Revamped Bigfork retreat center proposed

Board of Adjustment hearing is Tuesday

By LYNNETTE HINTZE

Daily Inter Lake

A proposed camp and retreat center near Bigfork is back on the Flathead County Board of Adjustment’s Tuesday meeting agenda.

A public hearing on a revised application for the project begins at 6 p.m. in the second-floor conference room of the South Campus Building, 40 11th St. W. in Kalispell. Board of Adjustment decisions are considered final rulings.

Monica Harris and Lisa Gilbert last year asked for a conditional-use permit to establish a camp and retreat center on their 20-acre parcel at 500 Wild Swan Trail. The property is zoned agricultural.

The Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee considered the request in December and recommended the permit be denied, citing concerns over wetlands and high ground water, parking, septic and water facilities and neighborhood impact. The application then was taken off the Board of Adjustment’s January meeting agenda so the property owners could address the concerns.

The owners had been offering nightly rentals in cabins until several adjacent neighbors filed formal complains with the county. The Planning Office investigated, and found the short-term rentals were a zoning violation. Harris and Gilbert complied with a Planning Office request to stop offering nightly rentals of the guest house and accessory dwelling unit on the Vacation Rental by Owner (VRBO) website and instead offer monthly rentals.

The women have updated their permit application to limit the use of the property to four retreats per year, all during the summer months. Beyond the four retreats, they will use the property for short-term rentals providing accommodations for a maximum of four people in the guesthouse and two people in an accessory treehouse.

Harris and Gilbert are planning to upgrade the septic system for both the treehouse and guesthouse to accommodate increased use, according to the Planning Office staff report. The upgraded septic system for the guesthouse would accommodate up to 15 daytime guests to be used as a retreat center and increase the number of overnight guests in the guesthouse to six. The upgraded septic for the accessory dwelling would increase the number of overnight guests to four.

The applicants also have submitted a list of guidelines for guests regarding motorists’ speed, noise, parking, pets and other issues.

While the initial proposal drew letters of opposition from a number of neighbors, the staff report notes “many neighbors have changed their position and are now in support of the conditional-use permit.” Mitch Heuer and Sam Porrovecchio, adjacent property owners, sent letters to the Planning Office retracting their prior statements after talking with the applicants.

The Planning Office now has received 25 public comments in support of the request. Concerns remain, however, about increased traffic, change to the rural character of the neighborhood, impact to wetlands, noise and property value impact, the staff report notes.

While the adequacy of the access road was questioned by the Bigfork land-use committee, the updated planning staff report notes that the property “provides a difficult situation where the road cannot be widened in certain areas, and the surrounding property owners do not want the road to be widened.”

After extensive discussion between the Planning Office and property owners, it has been determined a 20-foot road is not the only criteria to allow adequate access. The Ferndale Fire Department didn’t find an issue with access.

The property owners are willing to widen the road were it’s feasible and install pull-outs along the road to accommodate traffic.

Wetlands also surfaced as a neighborhood concern, but discussions with a surveying company, which consulted with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, found that although wetlands exist on the property, no structures exist on the wetlands that could adversely impact or limit the suitability of the property for a camp and retreat center, the staff report said.

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