Hungry Horse Villages gets Planning Board OK

By HEIDI DESCH / Hungry Horse News

The Flathead County Planning Board unanimously gave its approval last week for a 75-lot subdivision in Hungry Horse.

The subdivision is proposed for 32.64 acres of land on the west side of Colorado Boulevard. It includes a total of 132 dwelling units made up of a mixture of single family homes and multi-family housing, including condominiums. It would be developed over four phases.

Also included are plans for a sewage treatment plant north of Canyon Elementary School. The plant would eventually be owned by the Hungry Horse Sewer and Water District, which would operate the plant.

The Planning Board gave a positive recommendation for approval. The County Commissioners will vote on the proposal at a later date.

This is the second go-around for a project on this site. Developers Stephan Byrd and Dennis Konopatzke previously presented a proposal that included about 900 units built on 90 acres. The Byrd family and Konopatzke purchased the land from the Forest Service.

The Planning Board gave a negative recommendation for that proposal in December of 2006 under the name South Fork Addition.

At the time many Hungry Horse residents complained the development was too dense.

Plans were scaled down considerably. The gross density of the new plan is four units per acre. The County uses only gross density for projects which means that areas such as streets and open space are not removed from the density calculations.

Still some residents felt the density remains too high.

"It still has too many units," James Downen said. "The developers are using smoke and mirrors to deceive the community and officials."

However, some residents said the new version was improved.

Phyllis Gregory said the land would have been developed by someone, but at least the current developers tried to work with the community on the plan.

"The problem most people have is with density, but it has been changed," she said. "I'd rather the Forest Service had not sold it, but that's a done deal."

A major component of the plan includes creating a sewage treatment plant. It would serve not only the development, but could also serve the entire community.

Bill Kavanagh, manager for the Sewer and Water District, told the board he supports the plan because it comes with the treatment facility.

"We have healthy and the best tasting water. I'd like to see it stay that way," he said. "We also have a high susceptibility to contamination from septic tanks."

Some Planning Board members stated a desire to see Hungry Horse stay the way it is, but at the same time couldn't find a reason to deny the plan.

"I drove all through the area. It seems like reasonable density considering the proximity to the school and the location. I don't see it causing degradation," Gene Dziza said. "I couldn't bite off the original proposal, but this much more reasonable."

Several stated the treatment plant is an added benefit to the community.

"The die was cast when the Forest Service sold the land. We're fortunate that we got someone willing to put in a treatment plant," Board Chairman Gordon Cross said.