Religious park is OK, state, county say

The new Ten Commandments Park in Columbia Heights is in compliance with the federal Highway Beautification Act, a Montana Department of Transportation spokeswoman said last week.

The Hungry Horse News has received complaints from residents since the Park, which is the brainchild of Creston rancher Philip Klevmoen, went up last month on U.S. 2. The complaints centered on the close proximity of the large signs to the highway.

The large signs, which feature the Ten Commandments and quotes from America’s Founding Fathers, are considered on-premise signs, MDT public information officer Lori Ryan said.

Ryan said staff from MDT’s outdoor advertising division visited the site but found no violations because the signs aren’t located on MDT right-of-way. Since they’re not in the right-of-way and wholly on private land, they’re in compliance, she said.

The park also meets local zoning requirements, Flathead County officials said. Part of Columbia Heights is zoned with a scenic corridor overlay, county planning director B.J. Grieve said, but the signs do not meet the definition of a an off-site sign.

By definition, off-site signs are “advertising an establishment, merchandise, service or entertainment, which is not sold, produced, manufactured or furnished at the property on which the sign is located.”

Grieve also said the meaning of scenic overlay is often misconstrued by the public.

“It’s commonly misunderstood because of what it’s called,” Grieve said in an e-mail to the Hungry Horse News. “Folks hear that term and assume it regulates anything that would impact scenery, but that’s not the case.”

Klevmoen and fellow organizers bought the 10-acre former Beaver Wood Products site in Columbia Heights a few months ago. In the early 2000s, the Environmental Protection Agency declared the land a Superfund site and commenced a cleanup.

Klevmoen said he found God when he lived in Las Vegas in the late 1990s.

He said he was into gambling and decided to change his life after people stole “millions” of dollars from him.

He forgave those people, and now his calling is to spread the word.

Klevmoen’s goal is to have people display the Ten Commandments on homes and cars across the nation. This is the first park he’s developed.