Subdivision near Kila gets narrow approval

A controversial wooded subdivision near Kila received a narrow thumbs-up from the Flathead County Planning Board on Wednesday.

The board recommended 4-3 that the Flathead County commissioners approve a preliminary plat for the 530-acre, 69-lot Haskill Mountain Ranch subdivision about seven miles southwest of Kila.

The subdivision - owned by Florida Flathead LLC -drew significant opposition from neighbors over its density plus wildlife and fire safety concerns.

However, a majority of the board agreed that - with some modifications made Wednesday - the project met the county's legal requirements for unzoned land.

This is the project's second trip through Flathead County's planning process.

In 2006, the Planning Board unanimously recommended that the commissioners deny a similar 74-lot preliminary plat request because of density, wildlife and fire safety concerns. However, the commissioners approved the preliminary plat by a 2-1 vote.

Then several neighbors in the sparsely populated area formed the Kila-Smith Lake Community Development Coalition. The group filed a lawsuit in Flathead County District Court to argue that the preliminary plat approval did not cover all the factors that it was legally required to do so.

In August 2008, District Judge Ted Lympus ruled in favor of the Kila-Smith Lake coalition.

Florida Flathead then revised its preliminary plat request to cover 70 lots and resubmitted it to the Planning Board.

The developer and the coalition met or exchanged memos several times without resolving all their differences.

The revised proposal scatters the 70 lots across most of the 530 acres. The minimum lot size is 5 acres.

Buildings would be on half an acre of each lot - totaling 35 acres. Some 495 acres would be open land, including eight acres of wetlands, 41 acres of roads and 120 acres of slopes that are 30 degrees or steeper.

The coalition's greatest complaint is the proposed density - saying it does not oppose the project overall but certain aspects of it.

"We've been against this mainly because of the number of lots," said Jeff Hutton, a coalition spokesman.

According to another coalition spokesman, Valerie Kurtzhalts: "The most logical mitigation that can be done is to lower the overall density."

Hutton said 43 was the lowest number discussed with Florida Flathead, and that the coalition could live with 50 lots.

However, area resident Charlie Johnson said the coalition does not represent all of the nearby residents, and some have no problem with the development as it is currently presented.

Overall, nine area people spoke against the project in its current form and five area people spoke for it.

Project representative Erica Wirtala of Sands Surveying said Haskill Mountain Ranch would likely build four to six homes a year, not significantly faster than other potential construction in that area.

Some area residents and Planning Board members wanted to see the proposed homes clustered in one spot instead of spread out.

Their rationale was that clustering would leave more uninterrupted space for wildlife to roam, plus enable the project to have a central water supply and garbage pickup system - all leaving less of a human imprint on the overall 530 acres.

The county planning staff wanted to remove two lots - one for being largely in wetlands and one because much of it is on steep-sloped land. The Planning Board removed the wetlands lot but recommended keeping the one with significant slopes, saying parts are sloped less than 30 degrees.

That sends a 69-lot project to the commissioners.

The planning staff also had concerns about emergency roads for fire trucks and residents who might have to escape fires.

Browns Meadow Road is the single access road between U.S. 2 and the proposed entrance road to Haskill Mountain Ranch.

For emergencies, a U.S. Forest Service road and another trail-like road connect Browns Meadow Road to the proposed subdivision. But those roads need to be significantly upgraded to be practical as extra emergency routes, plus the Forest Service would have to agree to the use and upgrades of its road.

If a fire crosses Browns Meadow Road northeast of the subdivision, the flames could block the Smith Valley Fire department and other firefighters from reaching Haskill Mountain Ranch.

The Planning Board made its recommendation contingent on the two potential emergency roads being improved to handle fire-related traffic.

Board members Randy Toavs, George Culpepper Jr., Jim Heim and Marie Hickey-AuClaire voted to recommended the subdivision be approved - saying it met all the legal criteria it had to. However, Hickey-AuClaire thought that the proposed homes should be clustered rather than spread out.

"This project went above what was required [in the county's subdivision regulations]. If we can't approve this subdivision, we shouldn't be in the process of approving any," Culpepper said.

Board members Mike Mower, Frank DeKort and Gordon Cross voted against the proposal, saying the homes should be clustered and they had concerns about ground water and wildlife issues.

"We're trying to pound a square peg into a round hole," Cross said.

Board members Rita Hall and Marc Pitman were absent.

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com