Land plan sent back to planning board

Commissioners give planning board another crack at Two Rivers amendment

Flathead County commissioners postponed action Monday on the largest landowner-driven growth policy amendment in the valley's history, despite the clear desire of at least one official to approve the proposal.

Rather than immediately vote on a resolution of intent to adopt the Two Rivers plan amendment, the commissioners agreed to send the matter back to the Flathead County Planning Board for further review and refinement.

The amendment was submitted by 14 individual property owners last summer. It would allow higher-density residential and commercial development on 1,836 largely agricultural acres located north of Kalispell and Evergreen, primarily between U.S. 2 and U.S. 93.

The project received a favorable recommendation from the Flathead County Planning Board in December.

However, Commissioner Gary Hall on Monday said that the board's 4-3 vote may have reflected a "lack of confidence" in the decision.

"I reviewed the video [of the planning board's Dec. 15 meeting] and talked with several board members," Hall said. "I think they had some real concerns with this proposal. We need a more confident decision from them. I want to approve this amendment but we need more input."

The planning board clearly struggled with the proposed amendment during its December meeting. Most members were in favor of the basic concept, but they discussed a number of concerns, including the adequacy of the road infrastructure, the level of density being proposed and the amount of commercial acreage.

"I don't know how we get our arms around this great big thing," one member said at the time.

New Commissioner Joe Brenneman said he wasn't in a position to make an informed decision about the Two Rivers amendment on Monday, given that he hadn't previously had access to some of the information about the proposal. Before voting on the amendment, he wanted time to review the videos from two planning board meetings.

He initially suggested taking the issue under advisement for about a month.

Commissioner Bob Watne seconded that motion, which would have left the matter in the hands of the commissioners.

However, Hall recommended sending the issue back to the planning board immediately. He convinced Brenneman to withdraw the original motion. The revised motion passed 2-1, with Watne voting in opposition.

"All we're doing is playing ball with it," Watne said.

Planning board president Don Hines, who attended Monday's meeting, was asked how long it would take to review the Two Rivers amendment and come back with something that more thoroughly addressed some of the neighborhood concerns.

"Given everything else we have on our plate, we'd need four to six months to adequately address it," Hines replied.

Hall countered by suggesting that the planning board get it done in two weeks.

"I don't think we need to beat it to death," he said. "I apologize to the planning board - I know how busy they are - but we need to move forward quickly on this."

The planning board is not expected to take additional public comment on the Two Rivers amendment.

However, it could request more information from the applicants or the planning office staff. The issue might come up at the end of the board's next regular meeting on Jan. 12 or it could be addressed during a work session.

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In other action on Monday, the commissioners approved a final resolution adopting the Harbor Springs growth policy amendment.

The amendment converts 63 acres from agricultural to suburban residential along Chapman Hill Road in Bigfork immediately north of Holt Drive. Developer Reto Barrington wants to build two subdivisions on the property.

A previous request for an urban residential designation was denied in August. However, after Barrington reduced the density to suburban residential, most opposition to the proposal seemed to disappear.

The commissioners will hold two public hearings on Thursday to address two related zone changes for this property. One would convert 38 acres northwest of the Holt/Chapman Hill intersection from SAG-5 to R-2 limited residential. The other would convert 28 acres northeast of the intersection from SAG-10 to R-2.

The SAG-5 and SAG-10 zones have 5- and 10-acre minimum lot sizes. The R-2 zoning has a minimum lot size of 20,000 square feet, or about a half-acre.

If approved, these two changes would allow up to 141 single-family home lots to be created. The property would be served by public sewer and water and is surrounded by subdivisions that have a similar density.

The public hearings are scheduled at 9:30 and 10 a.m. in the commissioners' hearing room.

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