Planners support zoning request for Somers area
By WILLIAM L. SPENCE
The Daily Inter Lake
A new zoning district proposed just south of Somers earned a positive recommendation Wednesday from the Flathead County Planning Board.
It remains to be seen, however, whether the request will be tripped up by legal challenges.
If approved by the county commissioners, the Old Highway 93 Shoreline Zoning District would impose R-2 residential zoning on 111 acres along Flathead Lake, between the Somers Fish Hatchery and Mackinaws Grill, on the east side of U.S. 93.
More than 60 people showed up for Wednesday's public hearing on the proposal. A half-dozen or so were opposed to zoning, while two dozen spoke in support.
The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department, Lakeside sewer district and Somers-Lakeside Fire Department also supported the request.
In the past several months, developers of a couple of large apartment/condominium projects have begun construction within the proposed district, and several other projects reportedly are planned for the area.
The density of these developments, which ranges from about 10 to 20 units an acre, has raised concerns about traffic, water quality and availability, and emergency services.
Several speakers suggested that the availability of public sewer and water - combined with the absence of zoning regulations - has made the neighborhood a prime hunting ground for developers.
"If you have [sewer] infrastructure, you're going to get development. And if you have no rules, then you're really going to get development. It's time we put some rules in place," said Jim Thompson, who has owned land within the proposed district for 20 years and built a home there five years ago.
"It's taken a hundred years for our rural residential neighborhood to develop," Allison McCarthy said. "These high-density developments could change that in just a few years. That's an emergency."
Because of a temporary moratorium on new zoning requests, the Old Highway 93 proposal is being processed as emergency or interim zoning. It would be in place for a year at most; whenever a new growth policy is adopted, it would be replaced by permanent zoning.
Kalispell attorney Rich DeJana - one of four attorneys who spoke during the hearing - questioned whether this proposal really qualified as emergency zoning and suggested it contained a number of legal flaws.
"If this is adopted, it will never stand," he predicted.
More than 70 percent of the property owners in the district signed petitions requesting the zoning.
The Planning Board asked a few questions, but didn't seem to have many concerns about the proposal. Members voted 6-0 to recommend approval.
In other action Wednesday, the board:
. Unanimously recommended approval of Tierhaven Estates, a five-lot subdivision on 23 acres at 3252 Middle Road, south of Columbia Falls.
. At the commissioners' request, briefly clarified their objections to Haskill Mountain Ranch, a 74-lot subdivision proposed on 530 acres off Browns Meadow Road, southwest of Kila.
. The hearing for Logan Estates, a 14-lot single-family subdivision on 23 acres off Holt Stage Road, was postponed to November.