Split C. Falls board backs controversial zone change

Planners approve rezoning for area near Flathead River bridge

A rezoning request on 10 acres of high-groundwater open land east of the Flathead River near Columbia Falls was narrowly recommended for approval Tuesday night, potentially ushering in housing development even more dense than in some areas inside city limits.

In a split vote after two hours of discussion, the Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board approved an Idaho developer's request to rezone land about a quarter-mile east of the Flathead River bridge along the north side of U.S. 2.

"Why rush this to the board?" Planning Board member Dave Renfrow asked. "The developer has said he is sensitive" to concerns about wetlands, neighborhood character, wildlife and more issues raised by nearby landowners.

"But he has not embraced the neighbors' desires. This needs to be a very well thought-out plan … much better than has been done so far."

Ron Mayhew, filing under the business name of Twin Peaks Farms, asked to change zoning from suburban agricultural, with 10-acre lots, to urban residential CR-4 that would have allowed 40 lots on the tract. City Manager Bill Shaw, in his planning recommendation, scaled that back to CR-3.

Mayhew has not submitted plans for a housing subdivision he hopes to build there, but the zone change would give him the legal footing to build 32 lots if he can overcome potential problems with wetlands, soil types, traffic, wildlife and other issues. Johna Morrison of Schwarz Architecture and Engineering said Mayhew may tackle some of those issues with clustered housing under a planned-unit development.

The Planning Board's recommendation now goes to the Columbia Falls City Council on May 1.

Mayhew's request falls within the urban residential land-use designation projected in the city's growth policy, which allows from two to eight homes an acre.

Water often standing on the property throughout the year lies primarily in an abandoned oxbow of the river, Shaw told the board. Cattails just beyond a treeline to the north belie unbuildable wetlands on the north. Fine clay soils across much of the land would have to be mixed with underlying soil to avoid drainage problems, he said.

City sewer service would be required for any development to proceed, and Morrison said Mayhew wants to bring in city water as well.

Profits from the 10-acre development would not justify the considerable expense of bringing utilities across the bridge from the city, but Martin Laskey and Eileen McDowell, co-owners of 72 acres they hope to develop south of the highway, told the board they have talked with Mayhew about sharing costs for extending utilities.

Next-door neighbor Linda Jaquette questioned enforcement of specialized construction methods, water and drainage mitigation, annexation plans, heavy truck traffic on the sole access road and bonding.

But the long-term impact most concerns Luci Yeats, a neighboring landowner to the south.

Citing conflicts with a wildlife corridor, flooding there in 1964 and standing water now, plus the growth policy's stance not to develop this land until sewer and water are available, she asked the Planning Board to be visionary and avoid "leapfrog development."

"We are not here tonight just to rezone 10 acres," she told the board. "We are here to set the tone for the future. Twin Peaks Farms owns at least another 145 acres to the east," and several other developers are poised in that area.

"If our town is going to grow beyond the river, let it be something we could all be proud of," she pleaded. "When I heard 'cluster development' from Ms. Morrison, I thought of another Monterra of Whitefish. Is that what you want?"

In the final vote, board members Sue Haverfield, Joe O'Rourke and Sarah Dakin came out for the zone change, while Russ Vukonich and Renfrow opposed it.

Board member Lindy Key abstained from voting. She later explained it was because she disagreed with the section of the staff report dealing with the property's suitability for housing, based on standing water and wetlands.

Board members Trent Miller and Erick Robbins were absent and Karl Anderson had submitted his resignation earlier.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com.