Swan Lake development gets first nod

Faced with hundreds of opponents or a likely lawsuit from developers, the Lake County Commissioners defied the opponents Tuesday, unanimously supporting preliminary plat approval for a 57-unit condominium development around Swan Lake's historic Kootenai Lodge.

At least 100 opponents showed up in person for the afternoon meeting at the Lake County Courthouse, expressing disillusionment and frustration with the 3-0 vote in favor of preliminary plat approval for the Milhous Group, a firm headed by part-time Swan Lake resident Paul Milhous.

The commissioners applied 36 conditions to the development, but with only minor revisions to the plans that had been proposed by the Milhous Group after a hearing two weeks ago.

Swan Lake resident Ron Melanson called the decision "a sham," saying that the commissioners had disregarded overwhelming public concerns and buckled under to a potential threat of litigation from the Milhous Group.

Peter Leander, a Bigfork attorney and president of the Swan Lakers, warned the commissioners against ignoring the concerns of a vast majority of people living in the Swan Lake area.

"People will come to the conclusion that we have no voice, and if we have no voice, then we aren't citizens of this county," he said.

Opponents have raised multiple concerns - that the development's density would create safety problems on the lake and nearby highway, that its sewage disposal plan was unworkable, that it was simply incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood

and the cultural history of the Kootenai Lodge, a complex of cabins built in the 1920s that used to accommodate notables such as Charlie Russell and Charles Lindbergh.

But Mike Hutchin, chairman of the county commission, said the commissioners had to focus on five specific criteria in the Lake County Subdivision Regulations, rather than public sentiments alone.

"The Milhous Group has addressed the standards we have to mitigate for," he said.

Hutchin added that the commissioners also had to consider the potential from litigation that could prove costly to Lake County taxpayers.

"The county commissioners are in a huge box," he said, noting that state subdivision laws entitle developers to monetary damages.

That state law is main the subject of a lawsuit that's already been filed against Lake County. Swan Lake residents who are suing the county contend that the law gives developers a preference that violates equal provisions in the Montana Constitution.

But the commissioners also heard from Kalispell attorney Bill Astle, who is representing the Milhous Group. Astle reminded the commissioners that the county's professional planning staff had recommended the conditioned approval of the development, and so did the county's planning board.

Throughout the county's subdivision review process, opponents focused on the proposed density of the development. They cited a recently approved growth policy that has provisions requiring county officials to encourage developments that are "compatible" with surrounding areas.

"The key issue here is density," said Jack Morton, one of the opponents. "If you solve that issue, everybody goes home happy. We can't even speak to this project, it is so far beyond community standards."

Existing structural density around Swan Lake averages about one dwelling per 2.5 acres, which means that the Milhous Group should be proposing no more than 17 units on the 40-acre Kootenai Lodge property, he said.

"That's a reasonable place to begin this discussion," Morton said.

Commissioner Paddy Trusler asked a team of Milhous representatives to explain how they arrived at an original density of 65 condominium units, later reduced to 57 units.

A Milhous representative responded that Paul Milhous "cares deeply about where he lives," drawing some snickers from the audience, and that Milhous "understood that any number of unknown uses" could come about on the property. Milhous himself was not at the meeting because he recently had knee surgery, said David DeGrandpre, the Milhous Group's lead planner and a former senior planner with the Lake County Planning Department.

The Milhous Group has previously warned that the Kootenai Lodge property could be used as a hotel or a casino, and the county would have far less influence on those uses.

The Milhous representative went on to say that the density "takes into account the prodigious expense of rehabilitating existing structures."

Some critics again raised the issue of increased watercraft traffic at the north end of the lake.

"We're not talking about density, we're talking about intensity" of increased watercraft traffic that will result from the development, said Dominic Kovacevic, a Swan Lake resident and captain with the Ferndale Fire Department.

Other planning jurisdictions in the country are requiring operating hours for watercraft, along with provisions that limit the potential for boat rental concessions or "stacking" multiple personal watercraft within a single boat slip.

DeGrandpre responded by contending that lakeshore regulations can be interpreted to allow as many 67 slips at the Kootenai Lodge property, but the Milhous Group made "substantial" concessions in reducing the number to 24 in the interest of public safety concerns. He said the development, and people who live there, should not be hitched with requirements that other Swan residents don't have to live with.

Among the conditions required by the commission, a couple stood out as potentially problematic for the Milhous Group.

The commissioners required that an acceptable sewage disposal plan be in place prior to final plat approval. That plan was not in place Tuesday, mainly because Milhous had proposed piping sewage roughly a mile south along the shoreline to another property he owns in The Ridge subdivision. But property owners in that subdivision recently revised their covenants to prohibit sewage treatment facilities.

A Milhous Group representative said they are confident that they will be able to convince Ridge property owners of the benefits of having a public sewage treatment system as opposed to individual septic systems.

One of those property owners said that's not likely.

"I own the majority of the Ridge lots, so it's not going to happen, so we should hear about alternative 'B' right now," said Tara Harbin.

After the meeting, Hutchin said that situation could prompt litigation that challenges the covenants, because they were amended after Milhous purchased the property. If not, it's possible Milhous could pursue an alternative sewage treatment plan elsewhere, he said.

Among other conditions, the commissioners approved bigger setback requirements, a parking area for recreational vehicles, a fencing requirement at the north end of the property, an agreement for a zoning ordinance to shore up the commission's ability to enforce specific covenants that were promised as conditions, and a maximum building height of 30 feet for the new buildings on the property.

DeGrandpre said all the conditions appeared acceptable, except the building height requirement. But people in the audience barked out their opposition to any changes to that requirement.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com