Columbia Falls eyes growth policy, subdivision changes
Growth policy refinements and subdivision regulation changes went hand-in-hand Tuesday night as the Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board hashed over changes that could affect development in the city and its perimeter for decades.
Decisions will come in a later meeting, possibly Oct. 11, after the board mulls over suggestions from City Manager Bill Shaw and planners Lisa Horowitz and Kate McMahon.
The two women, working as LH Land Use Consulting and Applied Communications, contracted with the city this summer to provide planning services.
Their first major focus was the growth policy.
The planning board had recommended City Council adoption after the policy's public hearing last spring. But the Tri-City Planning Office closed in June, so Horowitz and McMahon took another look when they came on board.
They highlighted five areas on the land-use map as well as timeline, zone definition and other changes.
At the board's direction, the planners will do further research and present their findings at the Oct. 11 meeting.
One change would reflect the city's plan to sell Cedar Creek Reservoir property for homes along the North Fork Road, and the current residential neighborhood nearer the city, by rezoning both sections from timber/agricultural to residential.
Board member Russ Vukonich said several people are concerned thast would force out low-density timber/agricultural uses and bring in higher-density residential patterns along the entire corridor.
Consensus was to zone residential the islands of existing and planned housing, and dedicate the land between to timber/agricultural.
On the land-use map, the residential zoning near the junction of Montana 206 and Rogers Road conflicts with the state highway department's maintenance facility and gravel pit, and nearby storage units on the site. Zoning, Horowitz said, should reflect actual use or intended use.
Neighbors and the Planning Board agreed that a light-industrial buffer zone around the area could eliminate the chance of expanded heavy-industrial growth there. They also would add an explanation that the intended long-term use is residential.
The island of land where Super 1 Foods and Western Building Center front along U.S. 2 West, and plans for 13th Street West behind it, drew discussion. Currently unzoned by the city, thus reverting to the county's fairly wide-open industrial zoning, the land could become a focus of dispute for proper usage.
The consensus was to apply commercial zoning there.
Collector streets and arterials, such as 13th Street, also need to be clearly designated in the city's plan to guide subdivision developers, board members said, and Meadow Lake Resort to the north also is unzoned and needs appropriate zoning applied, probably residential.
The board closed out the evening with a public hearing on subdivision regulations. The city was given subdivision authority when county commissioners redrew planning and zoning boundaries earlier this past year.
Shaw took the board through a series of proposed changes, some state-mandated, some setting strict planning timelines, and some aimed at coordinating design in the city-county interface areas most likely to be annexed into the city.
Design standards were the most significant suggestions:
-Sewer and water piping must be built to city standards so it is compatible with city infrastructure if and when it is annexed,
-the land itself must be suitable for subdivision,
-the developer must provide access to the city bike path system if there is a block 500 feet long or more,
-no half-streets will be allowed,
-clear vision for traffic must be provided at intersections,
-roads must provide no shorter than 60-foot right of way, and they must be public and paved if a daily traffic threshold is crossed.
County board member and former Columbia Falls City-County board member Charles Lapp cautioned them on several areas of potential concern that the county is or has dealt with.