Commissioners consider bigger Egan Slough Zoning district

The Flathead County commissioners on Friday will consider adopting a resolution to expand the Egan Slough Zoning District to include property where a water bottling plant is proposed near Creston.

The commissioners will begin their discussion at 10 a.m.

Public comments will be taken for 15 minutes starting at 9:45 a.m. in the commissioner chambers on the third floor of the Courthouse in Kalispell.

Egan Slough Zoning District — a tract of 1,150 acres of largely agricultural land near Creston — is the only place in Flathead County with citizen-initiated zoning. The zoning district was created in 2002 when farmers and other landowners rallied to preserve farmland in the neighborhood after a youth camp was proposed on 160 acres.

Residents of that area are using the same citizen-initiated process to add 530 acres to the zoning district.

While many Egan Slough area residents testified at a Sept. 8 public hearing that the intent of expanding the district is an effort to preserve farmland, the zoning proposal could place restrictions on the property of Lew Weaver, who plans to build a facility that could bottle up to 191.6 million gallons of water per year.

Weaver’s attorney, John Dudis, told the commissioners at the hearing the zoning proposal is an attempt to prohibit his client from continuing with plans to operate the bottling plant. He called the proposed district expansion an example of “reverse spot zoning” and an after-the-fact attempt to obstruct Weaver’s plans.

If the commissioners recommend approval of the expanded district, it will go to the Egan Slough Zoning Commission for a final decision.

The water bottling plant also requires a wastewater discharge permit from the state Department of Environmental Quality and a new water right from the Montana Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.