C.F. Council studies riverfront land deal

Two housing subdivisions and a proposal to buy park land will get public hearings at tonight's Columbia Falls City Council meeting.

Spending $945,000 from the Cedar Creek Trust Fund to buy 27.8 acres of riverfront land north of the U.S. 2 bridge, will be the focus of the first public hearing.

Last week's public tours of the land on the west bank of the Flathead River gave residents a firsthand look at what Kenneth and Carole Bell are proposing to sell the city.

Open stretches could accommodate softball or soccer fields, trees on other portions provide shady picnic areas and river access is available - but the river bank would have to be developed for a boat launch. Most of the land lies within the 100-year flood plain but portions are at a higher elevation. An entry road likely would be built near the northern boundary of the property near the intersection of Fourth Street and Fifth Avenue East.

Some people fear that tying up virtually all but $500,000 of the trust fund principal would handicap the city's ability to tap the interest it earns for other municipal projects. In addition, $1.1 million recently was committed from the trust fund when city voters approved a street-improvement levy.

But proponents say that riverfront land such as the Bells' property is a valuable and rapidly disappearing commodity along the Flathead River, and a park there would be a substantial asset to Columbia Falls. Land and building purchases are the only two expenditures allowed from the trust fund.

Moose Crossing and Allen Subdivision are the two housing proposals that will get their public hearings tonight.

Moose Crossing is a proposed 15-lot subdivision on 123 acres carved out of the city's former Cedar Creek Reservoir property. Its sale, along with a couple other large parcels, funded the Cedar Creek Trust Fund.

The 123 acres, much of it on steep and rocky terrain, lie along the west side of the North Fork Road. Moose Crossing is proposed with an overall density of one home per eight acres, with individual lots ranging from 2.9 to 17.8 acres.

Twelve lots on the upper bench would average out to a density of one lot per 3.33 acres, and three lots on the lower bench would average out to one lot per 10.77 acres. Just over 36 acres would be left in open space.

Allen Subdivision is a continuation of a zone change from January 2006 in which Jim Etzler, representing the BE Family Trust, won council approval to drop minimum lot sizes on 7.5 acres north of Vetville from one acre to one-half acre. It would allow eight or nine lots to be carved out of the land left after Etzler set aside two acres for the family home.

But neighbors worried that traffic to and from those lots would encroach on their land. Tonight, Etzler is coming back with a minor subdivision request, the Allen Subdivision, to a one-lot plan that will provide access off Ninth Avenue.

Tonight the council also will:

. Hold another public hearing on updating a city flood plain ordinance.

. Discuss an interlocal agreement between Columbia Falls city and rural fire departments.

. Hear results of an energy study of city facilities conducted by Johnson Controls.

. Decide whether to hold a budget workshop on Aug. 13.

. Hold second reading for the ordinance on commercial fence heights and setbacks and consider resolutions approving the final plats for Cedar Pointe Estates and Renfrow Addition #3.

. Open bids for resurfacing the tennis courts at Columbus Park. Earlier this summer, the council directed City Manager Bill Shaw to seek bids on a porous-surface system of tiles that snap together, as opposed to asphalt resurfacing.

Tonight's meeting starts at 7 p.m. in City Hall.

. Give notice of eight public hearings to be held at the Aug. 20 council meeting: Preliminary budget, street lighting assessments, street maintenance assessments, and permissive medical levy, all for the 2007-08 fiscal year; a requirement for businesses to install a Knox Box, containing door keys in case a fire alarm requires firefighters to gain access; zoning text amendment setting design standards for commercial buildings of 10,000 square feet or less; zoning text amendment restricting building on slopes of 25 percent or greater, over high water tables, and in hazardous conditions; a request to rezone Linc's Automotive and Architectural Woodworking of Montana properties from neighborhood business to general business.