Major subdivision planned for Columbia Falls
By NANCY KIMBALL
Zone change near Blue Moon would open door for as many as 802 new homes
The Daily Inter Lake
A commercial and mixed-residential subdivision that has the potential to boost Columbia Falls housing by more than 50 percent goes to the Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board on Sept. 12.
The San Francisco-based Columbia Falls Land Associates is asking for zone changes on 212 acres at the junction of U.S. 2 and Montana 40, southwest of the Blue Moon Nite Club.
If developers get their request, Columbia Falls could see as many as 802 new housing units - compared with 1,470 counted in the 2000 census - plus a 65-acre business park.
To serve that density, developers would extend city water and sewer lines from the Hilltop Road area a mile away and petition to be annexed into the city.
Although only the zoning request is on the Sept. 12 agenda, on Friday the developer also submitted a preliminary plat for Columbia Falls Business Park.
The commercial plat for the eastern third of the land - laying out a 21-acre lot, four four-acre lots and 16 lots that are one acre or smaller - is expected to be on the planning board's October agenda. Retail sales, car lots and other light commercial uses are permitted under the requested zone.
To the west, developers want mixed zoning for single-family homes - as many as three houses an acre on some of the land, and as many as four houses an acre elsewhere. That would result in as many as 447 houses if built to maximum density.
A buffer zone between the residential and commercial zoning could bring as many as 354 apartment units, or as few as 177 units. But that entire 16-acre parcel may not be dedicated to housing. The zone requested allows apartments, professional clinics, day care centers and similar uses.
The city's growth policy anticipates commercial and urban residential development throughout the area.
Current zoning is for heavy industry. Until two seasons ago, the land was cultivated with wheat but now lies fallow. It is fringed with wooded stretches to the west and south.
Directly north of the 212 acres is a drive-in movie theater and scattered homes. The Blue Moon lies to the northeast. Directly east are the Town Pump convenience store/gas station, Hamilton's gravel pit and the Columbia Falls rural fire hall. Commercial and light industrial uses lie to the south.
City Manager Bill Shaw said Columbia Falls Land Associates have been working with him since November 2005 to form a plan for the area.
Their proposal is not the first time this prime real estate west of Columbia Falls has come up for development.
A few years back, developers withdrew another proposal after it came under fire for possible high-groundwater problems and for its potential to drain business development away from Nucleus Avenue and the U.S. 2 corridor through town.
Developers must do a traffic study when they reach the preliminary plat stage, to gauge its impact on the two busy highways.
They also will have to study elevation to the nearest groundwater and develop a viable stormwater drainage system, Shaw said.
Beyond that, the planning board will want to take a broader, more philosophical look at whatever is proposed.
"In a general sense, how will this affect the general appearance of the entire area, and how will it affect other land around there?" Shaw questioned.
"And they'll want to take up the 65 acres of commercial. The growth policy addresses how much you will allow in outlying nodes of business … You don't want to destroy the established business district," but on the other hand, Shaw said, a development can enhance what the city has cultivated in town. "How much is too much? How much will enhance it?"
The planning board public hearing is at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, in Columbia Falls City Hall.
Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com