Developers submit plans for Hungry Horse subdivision

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

Developers last week submitted plans for the first four phases of a major subdivision in Hungry Horse.

Called Hungry Horse Villages, it's a mix of 64 condominium units, 37 single family homes and 31 townhouses spread over just under 33 acres south and east of Canyon Elementary School.

The project will have its own state-of-the art sewage treatment plant, which will be located north of the school. The plant, once it's built, will be taken over by the Hungry Horse Water District and will become a public plant, according to documents filed with the county planning office last week.

All told the project calls for 132 living units ranging from 900 square foot "cabins" to single family homes on 7,000 square foot lots.

It also includes a network of trails an 3.8 acres of "pocket parks."

The development is being proposed by the Hungry Horse Development Partnership whose principal owners include Dennis Konopatzke and LeRoy Byrd, according to documents filed with the county.

Initially developers proposed a much larger subdivision — about 900 units, but that garnered a negative recommendation by the county planning board in 2006 and developers went back to the drawing board.

This latest proposal envisions the development in phases. The plan lays out in detail how the buildings will look, with cedar accents, and even notes regulations to guard against grizzly and black bears.

It also includes the bylaws to create a homeowners association for the development. In short, the plan would create a virtually brand new village inside Hungry Horse. In addition, Canyon Elementary would be able to hook up to the new sewage treatment plant. As such, school superintendent Michael Nicosia wrote a letter in support of the project. The impact on the school district had been a sticking point in previous negotiations.

The land hasn't been developed before. It used to be a neighborhood of homes owned by the Bureau of Reclamation during the building of the Hungry Horse Dam.

Over time, the buildings were removed and the area grew back into a park-like forest. But a few years ago, the Forest Service, which owned the land, auctioned it off to pay for a new Hungry Horse/Glacier View Ranger District Building.

The Byrd family actually outbid Konopatzke for the land, which, all told, is 92 acres, but after the sale, the two joined together in the partnership. Konopatzke also owns Woodtech in Columbia Falls.

County planner B.J. Grieve said that if all goes well, the project will go before the planning board April 16 at 6 p.m.