Project gets early approval

By NANCY KIMBALL

72-acre subdivision gets initial OK from C. Falls board

The Daily Inter Lake

Two out of three ain't bad.

That's what Eileen McDowell and Marty Laskey could say after their proposal for the 72-acre Columbia Range subdivision passed its first hurdle Tuesday night on two counts - a zone change and planned-unit development overlay.

The Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board tabled the third count - a preliminary plat request - because reports still are missing from the school district and highway department on how the 146-unit development would affect them.

The board's recommendations to approve the zoning and the planned-unit development, which trades higher density on some areas for open spaces on others, advance to the City Council for final action.

Planning Board members should consider the preliminary plat Nov. 14, provided the remaining documentation arrives.

It was a hard-fought victory for the local developers, filing as Columbia Falls Investments LLC.

Final vote on the rezone was 7-2, with board members Lindy Key and Jenny Draband voting no. The planned-unit development passed 8-1, with Russ Vukonich dissenting.

Zoning now is suburban agricultural, 5- and 10-acre. The request is for urban residential, with an overall density of about two homes an acre.

Housing density, traffic worries and effects on wildlife threw up the biggest barriers to easy passage.

The board and audience commended McDowell and Laskey for working closely with the River Road Neighborhood Plan steering committee. The group expected to have its plan done in August, but hasn't finished its first draft. Columbia Range is within the defined neighborhood.

Developers also were congratulated on providing for affordable housing and maintaining an attractive entrance to the city on U.S. 2 east of Columbia Falls.

They propose a four-phase development of single-family homes on land a short distance west of Big Sky Water Slide along the south side of the highway.

About 10 acres of low-lying marshland and a small group of cottages among native trees front the property on the north. Larger lots ranging from about 6,000 to 19,000 square feet would be built on three benches to the south stretching to Rogers Road, each separated by native timber. A looped road system and bike trail connects it all, with exits onto U.S. 2 and Rogers Road. A pond stays near the cottages, a 1.5-acre park goes to the west, and a hedgerow is planned beneath the Bonneville Power Administration easement.

Although that preliminary plat is on hold for now, board members told the developers they appreciated having the full plan from the beginning.

It is a "key and pivotal development" that will set the tone for others in the area, land planner Bruce Lutz of Sitescape Associates told the board. Lutz and his clients worked to avoid multiple-family housing, cluster homes to gain density for an economic break-point without using sensitive land, and protect views from the highway.

The four housing clusters will keep a small community feel, McDowell added.

"We learned some neighbors don't want things to change," McDowell said. "We have struggled with that because some of us do want things to change," but we want it done well.

A traffic study showed that another 100 vehicle trips a day are expected on Rogers Road after full build-out. Another 1,320 would go to U.S. 2.

That's too many, Steppe Lane resident Kathleen O'Hair said. Children on bicycles still are safe on Rogers Road, she said, and the neighborhood wants to keep it that way.

Kelley Road resident Doug Honthaas conceded the project's open space is well-done, but argued that housing on the remainder of the land is too dense. He also said the impact on Rogers Road traffic was underestimated, noting many Kelley Road residents travel that route to Kalispell.

No traffic from the subdivision was assigned to the narrow, winding River Road. The study assumed residents would use their direct entrance onto U.S. 2 or head south and east onto Rogers Road and Columbia Falls Stage.

Four speakers talked about the proposal's attractiveness, minimal neighborhood impact and common sense that came from developers doing their homework.

"This development enhances the valley," one longtime resident said. "Some don't … We should support those that do."

O'Hair thanked them for their cooperative work, but stood up to defend her home against cumulative changes that affect quality of the whole.

"I think they have come up with a good plan," O'Hair said, "but I'm here to tweak it."

She said the clustered development sprawled too much and changes the neighborhood to an urban character, and she argued for larger chunks of open space. Wildlife biologist Henry Rivera, she said, told her that without bigger space, the neighborhood's resident elk herd is gone.

"Once this development is OK'd, and I do believe it is going to be OK'd," she said, "the dam is broken."

Planning Board members asked for, and McDowell and Laskey agreed to provide a professional opinion from a wildlife biologist delineating impacts on wildlife in the area.

Ivan Jaquette, a neighbor to the north, also asked for a closer study into the potential flooding and high-groundwater impacts on the area.

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