Berne Road paving approved

Flathead County commissioners heard from one supporter and one opponent Monday of the county’s plan to create an improvement district to pave about three-fourths of a mile of Berne Road.

In the end, Commissioners Jim Dupont and Dale Lauman voted to proceed with the district and Commissioner Pam Holmquist voted against the project.

Now that the district has been approved, engineering will proceed, County Administrative Officer Mike Pence said.

The project will be advertised for bids for a contractor to do the work, bonds to pay for it would be sold and a contract awarded, he said. Pence expects work to occur by mid- to late summer.

The road project is on a stretch of Berne Road near its intersection with Jensen Road in the Columbia Falls area.

The idea to pave parts of Berne Road and Jensen Road with money generated by a special improvement district originated in 2008, Jensen Road resident Linda Smith said.

At that time, a group of residents talked about paving 2.4 miles of those two roads, fronting 115 tracts of land.

As opposition to the project surfaced, it was scaled back.

Clarence Taber, who lives on Taber Lane in Columbia Heights, spoke against the improvement district.

“These are tough financial times,” Taber said, noting that a lot of people are having a hard time making ends meet and adding a new tax to those people isn’t right. “It’s not fair to be saddled with debt for this.”

Taber also said he’s worried that a paved road will result in traffic driving at faster speeds.

And, while he acknowledged that Smith and others have put “a lot of hard work and effort” into the plan, he doesn’t like the fact that if Smith’s pending four-lot subdivision is approved, and any of those lots sold, the new owners won’t be required to contribute an equal amount to the improvement district.

Rather, according to Deputy County Attorney Tara Fugina, the cost of the one lot Smith now owns would be split evenly between owners of the four new lots.

“Somewhere you gotta say no and I think the time is near,” Taber said.

Prior to voting in favor of the district, Lauman said such districts are a way of helping improve county roads because the county can’t afford to pave every road.

Preliminary estimates for the project put the cost at $433,000 with the county paying for most of the work. The property owners will share a total bill of about $68,000. Sixteen parcels of land are involved, resulting in a cost per parcel of about $4,250.