City considering fee for sidewalk snow removal on U.S. 2

This is the latest design for wayfaring signs in the city, done by Columbia Falls High School students.

A boy who identified himself as Corbin walks on a snowbank where the sidewalk would normally be on US Highway 2 in Columbia Falls.

by CHRIS PETERSON
Editor | January 25, 2017 12:04 PM

A boy who identified himself as Corbin walks on a snowbank where the sidewalk would normally be on US Highway 2 in Columbia Falls.

The city of Columbia Falls will explore the possibility of a fee for businesses and other landowners along U.S, Highway 2 for snow removal. The fee, if implemented, would be similar to light and street assessment fees.

The problem along Highway 2 is the state plows in the sidewalks, but by law, it’s the business owner’s responsibility to clean the sidewalk.

The snow, once it’s plowed, turns extremely hard and is difficult to remove and many businesses don’t plow the sidewalk.

The fee would cover the cost of having a contractor plow the sidewalks, rather than the businesses. The state is planning on revamping Highway 2 through the city this summer, including moving light poles and widening the sidewalks to eight feet.

The council, at its Tuesday night meeting last week, approved allowing city manager Susan Nicosia to move forward with the idea to get a better sense of whether the business community would support a measure. Right now, the city hasn’t been enforcing the snow removal law along Highway 2.

In other city news:

• Council took a first look at wayfinding signs the city is working on with Columbia Falls High School students. They liked the design with the city’s name in the sign’s arch.

• Council learned the city has clear water rights to all its wells and reservoirs.

• The Riverwood Estates sewer and water special improvement district still needs easements from the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. The easement request — to run the sewer line across state lands near the Montana Veterans Home — will have to go in front of the state land board. The board won’t take up the request until April.

• Council learned from Nicosia that the state Legislature is considering several bills that could weaken or even dismantle Tax Increment Finance districts. The city just completed a TIF district and is using the funds for city projects that it normally couldn’t afford.

Nicosia is keeping an eye on the bills.