Stabilization work resumes at Whitefish Stage slump

Stabilization work has resumed on a slump-prone bluff off Whitefish Stage Road near Village Greens golf community in Kalispell.

Traffic control is set up on Whitefish Stage Road to handle the truck traffic, and the project should wrap up in about three weeks, according to Flathead County Grant Administrator Whitney Aschenwald.

Schellinger Construction of Kalispell and Tetra Tech of Missoula were awarded the nearly $1 million contract, and the hauling of material to the slide area began a year ago. Some work was done earlier this year but a wet spring put the project on hold.

Homeowners who live off Whitefish Stage Road on top of the bluff worked for six years to develop a plan and secure federal grant funding to stabilize a section of the bluff that first collapsed in 2010, and slid again in 2014 following record rainfall. Then the homeowners had to sue the county to get the repair work rolling.

The Flathead County commissioners gave initial approval for the stabilization project and had agreed to have the county be the sponsoring agency — a pass-through vehicle for the grant money. No county money was committed to the project.

The commissioners later voted to terminate the grant process, voicing concerns about the county’s liability if the slope were to fail. A District Court judge then ordered the county to get involved with the project.

The mitigation includes drainage improvements, a gravel buttress, granular backfill slope support and some flattening of the slope brow, accompanied with revegetation and reseeding. It’s being paid for with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Administration and about $125,000 from the affected property owners.

Roughly 18,000 yards of fill dirt is being supplied from the Glacier Rail Park site through an agreement with the Flathead County Economic Development Authority for an in-kind cost of $10 per yard.