Planners to consider Bigfork project
By WILLIAM L. SPENCE
The Daily Inter Lake
A 116-lot, mixed-use subdivision and planned-unit development on the south side of Bigfork comes before the Flathead County Planning Board for a public hearing Wednesday.
The Saddlehorn project is being proposed by Doug Averill of Flathead Lake Lodge, together with Swan Mountain Partners LLC.
If approved, the subdivision would include 66 cabin lots, 30 estate lots, seven commercial lots, two recreational lots and a maintenance lot, together with nine lots for future development, on 240 acres located south of Montana 209 and east of Montana 35.
The commercial aspects of the project include a lodge and 11 rental cabins, a spa, an equestrian center with indoor and outdoor arenas, a general store and post office, a transportation center, fire hall and employee housing.
The area is zoned suburban agricultural with a 5-acre minimum lot size.
However, a planned-unit development overlay bumps this up to an average of two units per 5 acres. It also provides for a mixture of land uses, and lets developers request variances to other underlying zoning requirements, such as road widths and setbacks.
In the case of Saddlehorn, the lots would range from 0.15 to 1.91 acres in size. They would be divided into several small clusters, each of which would have its own common area. All would be served by public sewer and water.
Variances would be required for road widths and cul-de-sac lengths. The main access would be via a one-way entrance and exit along Montana 209, with emergency access to the south, through the adjacent Ranch subdivision.
Most internal subdivision roads would be country-style avenues with 16-foot paved surfaces and two-foot hardened shoulders. The intent of the narrow roads is to create a certain atmosphere for the subdivision and discourage vehicular traffic.
"A primary goal of Saddlehorn is to replicate an early 20th century western pioneer environment, both in terms of architecture and lifestyle," notes the Saddlehorn application. "This period wasn't characterized by automobiles."
Carts, shuttle buses, carriages and an extensive network of riding/pedestrian trails would be provided to reduce on- and off-site traffic requirements.
All together, the project features 119 acres of open space.
Saddlehorn is part of a larger development proposal that could eventually include about 320 residential units on 800 acres.
The Bigfork Land-Use Advisory Committee recommended approval of the project in September. After the planning board makes its recommendation, the subdivision goes on to the county commissioners for final approval.
Depending on when it gets to the commissioners, Saddlehorn could run afoul of the temporary moratorium on zone changes that was instituted a few weeks ago.
The moratorium stems from Deputy County Attorney Jonathan Smith's opinion that no zone changes - including planned unit development overlays - should be approved until a new county growth policy is officially adopted.
The planning board has been discussing the draft growth policy over the last few weeks, but it's unclear at this point when it will complete its review and forward the document to the commissioners.
Wednesday's Planning Board meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building. Saddlehorn is the only item on the agenda.