Columbia Falls sued by couple over Kreck Riverside Park

A local couple has filed suit in Flathead County District Court claiming Columbia Falls' Kreck Riverside Park is a nuisance and the court should force the city to address it.

Mark and Inge Cahill filed the complaint in late August. They own property both to the north and south of the park, which is about a 50-foot wide strip of land that provides access to the Flathead River.

“People frequently use the path to trespass and engage in other unlawful conduct that interferes with the uninterruptible enjoyment of Cahill property and is unreasonable,” the couple claims in its complaint.

The city denies the allegations in court documents and is seeking a jury trial.

The city has seen vandalism at the park in recent months. Montana’s stream access law, however, allows fishermen access to the river via the park, as long as a person stays below the high water mark.

In this case, the bank is very steep, so staying below it is not difficult. The access is popular with wading fishermen as it has several good fishing holes.

The city and the Cahills have been at odds for years. The Cahill’s property was previously owned by Loren Kreck, a conservation-minded resident who donated a path that ran along the river on his property.

When he died, the Cahills insisted the easement be expunged. They claimed the path led to vandalism on their land, even though Kreck never seemed to have a problem for the decades he owned the property.

In 2021, the Cahills claimed that the park was a “nuisance” under the law and should be closed immediately. The suit filed in August formalizes that complaint.

The Cahills at that time claimed that because the old Red Bridge is abandoned, there is no legal public access under Montana’s stream access law to the river.

The Red Bridge is registered listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2010. The bridge, though, is not in the city limits. It is in the county and has seen little maintenance in the past 25 years, save for paint.

Over the years the city has invested about $25,000 in landscaping and other amenities at Kreck Park and in a 2021 letter to the Cahills said it has no intention of closing the park.

They note that the Cahills haven’t put up a fence to keep people off the south side of their property. The north side is bounded by a chain link fence.

The Cahills appear to be representing themselves in court. Judge Dan Wilson will preside over the case.