Lawsuit challenges subdivision near Kila

For at least the fourth time this year, Flathead County has been sued in a dispute about a subdivision.

The latest action was filed Nov. 22 by the Kila-Smith Lake Community Development Coalition and landowners Charles and Catherine Meyer. They want to overturn approval of Haskill Mountain Ranch, a 74-lot, 530-acre residential subdivision on Browns Meadow Road, eight miles southwest of Kila.

The county commissioners approved the preliminary subdivision plat by a 2-1 vote in October, despite a unanimous recommendation for denial from the Flathead County Planning Board.

The board thought the project's overall density didn't conform with the neighborhood. It also said that this was a big-game winter range and a high-fire-hazard area, and that some of the topography appeared to be too steep to support a building site or septic location.

The lawsuit alleges that the county violated state and county subdivision regulations, in part because the environmental assessment for the subdivision didn't adequately address water quality and availability, sewage disposal, impacts on wildlife and other issues.

Opponents have raised this issue in several Planning Board hearings and public comment periods this fall, ever since District Court Judge Kitty Curtis voided the preliminary approval of a Helena Flats subdivision because of an inadequate environmental assessment.

The Kila lawsuit also said Haskill Mountain Ranch failed to comply with several aspects of the old county master plan, and that the project violated the public's right to participate because the subdivision application didn't provide enough information.

The coalition is asking the court to void the subdivision approval, and for fees and costs of the lawsuit.

Flathead County has been sued more than two dozen times in the past three years in disagreements about various subdivision, gravel-pit and growth-policy-amendment decisions. The actions rarely succeed in blocking the disputed project: Plaintiffs have only won two clear court victories during that time, compared with 12 rulings that supported the county.

In an unrelated matter, the Flathead County commissioners on Monday denied approval of a second subdivision near Kila on a 2-1 vote.

The Greywolf subdivision called for 17 single-family lots on 90 acres along Spring Hill Road, south of Smith Lake.

Traffic safety and the poor condition of the road were major factors in the decision, which was supported by commissioners Joe Brenneman and Gary Hall.

Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com