Council recommends reapproval of Lakeside Estates preliminary plat
The Lakeside Community Council met late last month to review a preliminary plat for phases 3-5 of the Lakeside Estates subdivision, which had previously received approval from the Flathead County Commissioners in March of 2004.
The 44-acre subdivision consists of 59 single family residential lots on 32.37 acres, with a 3.4 acre common area and eight acres worth of roads. The staff report lists the owner and developer as Doug Siderius of Lakeside Land Development, LLP, with technical assistance by Sands Surveying and Birk Engineering.
Since the project received approval in 2004 but failed to make the deadline for final plat, Lakeside Council members saw few problems with the new application but expressed their approval of the findings of fact and suggested conditions outlined in the staff report, which had been prepared by Flathead County planner Andrew Hagemeier.
Council members voted unanimously to recommend approval of the new preliminary plat.
"This project received preliminary plat approval a number of years ago, and the developer failed to reach final plat within the appropriate timeline," Hagemeier said. "Therefore, it was like it basically never happened, so they have to go back through the process to get a new preliminary plat. It's technically a new subdivision, but everyone knows about it and it's been around for a long time. They just need to get new lease on life."
Hagemeier was unable to attend the Lakesides council meeting due to knee surgery, but Planning Director Jeff Harris presented the staff report in his absence and fielded questions from the council in relation to the project.
The council's main concern related to proposed secondary access through adjacent Troutbeck Rise, which borders Lakeside Estates to the southwest. Council members were concerned about traffic from the project entering and exiting through Troutbeck Rise.
The Troutbeck Rise access proved to be a concern for the planning staff as well, but for different reasons. The access is the subject of two findings of fact. One finding addresses the potential negative impact to local services due to the condition of Troutbeck Rise's Skookum Road, which does not meet the standards for a subdivision's secondary access. The other pertains to health and safety issues related to the proposed access.
Another finding of fact, refers to the failure to sufficiently address stormwater runoff from one lot to the next, and another refers to a failure to show easements for utilities.
"We treated it as a new proposal in most respects," Hagemeier said. "We didn't ding them for park land, because they had already been dinged for that; and we didn't require them to make improvements to the primary access, because they had done some improvements to Bierney Creek Road and we felt that issue had already been mitigated.
"However, with the access to Troutbeck Rise, we are going to ask that they improve that, at least to county standards. We asked for a little bit more in regard to the stormwater than was in the original application, but nothing major."
To date, no houses have been built in the proposed Lakeside Estates, phases 3-5. According to Hagemeier, some water lines have been laid, and sewer lines are currently being installed. Water will be supplied by a public well, previously constructed by the developer during Phase I, and all lots will be served by the Lakeside County Water and Sewer District, which will provide sewer as well as administer the water system.
All internal roads will be paved and will be maintained by the future Homeowners association. Those roads, Hagemier said, have already been etched in but presently consist of only narrow dirt tracks.
The Flathead County Planning Board will hold a public hearing in the Earl Bennett Building conference room at 1035 First Avenue West in Kalispell on March 11, to review the proposal and make recommendation to the county commissioners.