Marion-area subdivision would have 70 homesites

By NANCY KIMBALL/The Daily Inter Lake

A 70-lot subdivision on nearly 800 acres of Plum Creek land along Pleasant Valley Road north of Marion is working its way through the county planning process.

Township 110 Land Co., a real estate investment trust owned by Plum Creek Timber Co., is seeking preliminary plat approval for Haskell's Pass, a private, gated community with lots ranging from 3 acres to just under 102 acres.

Applicant Peter Strelinger, employed by Township 110, has been working with the Little Bitterroot Lake Land Use Advisory Committee for some time. But he and land planner Dave DeGrandpre with Land Solutions met publicly with advisory committee members for the first time on Tuesday.

"This the biggest project that has come through here since I've been on the board," advisory committee chairman Jeffrey Ellingson told the committee, arguing for more time to answer all concerns rather than rushing it to the Flathead County Planning Board on Dec. 3.

Strelinger said a delay would push the process off until after the first of the year, adding "I can't do that."

So county planning staffers, advisory committee members, Strelinger and Plum Creek will work to answer concerns about Haskell's Pass over the coming days.

The full advisory committee will meet again at 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Earl Bennett Building in Kalispell. The committee's recommendation then goes to the Flathead County Planning Board at 6 p.m. Dec. 3.

Township 110 Land Co. proposes one looped access road off Pleasant Valley Road to reach several cul-de-sacs off that loop to serve 70 home sites spread across 798 acres of forested creek-bottom and steep land with rocky cliffs. There's also an 11-acre community park and two more acres in scattered locations, plus hiking and biking trails.

Public access to the trails depends on whether the county accepts the deed to some land along Pleasant Valley Road and Bonneville Power transmission lines that would connect with a public trail system along a railroad easement to the northeast.

It all lies just north of Lodgepole Drive on the north shore of Little Bitterroot Lake, with all but one 13.4-acre parcel in the Little Bitterroot Lake zoning area.

Developers propose on-site individual wells and septics, a central solid waste pickup site, 100-foot native growth protection easements, a 150-foot setback from Herrig Creek that runs through the subdivision and other homeowner covenants that establish higher standards than county minimums.

But Citizens for a Better Flathead and others expressed concerns about water quality, compliance with the neighborhood plan, safety, wildlife impacts, adequacy of sanitation systems and storm water retention, wetland protection, road paving, weed control and specifically designated open space.

In the overall subdivision, density works out to one homesite per 11.4 acres. In the Little Bitterroot Lake zoning, density is 10.3 acres per homesite.