Grant dispute to be heard on Friday

Flathead County’s refusal to move forward with a federal grant to stabilize a slope near the Village Greens subdivision in Kalispell is the focus of a court hearing at 2 p.m. Friday.

Flathead District Court Judge Ted Lympus will preside at the show-cause hearing. He recently granted a temporary restraining order stopping the county commissioners from terminating a $298,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The county had agreed to be the sponsoring agency — a pass-through vehicle for the grant money — and no county money was committed to the project. Homeowners have committed their match of $102,000.

The case involves a recent decision by the county commissioners to halt a four-year effort by a group of homeowners to get federal money to stabilize a section of bluff near Village Greens that collapsed in 2010. 

The court hearing will allow the commissioners to argue why a preliminary injunction should not be issued. 

Deputy County Attorney Tara Fugina will represent the county. 

Whitefish attorney Sean Frampton will represent homeowners Scott Gearhart and Susan Storfa, who are seeking court intervention.

Slumping has been an ongoing problem in that area north of Kalispell for years. Just a week ago another landslide occurred just north of the 2010 slide when record rainfall caused the steep hillside to give way.

The stabilization work outlined in the grant would build safer slopes and create adequate drainage.