Rural paving project revised
Creston Road removed from East Valley plan
The Flathead County commissioners are taking a new direction for a proposed Rural Special Improvement District planned east of Kalispell.
Instead of forming a district to pave portions of Mennonite Church and Creston roads, the commissioners now are focusing solely on Mennonite Church Road.
"We have removed the Creston Road improvement completely out of this project," County Administrative Officer Mike Pence said in a notice to property owners. "The excessive base work required for Creston, with the much lower traffic counts on that road were the key reasons for this decision.
"Also, it seems apparent that there is not adequate support from the residents on Creston Road," he added.
The commissioners plan to hold another neighborhood meeting with Mennonite Church Road residents within the next week or two to discuss the revised proposal. The portion of road to be improved is more than 3 miles between Montana 35 and Creston Hatchery Road.
The bottom line, Pence said, is that removing Creston Road from the project drops the assessment drastically for remaining property owners, from $800 annually per tract to about $335 on a 20-year bond.
The high traffic volume that creates excessive road dust on Mennonite Church Road is the driving force for continuing with the county-initiated project, Pence said. Two years ago when the county was fined by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality for poor air quality, part of the action plan that resulted was curbing road dust.
The county intends to foot the bill for all of the road base improvements to Mennonite Church Road, and would provide a 50 percent match for the paving. Initially the commissioners had proposed a 38 percent county match.
The county still expects to make use of federal stimulus money to offset the cost.
The revised district boundaries reduce the number of affected lots from 145 to 104. And of the 104 lots there are 71 waivers of protest.
ANOTHER proposed Rural Special Improvement District for portions of Jensen and Berne roads near Columbia Falls is on hold while proponents of the citizen-initiated district proceed with fact-finding, Pence said.
"The ball is in their court," he said. "We're not pressing it, and it's not slated to be done this year."
An informational meeting in April drew a considerable amount of opposition.
The 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.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com