City seeks input on snow situation

After a snowier than normal winter, with several feet of snow on U.S. Highway 2 sidewalks most of the time, the city will look to the community for possible solutions.

City council voted Monday night to have a public hearing on the issue at 7 p.m. on May 1 in city council chambers.

The Montana Department of Transportation recently floated the idea of temporarily berming snow in the middle of Highway 2. In exchange, the city would enforce its sidewalk snow-clearing ordinance. The MDT already berms the snow on Nucleus Avenue during heavy snows and then removes it later.

MDT is rebuilding Highway 2 through the city this fall, which includes about a mile of new sidewalks and improvements to the existing sidewalks. But in heavy snow years like this one, the sidewalks are tough for pedestrians to use, because they’re packed with snow. The city has an ordinance requiring that businesses and residences clear the sidewalks, but the ordinance isn’t enforced on Highway 2.

For example, the snow at the Nucleus Avenue intersection was so deep this winter that pedestrians who crossed there had to reach down to tap the crosswalk signal button.

Earlier this year the city floated the idea of a special fee for snow removal to businesses who fronted Highway 2. That, too, will be a topic of discussion at the public hearing on May 1. With the special fee, the city would hire a private contractor to clear the snow from sidewalks on Highway 2.

In other city news:

- The council heard from Mike Cirian and Robert Moler of the Environmental Protection Agency about the latest round of testing at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. Superfund site. Cirian said nothing unusual turned up in the tests. The tests did find a plume of pollution — namely cyanide and flouride — that forms an egg shape around the plant down to the Flathead River. A “seep” of contaminants has been known to leach into the river for decades. More test results will be forthcoming after the last round of testing in June.

- The council approved a mural on the north side of O’Brien’s Liquor store. The mural will feature a mountain scene and have the slogan “Montana ‘Til I Die.” Because it will be on the north side of the building, the mural will not be visible from the road.

- The city received an easement to run sewer lines across state-owned property near the Montana Veterans Home. The easement is necessary to be able to run the line from the Riverwood Estates special improvement district project down to the city sewage treatment plant.

- The council heard from Public Works Director Grady Jenkins on a new permit from the state Department of Environmental Quality for the city’s sewage treatment plant. The city’s discharge is well below state standards already on most fronts, but copper could be a problem in the future if the state lowers the limits for copper discharge. Copper comes from water pipes, Jenkins noted.