Hundreds speak out against bridge

A petition signed by 400 people who object to a 600-foot bridge being built on the north shore of Flathead Lake was presented to the Flathead County commissioners last week.

Dave Hadden, who lives near the bridge that is being built across private property owned by the family of Roger Sortino, read a statement to the commissioners and presented them with the petition.

The petition asks the commissioners to deny any permit amendment that Sortino may seek so that he can resume construction of the bridge. It also seeks to rescind the original permit for the bridge, with a claim that the permit was issued in error because the county Planning Office classified the bridge as “not a road.”

Hadden pointed out that if completed, the bridge will be over 600 feet long, 16 feet wide, built of steel and concrete and it will be for vehicular traffic.

“The bridge will, in fact, be a road,” Hadden stated. “A private road. The county lakeshore protection regulations specify that neither a road nor a driveway may cross the Lakeshore Protection Zone. It is clear from the materials, size and intended purpose of the bridge that it is in fact a ‘road.’”

He believes any permit for the bridge should first be reviewed by the county Planning Board with public involvement.

In April, the Planning Office issued a stop-work order on the bridge project because the bridge was going to exceed the permitted length of 481 feet. So far, the project involves pilings that have been sunk into the lake bed so that the bridge can extend from the north shore to Dockstader Island, all of which are owned by the Sortino family.

An amendment to the permit was necessary and Sortino applied for one, but soon after withdrew that application after the Planning Office discovered the bridge no longer crossed a single parcel of property, which was partly why it was not classified as a road.

Sortino had divided the property through a survey after the permit was issued, creating the two lots that the bridge would cross.

One option to proceed with an amendment application would be to re-survey the properties and restore the property lines that existed prior to the permit being issued.

Hadden said surveyors recently were doing work on the properties.

Hadden and other Bigfork residents who are critical of the bridge regard it as an eyesore that is out of character for the north shore of the lake.