Paving project proposed along Jensen, Berne roads

A proposed Rural Special Improvement District to pave portions of Jensen and Berne roads near Columbia Falls will have the benefit of some extra technical help, thanks to Linda Smith and Barbara Strouse.

As part of their second-year project for Leadership Flathead, Smith and Strouse are creating a user-friendly tool kit that will help step other neighborhoods through the process of establishing a special improvement district.

Once it's finalized in another month or so, the tool kit will be posted on the county's Web site, offering numerous documents such as a task list, time line, sample petition, instructions about how to retrieve property owner information and other elements of the RSID process.

Engineers and consultants are needed for some steps, but a lot of the leg work can be done by people who want paving or other improvements done in their neighborhood, Smith said.

"We're testing it on a real live project with the Jensen and Berne road RSID," she said.

The citizen-initiated proposal would create a district to pave three sections of dusty roads: Jensen Road from Kelley Road north to the intersection with Berne Road; Jensen Road from Montana 206 east to the corner where it turns north; and Berne Road from Montana 206 east to the end of Jensen and beginning of Mountain Creek Road, then north for one-quarter mile.

Each of the three road sections is about three-quarters of a mile, for a total of more than two miles.

An informational meeting is planned for 7 p.m. Thursday at the new Bad Rock Fire Hall, 2279 Middle Road.

Jackola Engineering is putting the final touches on estimated costs, County Administrative Officer Mike Pence said. Road borings were done last week and those results will determine the amount of base work to be done.

Preliminary estimates show the project could cost anywhere from $550,950 to $1.1 million.

Over 15 years, the 85 affected property owners would pay about $432 per year for the low-end estimate or about $865 annually for the high-end estimate.

Thirteen property owners in the Wildflower and Vista Bonita Phase II subdivisions have signed waivers of protest.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com