Council tables subdivision plan, citing lingering questions

By Jennifer McBride / Leader Staff

POLSON — Councilwoman Elsa Duford started off a round of hard questions for surveyor Marc Carstens, who represented the Vicwood Condominium Community Subdivision, which is up for final plat approval Monday. Vicwood is a 12-unit condominium subdivision which received preliminary approval Aug. 1, 2005. The ditches to be used for storm drains are already partially filled with water, Duford said. "I wonder if the storm draining planning is going to work?" she asked. Carstens said the water present in the storm drains made him feel more confident, not less. It's natural for the water to form because of the climate changes, he explained. When the days are thaw-temperature and the nights are freezing, frost collects, melts and freezes again.

"[The water] is actually a comfort to me because it shows the system is working," he said.

Councilman Mike Lies was similarly concerned about the storm drains, which he worried would attract mosquitos. Carstens reported that the plan had been vetted by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The DEQ also held two public meetings before its approval, a move Carstens called "highly unusual."

"That's the only subdivision I've worked on that I've seen that done," he said. "This was given a lot of scrutiny the whole way through."

The DEQ also analyzed the impact of the storm water ditches up to 20 feet deep, which was much deeper than usual, Carets reported. Lies was also concerned about the dirt piles left behind in construction. Since work was ongoing, Carstens said, those dirt piles hadn't been cleaned up yet and wouldn't be until the final process. It was also unusual, Carstens stated, for a subdivision to come under review for final plat approval while construction continued.

Duford then asked if the hammerhead turn was wide enough for fire engines, and Carstens replied that it had been approved by the Polson Fire Department. Hammerheads, he said, "are one of our favorite turnarounds" because they leave smaller "footprints" than cul-de-sacs.

Several citizens also asked questions. Kathe Randle lives near the hammerhead turn and said it needed to be better marked because the dead end is causing near-accidents. Fred Segu, who lives downstream from development, was concerned about an open-air collection basin that had been on the original plans. Since both the DEQ and the engineer signed off on the completion of the storm drains, what happened to the basin?

Carstens said he wasn't sure, but he suspected it had been removed during the period between the preliminary and the final plans. Mary Sale, another local resident, said that she wasn't comfortable with Carstens' answer because the basin had been one of the major conditions of the subdivision. Randle agreed. "I would ask the council to be sure all the conditions have been met because we can't unring the bell," she said.

Local residents also wanted to know about the homeowner's association, which was, on paper, responsible for certain duties like signage and maintenance, because the homeowners' association hadn't been created yet. Who would take care of all the issues until then? Carstens said he would file the paperwork from the homeowners association as soon as the final plat was approved.

Finally, councilman Tom Jones asked if there was a headline screen set up on the hammerhead, and Carstens said there wasn't because of the foliage, which he thought would make the screen ineffective.

In the end, the council decided to postpone the subdivision discussion until they could speak with the engineers about the screen and the storm drains.

In other news, the Polson City Council:

? Offered two free golf passes, worth $1,000, to the Rotary club to raffle in a fundraiser for the Polson Middle School's climbing wall. Lies questioned the precedent. "We'll have every group in town asking for golf passes," he said.

Tom Corse, Polson Golf Board Chair, said the golf board had adopted a set of limits: first, the group asking for the golf passes must directly benefit Polson, especially the youth; second, the group be a 501(c)3; and third, the golf board offer a maximum of six passes a year. The council voted 4-1-1 to approve, with Duford opposing and Lies abstaining.

? Listened to treasurer Bonnie Manicke, who announced she had been to a conference on grants and loans and listed several that could be helpful. She also said she was continuing to invest money in local bank certificates of deposit rather in the risky stock market, because she would rather be able to "sleep at night." According to the treasurer's report, the total cash/investment pool for last month for the city was $5.15 million.

? Discussed evaluation forms for city manager Jay Henry, which are scheduled soon. Jones asked if they could make the evaluations more frequent, either quarterly or bimonthly, and Mayor Lou Marchello agreed.

? Expressed their frustration at water rights meeting. Lies called the state representatives "unprepared" and "disappointing." (See related story on A1)

"I think they're actually going in reverse," he said.

Marchello accused the state of "dragging their feed" and complimented the tribes and Chairman James Steele for his work pushing to meet the July 2009 deadline imposed by the Montana State Legislature.