Zone-change denial leads to lawsuit

A controversial Bigfork zone-change request is headed to court.

The case revolves around property on Montana 83 on which the owner already constructed a building before receiving the proper zoning.

After receiving denials from the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee, the Flathead County Planning Board and Flathead County commissioners, Mike Touris and Chuck Sneed filed suit on March 12. The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial.

Touris and Sneed allege negligence, misrepresentation, violations to due process and equal protection, deprivation of honest government and allege violations to the Constitution.

Also named in the lawsuit are the Flathead County Planning and Zoning Office and Jeff Harris, the planning and zoning director.

The plaintiffs are asking that the court:

. Grant judgment in their favor.

. Declare the defendants negligent.

. Declare the defendants liable for violating the Montana and U.S. constitutions.

. Award compensatory damages for lost profits, earnings, discomfort, annoyance, inconvenience, loss of use, mental anguish, emotional distress and reduced value of property.

The plaintiffs also want interest paid on the damages dating back to Feb. 14.

Touris and Sneed own property north of Bigfork on Montana 83 in an area zoned suburban agricultural with five-acre lots being the minimum lot size.

Sneed owns United Tool Rental and Touris owns a piece of land between United Tool and Martel Construction. The two men hoped to have the zone changed to light industrial, which would allow Touris to run his plumbing business on the property.

United Tool and Martel each built before the area was zoned in the early 1990s and those buildings are legal nonconforming uses for the current zoning regulations.

Sneed recently had a building constructed on the property before receiving approval for the zone change. The building now is sitting empty. Any commercial use would be considered a zoning violation.

Sneed did not want to comment on the lawsuit.

Before Sneed and Touris officially submitted the application for the zone change, the Planning and Zoning staff said that the change did not comply with the Bigfork Neighborhood Plan and the staff would recommend denial.

Sneed and Touris chose to proceed in spite of the county staff's advice.

On Oct. 25, 2007, the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee recommended that the county deny the zone-change request. This was followed by a Nov. 28 meeting with the county Planning Board, which also recommended that the zone change be denied.

The commissioners took up the request on Jan. 10, 2008.

After considerable debate over the staff report, which the commissioners accepted, the meeting was continued to Feb. 14. Commissioners Joe Brenneman and Gary Hall voted to deny the zone change. Commissioner Dale Lauman was absent due to illness.

Bigfork's advisory group is featured in three of the lawsuit's 10 counts. The plaintiffs contend that - along with being denied their right to "life, liberty or property without due process of law" - the Bigfork committee violated policy by submitting a three-page letter to the commissioners after the public comment period had closed.

The group also submitted letters to the Daily Inter Lake and the Bigfork Eagle and those letters, according to the lawsuit, "defamed the plaintiffs and placed undue pressure on the Board of Commissioners."

The complaint has been filed in Flathead District Court and is assigned to Judge Stewart Stadler. A response from the county is expected some time next week.

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