Columbia Falls endorses Phase 2 of subdivision

Kalispell City Council selects C.M. 'Butch' Clark as its representative on seven-member panel

While sticking to its guns on how close homeowners may build to a steep riverbank, the Columbia Falls City Council on Tuesday night approved the preliminary plat for the final build-out of River Park Estates.

This was the second go-around for Phase 2 of River Park Estates, a three-phase housing development south of Talbott Road and northwest of the Flathead River. The plan first came to the council in 1998.

Phases 1 and 3 are nearly completed, but a lawsuit about the riverbank setback pushed back progress on final plat approval for Phase 2. When developers missed the final plat deadline for Phase 2 after a one-year extension was granted, they automatically reverted to the preliminary plat phase.

Now it was before the council again for the approval that typically occurs prior to any improvements, even though much of the infrastructure - a road, sidewalk and utilities - is in place.

On Tuesday night, at the newly sworn-in council's first meeting of the year, developers Ray Jones and Alisa Stephens renewed their request for the 15-lot subdivision.

City Manager Bill Shaw explained that the street has been extended eastward from Riparian Drive, which serves homes in an earlier phase to the west.

A sidewalk has been built on one side of the road; current city standards call for sidewalks on both sides of a new street. But, in asking for a variance, developers said that it matches the Scenic View neighborhood immediately to the north.

Shaw said the proposal would have been acceptable for final plat approval in its earlier process if it had met the deadline.

Erica Wirtala of Sands Surveying Inc. represented Jones and Stephens. She brought up the riverbank setback.

The Planning Board's findings of fact recommended drawing a line at an elevation of 3,030 feet, the mark above the steep and largely brush- and tree-covered Flathead River bank that serves as the southern border for the rest of River Park Estates. No structures should be built closer than 25 feet from that elevation line, they said.

Wirtala, however, asked the council to amend that to permit structures closer than 25 feet for lots fronting the riverbank.

Speaking for Jones, who also attended the meeting, Wirtala asked that structures be allowed as close as 20 feet from the elevation line, but only if homeowners had a pair of expensive studies conducted to say it's a good idea. ENDORSES