Pizzeria gets OK on alcohol

By ALEX STRICKLAND - Bigfork Eagle

The Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee voted unanimously to approve a conditional use permit that would allow Sun MTN Pizza on Highway 35 to pursue a liquor license to serve alcohol at the establishment.

The decision at last Thursday's meeting, came after discussion surrounding the need for a beer and wine license versus the full alcohol license Sun MTN Pizza owner Russell Meads is applying for.

I would feel more comfortable if it was just beer and wine," said BLUAC member Mary Jo Naive. "But I understand the economics of it for you."

Meads said that since the beer and wine license was the same price as a full liquor license, he felt that it wouldn't be prudent to only apply for the lesser license.

"I see the demand being there for only beer and wine, really," he said, adding that should someone want a mixed drink that it would be available.

Meads said he had no intentions of turning the pizzeria into a bar of any sort and that he wanted to maintain his business hours of 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., hours BLUAC found acceptable despite County planning staff's recommendation that the restaurant only be permitted to stay open until 9 p.m.

BLUAC also expressed relief that Meads was not seeking to place any sort of gaming machines in his restaurant. Meads offered to make that restriction a condition of the permit if it would allay any worries.

"I'm not a bar man," Meads said. "I've been making pizza for 35 years."

The liquor license would provide some additional revenue and hopefully attract more customers, he said.

"I think it might be what I need to get through the year."

BLUAC also voted unanimously to recommend approval of a conditional use permit for the Saddlehorn project to operate a temporary gravel pit and rock crushing operation on site.

The permit stipulates that no permanent structures be constructed on the site and that rock crushing would only last approximately two weeks.

Chairman John Bourquin expressed concern over noise produced by the crushing operations, but Brett Fischer, the subcontractor with Saddlehorn for the crushing, said that Montana Open Cut Mining regulations restrict noise to 70 decibels and has tight regulations on air quality. Seventy decibels, for comparison, is the amount of noise heard inside a moving vehicle, according to a Simon Fraser University Web site.

Saddlehorn developer Doug Averill said the rock crushing would take place in January, assuming all the necessary permits were received. The reason to crush the rocks on site is to eliminate the need for approximately 4,000 dump trucks of gravel to travel through Bigfork en route to the development, he said.

The rock crushing site will be reclaimed as an equestrian facility for the development and Averill said that facility should be up and running by late spring.

In a final order of business, BLUAC recommended denial in a 5-2 vote for a zone change on a property near Echo Lake. The change, from SAG-10 to SAG-5 would double the allowable density and even though the board largely sympathized with Sarah Taylor, the applicant, the group said they couldn't recommend approval.

Taylor and husband Jerry Bygren said they wanted to build another residence on the property and keep the existing house as a guest home. The zone change was being pursued for estate planning purposes, they said.

In addition to Taylor, the Spitler family was also listed as an applicant as they own an adjoining parcel and Flathead County recommended to Taylor that she approach neighbors about possibly joining the application. The Spitlers live out of county and Bourquin and others on BLUAC said they were uncomfortable without knowing the Spitlers intentions.

"You're in a catch 22," Bourquin said of the situation.

Two of Taylor's neighbors, Jeff and Curt Wade, spoke out against the zone change, citing concerns about increased density in the future and dangers of precedents set by making small-scale zone changes.

BLUAC member Paul Guerrant said, "We squander the public trust by changing properties around them (neighbors) from what it was when they purchased it."

BLUAC's recommendations will be forwarded to the County Planning Board to be considered in that body's decisions.