Water-skiing plan gets board support

A water-skiing subdivision planned on farmland north of Kalispell got a favorable nod from the Flathead County Planning Board last week following a public hearing that lasted more than four hours.

The board, unanimous in its decision to support the Rosewater development, will forward a recommendation for approval to the Flathead County commissioners. A second public hearing will be held sometime in March by the commissioners, who have the final say on whether to approve the subdivision and an accompanying planned unit development request.

The idea of an entire subdivision built around a sizable water-skiing lake is new to the Flathead, but such subdivisions are popular in other parts of the country, Rosewater developer Bill Tanner told the Planning Board.

He noted how popular water-skiing subdivisions are in Arizona and said a similar development has been successful in Helena.

Tanner, of Score Management, plans to build the 58-lot subdivision in two phases around a 27-acre lake. The planned unit development would allow homes to be clustered around the lake.

The property is zoned suburban agricultural with a 5-acre minimum lot size and is located a quarter-mile east of Whitefish Stage Road on the north side of Rose Crossing. Rosewater would feature 91 acres of open space with 46 single-family homes and 12 townhouses on the 154-acre site.

The farmland most recently has produced winter wheat and canola with an irrigation system drawing water from the nearby Whitefish River. Tanner has an irrigation right and will seek a change in use for that water right to fill and maintain the lake.

Public comment at the Feb. 13 hearing was split, with seven people in favor of the development, noting the water-ski community would add a nice recreational amenity to the Flathead Valley and an economic boost.

Ten people spoke against the project, largely because of what they see as potential environmental impacts to the nearby Whitefish River and the underlying perched aquifer.

A perched water table is an aquifer that is situated above the regional water table and occurs where there is an impermeable layer of rock or sediment — clay in this case — above the main water table but below the surface of the land.

Robin Street, who lives on Rose Crossing and has farmed in the area for decades, listed five key concerns: the perched water table, slumps in the area, the proximity of the site to springs, the highly erodible soil at the site and the proposed use of water from the Whitefish River.

“The water from the perched water table skates along that clay layer and presents itself as springs in the area that are visible 30 to 60 feet below the bluff and continue into the Whitefish River,” he said.

The subdivision’s drain fields would hit the perched water table and the additional flow from those drain fields would increase the existing slumping problem, Street said.

Street was among several neighbors who questioned what would happen if the heavy plastic liner for the lake sprang a leak.

Andy Palchak, a Whitefish Stage Road resident, pointed out that sand is notorious for shifting and settling. He said it would be inevitable that a 27-acre lake eight feet deep and holding more than 40 million gallons of water would feel the effect of the constant wave action from speed boats.

“Seams will be stretched over time as the supporting sand shifts and settles in response to weight and freeze-thaw cycles,” Palchak said. “Stretched plastic seams under pressure fail and leak. It is not a matter of if; it is a matter of when.”

A catastrophic leak would send those 40 million gallons of water “treated with herbicide and polluted with gas, oil and heavy metals from boat motor exhaust” downhill into the Whitefish River and Flathead Lake, Palchak said.

Doug Erickson, the Helena developer who built a water-skiing subdivision in the state capital, said the worries over a catastrophic leak are unfounded. Even if there were a minor leak, “it’s not poisonous water,” Erickson told the board.

He further stated that concerns about noise from motor boats also are unfounded. Boats at the Helena water-skiing community are quiet, he said.

“I’ve never had a complaint in 20 years,” Erickson said, adding that the subdivision is five miles from the state capitol.

Zac Andrews of Bigfork, who has an ownership interest in Rose Crossing area property, said he really likes the Rosewater plan and believes it would be good for the local economy.

“There aren’t very many subdivisions that come along with a legitimate recreational opportunity,” Andrews said, noting that parks in most subdivisions typically offer only a swing set or a slide for children.

There was enough concern among Planning Board members about the water issues to make changes in both the findings of fact and conditions for the subdivision. The board added a sentence to the findings of fact that calls for a method of continuous monitoring of the water level in two monitoring wells southeast of the planned lake.

The board also added a requirement for long-term maintenance of the lake liner.

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