North Hilltop rezone goes to C. Falls council

By NANCY KIMBALL

The Daily Inter Lake

A 29-acre zoning request that would have paved the way for multiple-family housing on the city's rural outskirts got a pared-back green light Tuesday night from the Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board.

Although the plan, called Hilltop Meadows, gained support on some counts, the potential number of new homes and traffic safety on North Hilltop Road and U.S. 93 prompted the board to cut zoning density before it recommended city approval.

The next step for the request from Jon and Angela Lemburg is a Sept. 5 public hearing before the City Council.

The Columbia Falls couple asked to rezone 28.79 acres of the 38 acres they own west of town. The remaining 10 acres was subdivided some time ago, and the Lemburgs use four of those 10 acres for their home at the southwest corner.

Property for rezoning consideration stretches between North Hilltop Road on the west and Meadow Lake Boulevard on the east, with its northern border about 300 feet south of the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad tracks.

Rather than applying for specific zoning, the Lemburgs simply asked to bring their land into compliance with the Columbia Falls growth policy, with a preliminary plat to come later.

"I appreciate the flexibility, but the lack of information makes me reluctant to bring about a lot of change," Planning Board member Trent Miller said. He also said that 140 new homes could go in under the proposed new zoning.

"But we don't know what is going there," Miller said. "I want to see what is going there first."

Although the growth policy is only a guideline for planning discussions, it envisions up to CR-5 zoning there - allowing eight or more homes an acre. Current zoning is one-acre minimum lots.

City Manager and Planning Director Bill Shaw recommended CR-5 zoning on the eastern third of the land; on the southwest third he recommended CR-4, with about six homes an acre.

Ultimately, the Planning Board designated lower densities.

The remaining third would be left for public-access open space.

Throughout the discussion, the prime concern was traffic volume and routes.

To take some of the traffic load off the dangerous intersection of North Hilltop Road with U.S. 2, Shaw required developers, as a condition of zone approval, to build a road through their property connecting North Hilltop Road with Meadow Lake Boulevard.

Before preliminary plat approval, the city would require a traffic study detailing impacts on Meadow Lake Boulevard, where 1,800 vehicle trips a day are expected from a new subdivision at Meadow Lake Resort and the rest of the neighborhood, and on the narrow and deteriorating North Hilltop Road. Both empty onto U.S. 93.

North Hilltop resident Jack Von Lindern briefed the board on a history of failed attempts to persuade Flathead County to build a secondary Half Moon access road to the north. Shaw said county commissioners recently abandoned the road there, almost guaranteeing the road will not be developed.

By default, that increases traffic load at the junction of North Hilltop and U.S. 93.

Other neighbors were split.

Dawn Drive resident Nancy Burns decried impacts on wildlife, property values, fire protection and North Hilltop Road, while adding, "The only good thing I see out of this is another access." Lemburg Lane resident Mary Winn lamented the loss of the rural feel on property they just bought from the would-be developers, located "right at the corner of that 'L.'"

Jon Lemburg said the development would be an asset to Columbia Falls.

"To develop to any lesser degree would be a tremendous loss to the city," he said.

Board members debated the advantages of seeing a preliminary plat before approving a zone change or setting forth their visions for the neighborhood by restricting zoning.

Board member Russ Vukonich ultimately presented the motion to reduce zoning and add a requirement that the internal road must be built with the zone change.

It was approved unanimously.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com.