Change proposed for Bigfork subdivision

A proposed zoning text amendment for a 113-lot subdivision in Bigfork goes before the Flathead County Planning Board for a public hearing on this week.

Mill Creek Phases 1 and 2 are planned at the northwest corner of Holt Drive and Chapman Hill Road over 37.6 acres. 

Applicants for the project — Bigfork Landing II LLC, Calaway Construction and Calaway Brothers LLC — are asking for a zoning text amendment to the Mill Creek planned-unit development.

The proposal would amend the text to allow Phase 2 attached dwelling lots to be combined into larger attached or detached dwelling lots. Language also has been added to allow lots to be moved or shifted to be outside common area improvements such as paths and landscaping.

According to the Planning Office staff report, the proposed amendment generally complies with the Flathead County growth policy because it still allows for single-family homes, duplexes and triplexes, and the amendment has the potential to reduce the land-use densities.

The developers maintain the text change will continue the variety of housing types but will “allow the current configurations to be altered to meet market demand.”

The planning report said the amendment appears to conserve the value of buildings and “encourage the most appropriate use of the land ... because the amendment would not change the list of permitted uses within the planned-unit development.”

The Planning Board meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building, 1035 First Ave. W. in Kalispell.