Landowner protests stall JP Road project

A proposed $1.1 million special improvement district for three-tenths of a mile of JP Road has been put on hold for 30 days while the city of Whitefish negotiates with county property owners.

The project would tap both city and county property owners to share in the cost of improving JP Road from U.S. 93 to the Whitefish River bridge.

The road already is a main route to the Riverside at Whitefish development and Smith Sports Complex and is expected to be the key access to the new North Valley Hospital campus planned near the Riverside development.

A traffic light at JP and U.S. 93 is included in the project.

While the owners of city lots all signed waivers of protest for the district, the county uses a different formula for protests. Therein lies the snag, City Attorney John Phelps said.

If 40 percent of county property owners protest the district, it can't be formed. In this case, there are three parcels of land in the county - owned by James and Eileen Kane, Leonard and Billie Jean Howke and North Valley Hospital. The hospital wants the district, Phelps said, but the other two parties - two-thirds of the property owners - are opposed.

The City Council opened a public hearing Monday on the proposed district, took comments and then continued the hearing to Feb. 7. City officials will use the coming month to negotiate with the landowners.

Several property owners questioned the city's plan to assess property based on square footage.

Turner Askew, who owns a lot in the Lakes at Riverside, said the improvement district would cost him $2,241. Other property owners with smaller lots would pay as little as $400 to $500, but realistically traffic to those smaller lots would generate as much traffic as larger lots, he said.

"The purpose of this SID is to spread the cost equitably over the entire subdivision and I would think by waiting until all the lots were platted and using a combination formula, a more equitable way of applying costs could be obtained," Askew said in a letter to the city.

Askew also questioned whether property owners should have to pay for a stoplight that the state highway department has said it would eventually install at the intersection of JP Road and U.S. 93.

Don Kaltschmidt said he believes the Howkes, longtime residents of that area, should be exempt from the district assessment.

"They've been kind of swallowed up in this thing," Kaltschmidt said.

He also said the costs should be re-examined, noting "$1.1 million seems excessive for 400 to 500 yards of road."

The city's investment in the district would be $259,816, or $22,652 annually for 20 years.

Riverside developer Mark Johnson said he would like an opportunity to talk to the bond attorney about the idea of using a different assessment method - maybe a combination of property value, front footage and square footage.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com