Street abandonment will help with bakery

The Columbia Falls City Council Monday night approved abandoning a 10-foot strip of Eighth Street West near Nucleus Avenue, which will help with the construction of a new bakery.

A couple from Great Falls has plans to build a bakery, a bike shop and apartments on the top floor. They needed the strip of the street, which isn’t used by the city, to create a retaining wall, City Manager Susan Nicosia said. 

Currently, there’s an old house on the lot. The couple has not filed formally for a building permit.

This bakery is not associated with a pie factory planned by developer Mick Ruis at the former Park Merc building. Ruis has yet to submit his plans to the city for that project, Nicosia noted. If all of the bakery projects go forward, Nucleus will go from having one bakery, to three.

In other news:

• Council approved a new contract for Nicosia retroactive to July. She will receive a salary of $75,555 plus an additional $500 per bi-weekly pay period as director of Finance and Administration. 

• Council considering writing a letter to Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and the Montana Congressional delegation support an alternative to a Superfund listing for the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. The council will hold off on the letter until the company and the Environmental Proection Agency reach an agreement on an administrative order on consent — a contract that outlines the cleanup of the plant.

• Councilman Dave Petersen raised concerns about the new 911 fee structure, noting it seemed to unfairly penalize owners of storage units, which could pay upwards of $1,000 annually in 911 fees.