Bridge work shut down

Construction crews at the Dockstader Island bridge site have been removed after Flathead County Planning Office placed a “stop work” order on the site April 22.

The owners of Eagle Cove, a collection of lots in Bigfork between Holt Drive and Flathead Lake have been building a 481-foot bridge from the north shore of Flathead Lake out to Dockstader Island. According to the stop-work order, the bridge has exceeded the permitted length. A nearby landowner said the bridge exceeded the permitted length by 100 feet. That length was not confirmed by the Flathead County Planning Office as of this newspaper’s press time Tuesday.

A permit is required to work on or in the Flathead Lake shoreline, and the Flathead County Planning Office had approved the bridge based on its lakeshore regulations. The permit applicant, Roger Sortino, has been seeking to have a Flathead County road easement next to the Eagle Cove property abandoned. The easement is a popular public year-round access from Holt Drive to Flathead Lake.