Here's why zoning is so important
By Bill and Nancy McGunagle
The county commissioners have unanimously concluded that the “rights” of just one property owner, no matter how deleterious his objectives, can overrule the objections of the majority. Through guarded verbalization and dismissal of known facts, the commissioners have given a “pass” for the construction of a water-bottling plant in Creston.
Granted, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the Department of Environmental Quality have the final say in the permitting process of the bottling plant, but, other than for the question of air quality or water availability, these agencies, including the commissioners, have no apparent concern for the impact the bottling plant will have on the broader Flathead County community. At the public meeting on Nov. 21, the commissioners seemed to deny the reality of what the projected water-bottling plant might look like at full expansion as petitioned in the DNRC permit application 76LJ301029778.
These objectives as stated in the permit are as follows: “To produce 140,000, 20-ounce bottles of water per hour, 24 hours per day, 365 days a year” or a yield of FIFTEEN THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE tons of water to be shipped each week on a six day, 10 hours per day shipping schedule. Simple math would inform anyone that the ultimate reach of the bottling plant would have to be TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE tons of water shipped every hour of the shipping schedule according to the developer’s stated goal of limiting shipments to a 10 hour day, six days a week schedule. The impact on Montana 35, already encumbered with commercial traffic, and Montana 82 and U.S. 93 will be significant. With highway load limits considered, as ascribed by federal law, it will require one 40-ton truck, with a payload of less than 30 tons, to depart from the loading dock every eight minutes, 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. Contrary to the opinion expressed at the commissioners’ meeting, you cannot equate the 24/7/365 disturbance generated by the bottling plant to the seasonal operation of farm implements.
The public in general might ask, “Well, how does this affect me?” Listen up, folks. If those trailers are loaded by the night shift and ready to depart at 7 a.m., how long will the parade be on Montana 35 each morning when you are in a hurry to get to work? How about the hazards of “stop and go” school buses, fire truck and emergency vehicles in this congested situation? Have you thought about the new traffic-control lights necessary for those big rigs to gain access at Jaquette Road and Montana 35? When that water-bottling plant is working at full bore, it will require 80-plus loaded BIG RIGS to depart the loading dock every 10 hour day and another 80 BIG RIGS to return for reloading! Do you get the picture now?
Imagine that lovely, pastoral corridor between Bigfork and Woody’s turned overnight into a stop-and-go, commercial nightmare. Imagine impatient truckers and dismayed tourists trying to navigate that stretch in all kinds of weather. Imagine the shock waves from plummeting property values, costly new wells, higher taxes and the discarded dreams of our dedicated valley farmers. Keep in mind, this acquiescent approach to zoning by our commissioners allows any one property owner to impose him or herself on the citizens of Flathead County in the name of “property rights.” Once again, will the commissioners, the DNRC, the DEQ and those amongst us who were complicit by their silence become the THEY when future generations ask, “Why did THEY let this happen?”
Bill and Nancy McGunagle are Kalispell area residents.