Lake County approves plan for Kootenai Lodge

But struggle continues between Florida builder and Swan Lakers group

With renewed backing of the Lake County Commission, the Milhous Group is proceeding with its development plans for the historic Kootenai Lodge, while a Swan Lake community group intends to continue its legal fight against the project.

On a 2-1 vote last week, the county commission granted preliminary plat approval for a revised version of the project that included fewer homes, a new road system and an off-site sewage disposal system. The vote rejected a Lake County Planning Commission recommendation to deny the new sewage-treatment plan.

From the start, the density of the development has been the main issue for the Swan Lakers, an organization formed last year in response to the development plans of Milhous, a development firm based in Boca Raton, Fla., and led by part-time Swan Lake resident Paul Milhous.

Despite those protests, the commissioners granted preliminary plat approval last year to a plan for building 57 homes around the lodge at the foot of Swan Lake.

In a gesture aimed at addressing community concerns, the Milhous Group recently scaled back the project density from 57 homes to 42, proposed cutting fewer trees for a new one-way road design and locating sewage treatment across Montana 83 on Broken Leg Road.

The Swan Lakers initially regarded the revisions as a "step in the right direction" but since have continued opposition to the project because of objections to housing density, environmental impacts and potential hazards posed by 24 new boat slips at the narrow, south end of the lake.

"We are unbowed and we are pushing full steam ahead with both our challenge to the density and the number of boat docks and their intention to place a significant number of (housing units) in the flood plain," Swan Lakers President Peter Leander said Monday.

A lawsuit against the county and the Milhous Group is "continuing unabated," he added.

Regardless of the litigation, the Milhous Group will proceed with efforts to comply with nearly 30 conditions attached to the county's preliminary plat approval, said Dave DeGrandpre, a planning consultant for the Milhous Group.

One of those conditions requires the Milhous Group to create a sewer district to manage the proposed sewer system that initially would have the capacity for 11 homes outside the Kootenai Lodge property.

The Milhous Group has proposed that the district be created by Paul Milhous, with a membership that eventually includes Kootenai Lodge homeowners.

But the Swan Lakers say a sewer district needs to include broader representation of neighboring property owners.

"No one has ever heard of a one-man sewer district in this state before," Leander said.

DeGrandpre said obvious reasons exist for resisting a sewer district that includes neighboring property owners, some of them members of the Swan Lakers, who will not be using the sewage system: "Their actions in the past have been in strong opposition to the project. I would personally be nervous about giving them a seat on the board to give them veto authority over the project."

The Swan Lakers maintain that Milhous intends to build homes below the known high-water marks around Swan Lake and an adjacent tributary, Johnson Creek.

Leander said the developers relied on Federal Emergency Management Agency mapping that does not accurately reflect high-water conditions.

But DeGrandpre said the Milhous Group is merely adhering to the rules and maps that have been adopted by the county.

"These are the rules and we're playing by the rules," he said. "We're not to get around them. We're not trying to change those rules. We're trying to comply with them 100 percent."

The lawsuit pending before state District Judge Douglas Harkin of Missoula raises broader issues.

It challenges the county's procedural handling of the review process for the development and argues that the development violates a state constitutional provision for a clean and healthful environment. It also raises an equal protection argument that state subdivision laws favor developers over taxpayers and neighboring homeowners affected by developments.

"Developers can sue the county for monetary damages if they aren't happy, but the regular folks can't," Leander said.

There are no hearings scheduled for the case, and therefore nobody is predicting how soon it may proceed.

"We're proceeding as though the litigation does not exist," DeGrandpre said. "You can't be held back if you think you're right. I think that's one of the tactics of the opponents, to try to stall things. We're going to try not to let that happen."

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