Planners cool to Eagle Crest development

The Flathead County Planning Board went thumbs down Wednesday on a proposed five-phase, 739-lot gated community south of Lakeside.

The question is whether Eagle Crest developer Trevor Schaefer will take the entire project - with the Planning Board's objections - to the Flathead County commissioners.

Or will he break the project into digestible chunks and return to the board with just one phase?

Schaefer, president of Lakeside-based Montana Eagle Acquisitions, said he is unsure which way he will go.

However, he said his project submitted all the requested and legally required information to Flathead County, contending that the county's planning staff and board did not properly analyze those submissions.

If Schaefer takes the project - in its current shape - to the county commissioners, the deadline to do so is June 5.

Eagle Crest is one mile south of Lakeside and is west of U.S. 93.

Three phases - tallying 76 houses - have been built on 573 acres. The county has approved plans for a fourth phase - 115 lots on 381 acres.

The Wednesday meeting of the Planning Board was a public hearing followed by a vote on preliminary plans for five new phases totaling 821 homes on 739 lots on almost 1,369 acres. Eighty-six condominiums would occupy four lots. Also, some neighborhood stores and an 18-hole private golf course are proposed.

Eagle Crest - a gated community of second and upscale homes - would be somewhat of sister linked to unincorporated Lakeside, and is within a segment of the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan.

To build all of Eagle Crest as planned would take about 40 years. When completed, it would have slightly more than Lakeside's current population of about 2,000 people, said Eric Giles, a Flathead County planner.

The county planning staff said much of the project meets Flathead County's regulatory requirements, but some parts did not. These include:

. Concerns about traffic. Two roads connect Eagle Crest to U.S. 93. Those junctions do not include turn lanes along a federal highway for which the speed limit soon will increase from 65 to 70 mph.

. Only one road connecting the east half of Eagle Crest with the development's west half, which could create a bottleneck during emergencies. If that one connecting road is blocked, emergency services cannot get to the west half, Giles said.

. A significant portion of Eagle Crest having slopes of at least 30 degrees. Questions and disputes arose Wednesday on whether Eagle Crest's construction plans adequately address building on those slopes.

. No water drainage plan has been submitted. Consequently, the county government cannot predict drainage and erosion effects, especially downhill from Eagle Crest to U.S. 93.

. Echoing concerns of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks about the homes co-existing with bears, deer, elk and moose. The county staff and state recommended that wider corridors for wildlife movement be put within the development.

On Wednesday, Schaefer said Montana Eagle had requested that the state put in turn lanes, but that action depends on the state's priorities. He has hired a wildlife consultant, and plans to trim about 15 lots to provide extra corridor space for animals.

He contended that horizontal foundations for the houses can be installed into the slopes.

Schaefer said the Somers Fire Department told him that it has no trouble with the Eagle Crest plans. Also, Schaefer plans to put in an auxiliary fire station with equipment in the western half of Eagle Crest.

In April, the Lakeside Community Council recommended 3-1, with two abstentions, that county commissioners approve the preliminary plans for Eagle Crest's last five phases.

On Wednesday, seven Lakeside residents spoke in favor of those phases, saying they would help the local tax base and would not strain the Lakeside County Water and Sewer District facilities.

"This development will bring a whole new culture to Lakeside," said Robert Ivy of the Lakeside area.

One Lakeside resident - Bruce Young of the Lakeside Community Council - opposed Eagle Crest's plans as submitted. He was the sole "no" vote at the council's April meeting. He said council Chairman Gregg Schoh also opposed the current plans, but did not vote because the chairman only votes to break ties.

Young said Eagle Crest did not offer "affordable housing" for middle- or lower-middle-income families. In Flathead circles, the upper threshold of "affordable housing" is considered to be $150,000 for a house.

He also echoed concerns about lack of turnoff lanes on U.S. 93, drainage, wildlife matters and nailing down plans for a 40-year period.

The Planning Board

voted 6-2 against recommending the latest Eagle Crest preliminary plans as submitted.

Board members Barry Conger and Mike Mower supported the Eagle Crest plans. Kim Fleming, Randy Toavs, Gene Dziza, Don Hines, Kathy Robertson and Frank DeKort voted against the current plans. Gordon Cross was absent.

Fleming cited an existing social split between the gated millionaire-dominated Iron Horse community and the rest of Whitefish, and did not want to see that duplicated in Lakeside.

"It doesn't bode well to the whole community when you allow people to separate themselves," she said.

DeKort had problems with public utilities serving a gated community.

Some board members fretted about how traffic from several hundred Eagle Crest homes will deal with entering and exiting U.S. 93.

Several board members said they might support Eagle Crest if it is submitted for county approval one phase at a time, rather than five phases at once. That would allow problems to be addressed in digestible chunks, without nailing down and gambling on details for a predicted 40-year construction period, they said.

Robertson said: "My problem isn't with the project. It's the size of it. It's too much."

Confusion occurred from miscommunications between Schaefer and the county staff.

Schaefer thought he was supposed to submit details for a full-fledged preliminary plan for all five phases. The county staff said it preferred to receive preliminary plans for one phase in detail, along with a general outline of what is predicted for the other four phases.