Planners back zone change near C. Falls

A zone-change request to reduce lot sizes to a half-acre in a rural, wooded area north of Columbia Falls got the blessing of the Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board on Tuesday night, with one caveat: No mobile homes.

Jim Etzler owns 7.5 acres in an L-shaped parcel north of Vetville, which is bordered on the south by the railroad tracks and the Plum Creek mill yard.

Vetville is the site of many mobile homes, and is the only area north of the tracks to be platted in half-acre lots under R2/MH zoning.

Etzler's land is zoned R1/MH, which allows a one-acre minimum lot size. It reflects the character of the rest of the neighborhood, stretching to Meadow Lake Resort on the west, which includes several parcels that are closer to five and 10 acres in size.

Etzler hopes to keep the eastern two acres of his 7.5 acres for his home site and subdivide the remaining into possibly eight or nine lots, each a half-acre or larger. It would provide him with the means to build a public-access road to his property from the south, which he must reach now by driving across private land from the north.

Jeff Larsen of Larsen Engineering and Surveying of Kalispell explained Etzler's proposal to the Planning Board.

Etzler is not looking for heavy density, Larsen said, but does want the flexibility to make improvements. Those would include public access from Ninth Street and a community water system as required by the Department of Environmental Quality.

He agrees with the ban on mobile homes there.

During the Planning Board's public hearing on the matter, neighbor Barry Church raised concerns about building on the swampy land, the size of the community well and potential traffic congestion with more people living in the area.

Another neighbor, Ron Hagen, cautioned against allowing half-acre lots. That action could usher in the potential for half-acre lots throughout the area, spoiling its rural character, he said.

Hagen argued instead for a long-term plan with a vision for the wider area, noting "we can't pick apart" zoning from parcel to parcel. The smaller lots would decrease the value of his adjacent land, as well, he said.

He also cited poor drainage on the clay soils, and said that the one road in and out of the subdivision would present evacuation problems in case of forest fire or other emergency.

After the hearing, Planning Board member Trent Miller said that water, septic and other concerns would be addressed in the subdivision process. The question before them, he said, was whether it would be a negative effect or a reasonable change to allow the half-acre zoning.

Board member Erick Robbins noted that, though Vetville carries the M2 zoning, the rest of the area is in much larger lots.

"I'm not so sure you want to mimic the layout of Vetville," board member Dave Renfrow said.

He suggested that using a planned-unit development would be a better option than a zone change, because it could bridge the gap between groundwater and density concerns.

"Do we want to let that one finger go up with half-acre lots" into an area of established larger parcels? board Chairwoman Sarah Dakin questioned.

Miller responded that he is more willing to support this relatively small area of half-acre lots than the same zoning covering more acres "because if this is done badly, we can stop it."

After discussion, the board voted unanimously in favor of board member Russ Vukonich's motion to grant the zone change.

It now moves to the Columbia Falls City Council for action.

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