Cougar Ridge Phase I approved

Public discussion of Phase I of Mike Maddy's proposed Cougar Ridge development was sometimes heated at last week's city/county planning board meeting, but board members ultimately gave Maddy preliminary approval with some conditions.

Dozens of people showed up to make their voices heard on what has the potential to be the largest single development in Polson history. The most divisive question was where to provide access to the development, which would be located on the west side of Hwy. 93 at the old mill site.

Maddy hired a group of experts to do a study on the best available options, and 15th Ave. was one of the choices. Time and again, people rose to comment on the wisdom of the street as an access point. Most of critics reside on or near 15th Ave.

"I'm concerned about safety and accidents," said Kim Schesly. "They need to bring the street up to city road standards before they think about adding all this traffic to it. The S curve is in bad condition with limited use right now."

"Every time there's a snowstorm, someone's off the road on 15th," said Carol Jones. "The road is dangerous — people have to learn to drive it in summer and winter differently."

Much of the concern had to do with the S curve, and the inability of drivers to see pedestrians or other vehicles on the curve.

"Two blind people live up on 15th near the S curve and one of them walks around there all the time," said Bruce Campbell. "There are children up there, too."

"The slope is too high on 15th — it will never meet city codes" said David Wolf.

When time came for a vote on the master plan, Pat DeVries was emphatic.

"I cannot vote for any plan that uses 15th Ave. as an access point," DeVries said. "I used to live on 15th, and I know it's a safety hazard."

The crowd erupted into cheering, and board was deadlocked in a 3-3 tie for some time. Eventually Maddy convinced some members that nothing was final, and changes could always be made. 15th Avenue was just a suggestion from his planners, but he couldn't hide his exasperation.

"Are you a traffic engineer?" he blurted out at one of the dissenters. "This is the third public hearing, and I've already agreed to extend a deadline for the benefit of the board. I was told at the last meeting my opinion doesn't matter — 'Go hire an expert' — so that's what I did."

In December, board members struck down Phase I, saying they needed more information on water, sewer, and traffic reports. But not everyone was there to bury Maddy's plan.

"This plan will concentrate 300 families into 200 acres," said Jim Simpson. "If we used the existing system, everyone would buy a 20-acre ranchette, and that would take up 6,000 acres. I'd rather grow people in smaller areas than larger one. It's just sensible."

There was also anxiety about the soil quality in the area, because Maddy is offering to donate land for a city swimming pool.

"There was previously hazardous materials on this site," said Elsa Duford. "Are we sure they have been cleaned up?"

Another bone of contention was the ability of Polson to deal with water capacity for a development of this size. While Maddy's plan only calls for 30 new homes to be hooked up to the water system a year, Mike Corcoran presented his interpretation of the city's water capacity that differed greatly with the numbers Maddy's engineering firm came up with.

Anderson-Montgomery, whom Maddy hired, concluded that the existing wells could meet demand at their current capacity until 2013. Corcoran, a retired chemical engineer who looked at the well logs in his spare time, concluded the city could only meet demand until 2006 with the current wells.

Corcoran said Anderson-Montgomery used flawed numbers that were four years old to determine capacity. And he was concerned about the impact of the interim water agreement currently being negotiated between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the state as an emergency fallback.

"The city has six wells, and three of them have noticeable declines in water production," said Corcoran. "Also, July and August were severe decline months and that's often when demand is highest. I think if you're looking to develop in Polson, there could be a problem. If we need more improvements to the water system, developers should be forced to pay some of this ahead of time, instead of the city reacting after the fact and raising taxes, which is their only option to pay for improvements."

Maddy agreed that he wouldn't move forward with his development unless it was determined the city had enough water capacity. A new city water report, which happens to be produced by Anderson-Montgomery, is due this month. And he said he's going to be paying around $1 million just for hooking up the 300 units to the water system.

City water superintendent Tony Porrazzo had a problem with Corcoran's numbers.

"He did a good job putting together what he has," said Porrazzo. "But he's using the wrong scenarios. You don't use the peak two days of the month as a basis — you use an average. And he's using numbers from across the river the past three years, and we didn't move it across the river until last year."

Ultimately, all debate was shot down when board member Dan Morrison pointed out that the planning board doesn't deal with water capacity issues, or traffic issues for that matter — the city council does.

Phase I will go before the Polson City Council in the near future.