Court hearing planned June 27 on slope dispute

 A court hearing on a county decision to terminate a grant for slope stabilization off Whitefish Stage Road has been rescheduled to June 27 in Flathead District Court.

An initial hearing planned April 23 was postponed to allow time for the county to provide more documentation to the homeowners’ legal counsel.

Scott Gearhart and Susan Storfa are listed as plaintiffs in the legal action against the county; Whitefish attorney Sean Frampton is representing them.

The case involves a recent decision by the commissioners to halt a four-year effort by a group of homeowners to get federal money to stabilize a section of bluff above Village Greens that collapsed in 2010. The homeowners won a $298,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and put in $102,000 of their own money as a match.

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.

Yet on March 26 the commissioners voted to terminate the grant process, later citing county liability as a key reason.

Flathead District Judge Ted Lympus granted a temporary restraining order stopping the commissioners from terminating the grant. The court hearing, set for 2 p.m. on June 27 in District Court in Kalispell, will allow the county to argue why a preliminary injunction should not be issued.