Lakeside subdivision OK'd despite concerns over water

A 15-home subdivision within the Eagle’s Crest development south of Lakeside won approval Thursday from the Flathead County commissioners.

Ridgeline Cabins will be built on 12.7 acres of unzoned land and served by a public water system. It will connect to the Lakeside sewer system via an existing main along Ridge Line Drive.

Although the preliminary plat won unanimous approval, there was a considerable amount of discussion about how fire suppression will be handled. The site is not within a fire district, but developer Terry Lieser is negotiating annexation into the Lakeside-Somers Fire District.

Lieser has agreed to install a 10,000-gallon recharge tank to meet county subdivision regulations for fire protection.

County Planner Rachel Ezell pointed specifically to a subdivision regulation that states “unless the subdivider installs an adequate water supply for fire suppression, the commission shall require more than one access when the subdivision contains 10 or more lots and the road providing primary access to the subdivision is greater than one mile in length from the Wild and Urban Interface boundary and provides one reasonable direction for traveling to an existing population center.”

Commissioner Gary Krueger said Ridgeline Cabins is a small subdivision within a larger subdivision, and took issue with the county requiring “the little tiny subdivision to provide assets for the entire [Eagle’s Crest] subdivision.”

Krueger noted a 600,000-gallon pond about 1,500 feet from Ridgeline Cabins and Flathead Lake a mile away as potential water resources for fire protection.

Because Ridgeline Cabins would have dual fire protection from the county and the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Krueger wondered about the need for the 10,000-gallon tank.

“DNRC is not going to fight the fire with that tank. It’s up a dead-end road because we said it’s a dead-end road,” Krueger said. “Are we creating something that’s fluff and not substance? We’re requiring a tank for a subdivision that can’t be annexed into a fire district.”

None of the Ridgeline Cabins property is adjacent to the Lakeside-Somers Fire District, he noted.

Commissioner Pam Holmquist said she was concerned about relying on a nearby pond that isn’t on the Ridgeline property.

She asked: “How do we make the assumption” the county will have access to the pond?

Deputy County Attorney Tara Fugina said the county would need to have legal proof for access to the offsite pond before it could consider it a water resource.

Krueger wanted to add a finding of fact to the preliminary plat that stated the 600,000-gallon pond is a sufficient water source for wildland protection, but the other two commissioners did not act on his suggestion.

Subsequently, Krueger voted against adopting the findings of fact, but voted in favor of the preliminary plat.

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