Board backs Hungry Horse housing plan

The Flathead County Planning Board voted 6-0 on Wednesday to recommend approval of the Hungry Horse Villages subdivision.

In a rare move, the board did not change or add to any of the conditions in the Flathead County Planning and Zoning Office's staff report. The application now goes to the county commissioners for a final decision.

The four-phase development, located south and east of Canyon Elementary School, would create 132 dwelling units on 75 lots covering 32.64 acres.

Sixty-eight lots are proposed as single-family or townhouse lots and six lots are proposed to have a total of 64 duplex condominium units. The final lot would be used for a high-tech wastewater reclamation facility.

Hungry Horse Villages represents a much-reduced version of a previous plan for the land.

In December 2006, the Planning Board rejected the proposal when it was called the South Fork Addition, a massive development that called for 904 units on 90 acres.

The overall density - between 10 and 20 units per acre - raised concern among board members.

Single-family neighborhoods in Kalispell have a density of about five units per acre.

Developers Stephan Byrd and Dennis Konopatzke had purchased the former U.S. Forest Service property at auction for $2.38 million. The land used to be a neighborhood of homes owned by the Bureau of Reclamation during construction of the Hungry Horse Dam.

The Forest Service auctioned off the land to pay for a new Hungry Horse/Glacier View Ranger District building.

When the planning staff report recommended denial and the Planning Board voted 8-1 to recommend denial, the developers went back to the drawing board.

Their new proposal calls for just 15 percent of the previous total units, and will be built on one-third the amount of land. That creates a density of about four units per acre.

Development is now broken down into much smaller steps. By building smaller homes in a clustered setting, the development allows for more open space and will minimize how many trees need to be cut down.

Part of the vision for the development is to build a village that locals can afford as well as providing potential vacation homes close to Glacier National Park.

Reporter Michael Richeson may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at mricheson@dailyinterlake.com