Land plan covers 3,800 acres: Riverdale proposal faces Planning Board Wednesday

By WILLIAM L. SPENCE

The Daily Inter Lake

The largest landowner-driven growth policy amendment in the valley's history comes before the Flathead County Planning Board for a public hearing on Wednesday.

The Riverdale Neighborhood Plan involves 3,800 acres on the west side of U.S. 93 between Big Mountain Golf Club and the county landfill.

The proposal seeks to change the land-use designation from agricultural to mostly residential, with a mixed-use commercial corridor along the highway.

The Riverdale plan is more than twice the size of the Two Rivers Neighborhood Plan that was approved last year.

Like Two Rivers, Riverdale is essentially an effort by a handful of farmers and large landowners to do some retirement planning.

Unlike Two Rivers, it features no urban-scale development: The highest density allowed in the plan would be a 150-acre suburban residential pod with a maximum of four units per acre.

A 320-acre mixed-use area would allow a maximum of three units per acre. Riverdale also calls for about 1,710 acres of residential development at one unit per acre, 960 acres of residential at one unit per 2.5 acres, and 420 acres at one unit per five acres. An existing 240-acre conservation site, which allows a single home to be built, also is part of the plan.

In the unlikely event that the entire planning area was built out to its maximum density, Riverdale would allow about 3,700 homes and businesses - giving it a total overall density of less than one unit per acre.

Two Rivers, by comparison, has an estimated overall density of about four units per acre.

(Most property in the 1,460-acre Two Rivers plan is relatively close to public sewer and water services. Consequently, it provides for several urban-density residential areas.)

Hank Galpin, who owns about a third of the acreage involved in the Riverdale plan, said the proposal at this stage is necessarily very general in nature.

"I hate even to call a neighborhood plan a 'plan,'" he said. "All it is is a way of alerting your neighbors that something's going to change. It's more vision than substance."

Galpin started farming this area in the early 1970s. Since then, he said, the economics of agriculture have "gotten progressively worse."

"I think every farmer in the valley right now is trying to develop an exit strategy," he said. "Some are selling off lots piecemeal, but the end result of that is they reinvest the proceeds in the farm and still end up broke. Others are trying to lease their lands; others are looking for industrial uses, like gravel pits.

"I have no plans to develop any of my property and don't intend to make any changes. But good farmers plan ahead. We have to figure out how to get out of the business. We're in a cost-price squeeze - costs keep rising and prices haven't kept up. I don't want to see any of this [Riverdale] happen, but we have to be realistic. We've lost money the last several years, and when the liquid assets run out, we'll have to convert our illiquid assets.

"None of us think we're going to own the land forever. You just try to husband it until the next owner comes along. You try to leave it in better condition, with an overarching plan that the property owners and community find acceptable."

When the Riverdale plan initially was submitted last summer, it covered about 2,800 acres.

That application was subsequently withdrawn at the request of Planning Director Jeff Harris. He wanted the applicants to meet with all neighbors in the area and come back with a better-defined planning boundary.

The revised proposal is a unified block, with U.S. 93 as its eastern boundary, Clark Drive on the south, and West Spring Creek Drive and Fox Farm Road on the west. The northern boundary abuts the county landfill and follows Prairie View Road and a section line west of the landfill.

Everything inside these boundaries - including Raceway Park and Majestic Valley Arena - is part of the plan.

The proposal designates Raceway Park as a residential area, suggesting that a new use may be in store for that property at some point in the future.

Majestic Valley, which is currently zoned suburban agricultural, would be part of Riverdale's mixed-use commercial corridor.

The plan doesn't indicate when any individual development proposals would be forthcoming. It specifically states that this amendment isn't intended to pave the way for particular projects.

Other components of the Riverdale plan include:

. Commercial corridor - The planning staff report indicates that the plan provides for landscaping along the highway frontage, but doesn't expressly discourage strip development.

The staff recommends that this issue be addressed with language requiring a frontage road - to limit direct highway access - and requiring architectural design standards for commercial development.

. Open space - Any subdivision with an overall density of one unit per acre or higher would be required to set aside at least 40 percent of the property as permanent open space, including 15 percent as public or common open space.

The plan identifies the Stillwater River corridor as "preferred" open space, together with some existing ponds. However, it doesn't require that the corridor be preserved and doesn't address whether it would be available for public use.

. Pedestrian paths - Most subdivisions also would have to border at least one pedestrian path; subdivisions with an overall density of one unit per 2.5 acres would have to be within 500 feet of a path.

The intent is that a network of bike/pedestrian paths would eventually run through the entire neighborhood.

. Traffic - The plan outlines a tentative grid system with several new roads connecting to existing county roads. It also indicates that "the cost of these improvements and their construction would be the developer's responsibility."

. Sewage - The plan encourages the use of tertiary septic systems on smaller lots. It also suggests, but does not require, that portions of the Riverdale area might eventually connect to Kalispell's sewer system, or that a community treatment facility could be built.

(Historically, developers in the valley have indicated that higher densities are needed to justify the cost of onsite treatment facilities or of extending public sewer lines. Consequently, it's unclear if either of these options makes financial sense for Riverdale, or if most of the area would be built out with septic systems.)

Wednesday's planning board hearing takes place in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building in Kalispell, beginning at 6 p.m.

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