Developers seek floodplain permits

Developers Roger Sortino and Jolene Dugan have requested three floodplain development permits from the Flathead County Planning and Zoning Office.

Sortino and Dugan placed three revised requests for excavations of ponds on their properties along Holt drive in Bigfork. Two of the requests are to excavate a pond or pool in the 100-year floodplain of Flathead Lake that would be about 160-feet wide and 120-feet long and average three feet in depth. The pond would be outside the lakeshore protections zone and be fed by groundwater. About .36 acres of land would be on the flood fringe.

The second request asked for excavation of a pond that would remove 2,420 cubic yards of fill in the flood fringe. The pool would be about 180-feet wide and 140 feet long and three feet in depth.

None of the ponds would be used for artificial harbors or as lagoons for boat moorage, as the ponds will not connect to the lake, the application notice said.

The properties are at 386 Holt Drive, 482 Holt Drive and 440 Holt Drive.

Lawson Moorman from Flathead County Planning and Zoning said the permit applications initially came in late 2013 and went through several iterations before they were considered completed, and ready for the public comment period.

Moorman said the permitting process is intensive. The applicants fill out a joint application that is looked at by numerous agencies concerned with floodplains and riparian areas. The permit has to be approved by all of these agencies before the county planning and zoning office considers it complete.

The planning board’s main concern with this type of project, he said, is the conveyance and storage of water.

Moorman said the permit applications were considered “complete and correct” earlier this year, but the Department of Natural Resources, which the planning office refers the applications to, had some concerns about additional permitting for water rights. Sortino and Dugan elected to address this concern before continuing with the permitting process.

The permits are now in the 15-day public comment period. 

After the public-comment period Moorman said the permit goes through a 60 day review period, where they look to see if the project fits within regulations, particularly with the storage and conveyance of water.

They also make sure a buffer strip of undisturbed land is left between the edge of the channel and the edge of excavation, and is sufficient to prevent flood flows or accelerate bank erosion. The excavation has to meet all applicable laws and regulations of other agencies and the excavated material is disposed of or stockpiled outside of the flood hazard area.

“The regulations are probably different than what most people would look at,” he said.

Though he public comment period is 15-days, Moorman said public comment can be submitted after that period, though it may be too late to be considered. 

While they take public comment into consideration he said, there is no formula for how they weigh public comment.

“Predominately we’re kind of beholden to the regulations,” he said.

Written or oral comments concerning the requests should be directed to the Floodplain Administrator at the Flathead County Planning and Zoning Office, Earl Bennett Building, 1035 First Ave. West, Kalispell MT 59901. Phone 406-751-8200, by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8.