Rising lake level stops bridge work

Rising water levels have stopped work on the bridge to Dockstader Island in Flathead Lake.

Work on the bridge halted at the end of last week when Flathead Lake rose to an elevation that prevents further work.

Under lakeshore protection regulations, any work in the lakebed must take place in low water.

Flathead County Planning and Zoning Director B.J. Grieve said contractors told the planning department that the bridge is about 55 percent complete.

On Tuesday the planning office received a request from permit holders Roger Sortino and Jolene Dugan to extend the bridge construction permit that expires June 1.

Sortino and Dugan originally were issued their permit to build the bridge and a dock on their property on Holt Drive near Bigfork in March 2011.

The planning department will review the extension request, which will go to the Flathead County commissioners sometime in the future, Grieve said.

Permit extensions do not require public notice.

While the commissioners have granted permit extensions for the bridge project in the past, they recently denied requests from Sortino and Dugan for extensions to four separate permits to build retaining walls. Those permits also expire June 1.

The planning department recently denied three requests for flood-plain permits to allow construction of three ponds behind the lakeshore protection zone but in the flood plain.

Before work stopped, the bridge project was cited for three alleged violations. Two citations were from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for constructing a road that put fill in the lakeshore protection zone without a permit and for fill in the wetlands without a permit. The Corps issued a cease-and-desist order until the permit situation was solved.

Flathead County issued a violation notice for damage to the lakebed was caused by construction machinery.

 “We take it very seriously, the rutting, gouging, and slicing, because it can release sediment,” Grieve said. “But you also have to keep it in perspective. That kind of rutting from mechanized equipment is pretty common.”

Grieve pointed out that even footprints left from walking on the lakebed can release some sediment when the water rises.

Grieve said that soon after the county issued the violation, measures were taken to smooth the lakebed.

Grieve said generally when lakeshore development permits are violated by rutting and gouging, the developer is asked to repair the lakebed.

Once that’s been done, the issue is considered resolved.

“We will follow up on the restoration they did and we will also follow up to make sure the restoration work is successful next fall,” Grieve said.

Litigation is pending against the county over the legality of issuing the permit for the bridge in the first place. The Community Association for North Shore Conservation alleges that the permit violates the Lakeshore Protection Act.