Planning Board to vote on two rezoning requests
May 11—The Flathead County Planning Board on Wednesday will take up two controversial rezoning requests it tabled during its last meeting in April.
One proposal would pave the way for a recreational vehicle or mobile-home park in Evergreen, while the other would simplify the zoning designations on a group of properties between Whitefish and Columbia Falls.
The board held public hearings on the two proposals last month but could not take action after board member Buck Breckenridge recused himself due to a conflict of interest; his father, Rick Breckenridge, was the surveyor representing the two applicants. Only five of the board's nine members were present to begin with, so when Buck Breckenridge stepped away, there was no voting quorum.
One of the requests is from Karyl Kim Struck, who is seeking to rezone 28.5 acres of farmland at 521 E. Cottonwood Drive in Evergreen, from suburban residential to two-family residential with 5-acre minimum lot sizes.
Rick Breckenridge said there are plans to use the land for an RV or mobile-home park, and county planning staff reported that would be a good use for the property because it sits in a floodplain that's not suitable for permanent homes.
Several neighbors objected to the proposal over concerns about traffic, noise, crime, wildlife and the character of the area. Relatives also aired personal disputes about the wishes of the longtime owner of the property, Struck's husband, who died last fall.
BETWEEN WHITEFISH and Columbia Falls, Judy Togiai, the Rea Trust and the Bonnie Kent Trust are seeking to rezone nearly 36 acres on Conn Road, just south of Montana 40 along the Whitefish River. They want to change the zoning designation from suburban agricultural with 10-acre minimum lot sizes to rural residential with 2.5-acre minimum lot sizes.
While the applicants insisted they have no plans of selling or attempting to subdivide the property, neighbors objected to the potential for increased housing density along Conn Road, saying additional traffic would create a hazard where drivers turn onto Montana 40. One neighbor referred to that intersection as "profoundly dangerous," and others said there have been fatal wrecks in the area.
Breckenridge said the zoning change is needed to rectify a problem created from a dispute between the county and the city of Whitefish, which fought for years for the authority to zone the area just outside its borders, known as the "doughnut." The Montana Supreme Court gave that authority to the county in 2014, but Breckenridge said the fallout left three parcels split in half by two different zoning classifications, making them less valuable and harder to develop.
Also Wednesday, the board will consider a request from Clifford and Karen Haven to rezone 1.37 acres at 436 Maple Drive in Kalispell, from suburban residential to one-family residential. And it will consider adding marinas as a conditional use under the "community business" zoning designation.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the second-floor conference room of the county's South Campus Building, 40 11th St. W. in Kalispell. Instructions for tuning in via Zoom can be found on the county's website.
Reporter Chad Sokol can be reached at 758-4439 or csokol@dailyinterlake.com
