County closes popular Swan River access

The Lake County commissioners have closed a popular river access on the Swan River near Bigfork.

The Rainbow Drive river access is popular in the summer, but parking has become an issue with local neighbors and Lake County commissioners recently voted to close the park.

“The site has been closed temporarily by the commissioners due to consistently unacceptable parking violations,” Lake County park board chairman Mike Roberts said. “During the peak season for river floating, people park on both sides of the road, making it hazardous for through traffic.”

Roberts said the closure will be temporary until the commissioners find a solution. “No one on the board wants the closure to be permanent, as river and lake accesses in that area are practically non-existent,” he said. “The fear …  is that closing the site will simply cause an equally hazardous situation, just a short distance away at the Rainbow Bridge where people obviously will flock to. We are avidly seeking a solution to the problem. This is definitely not a closed issue. We intend to do what we can to get it reopened.”

He said one idea was to purchase an adjacent five acres to be developed for parking. “The stickler is that there are very few finances in our park fund,” he said. “We have suggested partnering with other entities who are experienced in managing such sites and may have more ideas and capital than we do.”

Roberts said he’s meeting with an official from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks later this month in Bigfork to discuss options for the county park.

Lake County owns seven acres about one-half mile from the Swan River access, and Roberts said one option would be to sell that land and use the money to pay for the five acres across the road from the Rainbow Drive access.

By closing the current access, he said, “There’s going to be a problem, people climbing the fence, causing problems with the neighbors … closing it down may open a can of worms,” he said. “They’re going to flock toward the Rainbow Drive bridge, as they did before, and that’s even more hazardous.”

The Rainbow Drive site — which Lake County owns —can accommodate about 15 cars, but on some days there are 40 or 50 cars along the road, Roberts said.

Lake County this summer will be finishing a management plan for its park facilities. Lake County has four developed parks: the Ferndale river access; the Chuck Dixon access on Kings Point Road on the west shore of Flathead Lake; Mellett Park on Finley Point; and a park and dock in Dayton. In Dayton, Lake County is facing a similar situation to Ferndale: neighboring landowners who are against having a public park next to their property.

“That’s another huge battle,” Roberts said. “The neighbors around the dock believe it’s illegal and should go away.”

That’s probably not going to happen, Roberts said, as the county is interested in keeping those assets. “I think it’s a beautiful little community and they need to get together and realize that everybody cares and work together,” he said. “They’re all good people, they just disagree. They have the best intentions but it’s kind of a battle.”

Lake County does not have a paid parks staff and Roberts, as the parks board director, is a volunteer.

Lake County owns over 60 small parcels around Flathead Lake that it has identified as having potential for parks. Several of those sites, though, are very small and have been taken over by adjoining private landowners who have built decks, sheds and pump houses on them, Roberts said. Some landowners have gated the public accesses, he said. “They figure if they put their boat house or pump house across the line eventually it will become theirs,” Roberts said.

Lake County has not pursued legal action against private landowners who have occupied public land — yet, Roberts said.

The sites around Flathead Lake were platted in 1910 and Lake County has never sold them. “Nearly every one of them has problems with a neighbor,” Roberts said. “The majority of them have become people’s front yards.”

One county site on Finley point is so small that cars can only back into it. “The neighbors do not like the park, although it’s been there since the 1960s,” Roberts said.

Leasing or selling those parcels could help pay for sites that are big enough to develop public access, Roberts said. “We’re hoping to find a way to make some income,” he said.

While Flathead County has sold its land around Flathead Lake, Roberts said, “Lake County never got around to it, or had the incentive to do it,” he said. “Flathead County once had as many.”

 The comment period for the Lake County parks management plan is over, but Roberts said the county is open to suggestions. “We don’t have all the answers, by any means,” he said.

The management plan is available at www.lakecounty.gov.