Kootenai Lodge hearing will reconvene in May

POLSON — The Lake County Board of Commissioners Tuesday afternoon voted to reconvene its public hearing on the proposed Kootenai Lodge subdivision until Tuesday, May 3, at 1:30 p.m. in the upstairs large conference room.

The action was taken late Tuesday afternoon after having heard over three hours of testimony, mostly against the proposal. Generally, the concerns mirrored comments made in last week's public hearing conducted by the Lake County Planning Board, which had recommended conditional approval on a 5-4 vote.

Planners voting in favor were Lisa DeMontier, Jack Meuli, Steve Hughes, Fred Mueller and Jerry Winkley. Voting against the project were chairman John Fleming, Clarence Brazil, Bob Kormann and Ken Miller.

Highlights of that meeting appear later in this article.

Commissioners' hearing

Among new developments Tuesday was the announcement that a portion of the suit brought by Swan Lake property owners against Lake County and the Milhouse Group, which is proposing to buy and develop the historic property, was denied by District Court Judge Douglas Harkin of Missoula. Judge Kim Christopher had recused herself from hearing the case and Judge Harkin accepted a request to hear it.

The portion that was denied had alleged signatures of the existing property owners were needed on the Milhous Group's application.

Considerable interest focused on the proposed offsite sewage treatment. Milhouse had hoped to put the sewer treatment facility on his property in The Ridge Subdivision.

However, last week the Lake County commissioners signed their approval of amendments of Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions for the Ridge Subdivision, which provided that sewer systems for each lot would be only "for the residence on that lot."

And furthermore, "No sewage disposal system may be constructed in The Ridge Subdivision which serves residences or subdivisions which are located outside of The Ridge Subdivision."

If the developers cannot persuade Ridge owners to change their minds, an alternative method of site of sewage disposal will have to be found. That would require the alternative plan to be brought back to the planning board and state for approval and another public hearing scheduled.

Swan Lakers attorney Clint Fischer said that "no viable sewage site is a huge issue." Density concerns were also big issues, he said.

Lake County Sheriff Bill Barron reiterated the problems his office has in responding to calls in that remote area of Lake County. The resident deputy has been called for military service. Cost of equipping and training a rookie officer was estimated at $100,000 and equipping an experienced officer would run about $50,000.

Reacting to this, the Milhouse Group offered to contribute $50,000 toward hiring an experienced officer. The offer drew groans from the audience and even a cry of "bribery." The commissioners felt that the offer was not appropriate for consideration at that point.

Proponents were few. One questioned the value of the historical preservation status. He pointed out that the property and its buildings are closed to the public.

Another pointed out that the unzoned nature of the property potentially could result in undesirable commercial facilities being developed on the site if the Milhous proposal were rejected.

The developers, the Milhous Group must meet the conditions recommended by the planning board as well as other state requirements.

Conditions that must be met prior to filing the plat include:

? A declaration and bylaws.

? Storm water, water supply and sewage disposal systems must be reviewed and approved by the state DEQ.

? The sewer facility must be established prior to filing the final plat as provided by state law.

? Sewer line plans must be approved by the county.

? Roadways within the subdivision must comply with Lake County standards including a minimum 26-ft. driving surface and 2.5 inch minimum chip-sealed surface.

? A Montana-licensed engineer must certify that the roadways meet prescribed county standards and proposed storm water management, soil stabilization and revegetation techniques have been implemented during construction.

? The property owner must provided prescribed Centralized Box Units for postal deliveries or require post office boxes as part of the covenant.

? The owner must provide evidence to the Planning Department for infrastructure and land set-aside and comply with requirements of the Ferndale Volunteer Fire Dept.

? Obtain an amendment of The Ridge subdivision covenants allowing the off-site sewer facility, allow for a future fire station for the Ferndale VFD and an emergency helispot for the Bigfork Fire and Ambulance Service.

? An easement for the helispot must established in the area of the offsite drainfield.

? The plat must be amended to show a second ingress or egress either next to the existing gate or in alignment with Wapiti Dr. to prescribed measurements.

? Boat docking must be limited to a total of 24 slips.

? A private road users maintenance agreement must filed with the final plat.

? Developers must install specified road and stop signs.

? No new structures except lake related structures permitted by the Lake County Lakeshore Protection Regulations can be located closer than 80 feet from the high water mark of the lake and river.

At Tuesday's hearing, commissioners outlined 11 mitigation areas they wanted Milhous to consider before May 3. Among these were a new sewage treatment location; vegetation on the north boundary of the property; parkland dedication; number of docks; river safety; law enforcement; setbacks along Sunset Dr.; storm drainage and runoff; and the septic system on Milhous property in the Ridge subdivision.

Before the meeting

Milhous Group consultant David DeGrandpre, former Lake County Planner, covered many of the changes that Milhous had agreed to prior to the hearings and that were outlined in a full page advertisement in local newspapers.

These included:

? Reduced number of units from 65 to 57 single family residences.

? All new buildings would be at least 80 feet from Swan Lake, Swan River and Johnson Creek.

? Construction materials would include log, rock, cedar shake and green asphalt roofing.

? 83 percent of trees on the property would remain.

? 75 percent of the land would remain as open space.

? Some existing buildings beyond repair would be torn down, but the lodge would be preserved and most historic buildings rehabilitated.

? The old barn would be renovated and would house historic artifacts on the property.

? There would be no time share units.

Milhous also said that the group was working with the Ferndale Volunteer Fire Department and Lake County officials to ensure public safety by dedicating land and funding for a fire substation and would provide a helispot if The Ridge subdivision allow the group to do so."

And, if the Milhous application were approved, the group would rebuild South Ferndale Dr. and Sunburst Dr. from Highway 83 to the southern edge of the property. It would be a 26-ft. wide road with 2.5" asphalt mat and the northern entrance to the Kootenai property would be aligned with Kelley Dr.

And 80-ft. vegetative buffers would be created along the lake, river and Johnson Creek shorelines. Use of fertilizer containing nitrogen and/or phosphorous would not be used within 100 feet of the water. And a 160-ft. vegetated wildlife corridor would be created along Johnson Creek.

The group agreed to limit boat docking to a maximum of 24 slips.

Wednesday's testimony

Testimony given at the Wednesday night public hearing pretty much reiterated comments made during the March informational hearing. Protests focused on boating and swimmer safety concerns; traffic; storage of boats and RVs; density measures; the proposed sewage treatment method and location; the capability of the Johnson Creek bridge to accommodate fire truck traffic; the probable loss of historical preservation classification; the possible "funneling" to provide lake access to property owners from other Milhous properties; law enforcement response time; loss of the rural character of the area; determination of high water marks; the height of buildings, and more.

Among those commenting were Sarah Hanson of the Mountain-Plains Office of Historic Preservation from Denver and Lake County Sheriff Bill Barron.

Hanson said her office was confused by Milhous Group's failure to take advantage of a 20 percent tax credit available on preservation projects meeting the Secretary of the Interior's criteria. She felt that restoration work would not meet specifications required to maintain the historic classification.

Sheriff Barron told the planning board that his office needed 28 deputies and only had 21. As a result, the response time to calls from the Swan area can be slow, up to two hours for emergencies and possibly two days on non-emergency calls.

Paul Milhous was present at the hearing but relied on consultant DeGrandpre, to comment and answer questions on the Group's behalf.

Pro comments

Four persons commented in favor of the project. A resort owner told the board that he had 108 boat slips in his development, but there were seldom more than 10 or 12 boaters' cars in the parking area at one time. He felt the feared volume of boating traffic from Kootenai Lodge was exaggerated.

Other points made included:

? a higher number of persons support the project than has been recognized.

? citizens and developer should work together to find a mutually agreeable plan.

? the planning staff deserves the support of the board.

Other developments

On April 14, Tracy Axelberg and 57 others filed in District Court in Polson against Lake County and the Milhous Group a Petition for Declaratory and Other Relief."

Basically the petitioners allege that the respondents threaten Montana constitutional rights to a "clean and healthful environment and a right … to preservation of Montana's cultural resources."

The petitioners further claim the County's local regulations are unconstitutional and that the Court "must require modification of the review process to incorporate and weigh the necessary factor. Without consideration of this constitutional interest, the review process as it pertains to the proposed Kootenai Lodge subdivision is void."