since then, the developer and landowners have invested a great deal of time and money in the projects, which are adjacent to each other on about 40 acres along Batavia Lane and Kienas Road.

The subdivisions came before the commissioners Thursday for final plat approval.

In November, the county attorney's office recommended that the projects be denied in their present form and that they be required to go through the major subdivision review process, which includes a public hearing.

The problem, according to Deputy County Attorney Peter Steele, is that the law allows one minor subdivision to be created from a tract of record. In this case, the developer was trying to create four minors from three tracts.

Steele also recommended denial of three minor subdivisions that another developer proposed on a single, 40-acre tract near Badrock Drive.

A tract of record is a parcel of land that can be uniquely identified by its legal description. The county subdivision regulations allow one minor subdivision, with a maximum of five lots, to be created from a tract of record that existed as of Oct. 1, 1993.

Any subsequent division must go through the major subdivision review process.

However, Steele reversed his recommendation on Thursday, saying the projects should now be approved.

"Since November, I've received information that the developer has spent more than $200,000 on these subdivisions," he said. "Given that they were relying on the preliminary plat approval they got from the county, it wouldn't be fair to deny their projects today."

Steele said after Thursday's meeting that this revised recommendation also applies to the three Badrock minor subdivisions, for the same reason.

Following Steele's presentation, Commissioner Bob Watne - whose brother-in-law is involved in the Smith Valley projects - moved for approval of the findings of fact for the Nez Perce subdivision.

Commissioner Gary Hall said he wouldn't second the motion, given that this was the fourth subdivision proposed on the three tracts.

Commissioner Howard Gipe did second the motion, which passed 2-1. However, both Hall and Gipe then refused to second Watne's motion to approve the final plat, and the Nez Perce final plat died for lack of a second.

The other three subdivisions were all approved unanimously.

The main outcome of this whole endeavor, Steele said, is that the planning office should now be referring to the 1993 tract of record before determining whether a project qualifies as a minor or major subdivision, Consequently, this type of situation can be avoided in the future.

Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com