Cats and some neighbors stop mosquito spraying
A cat sits on the River’s Edge Park sign Monday night. Cats were one reason why the park was not sprayed for mosquitoes this summer.
Columbia Falls’ Mosquito Flats neighborhood lived up to its name this spring. At times, there were clouds of the biting insects in the city River’s Edge Park, as the park was inundated with flood water from the Flathead River, leaving pools of mosquito-loving water behind.
Flathead County had plans to spray the park and adjacent neighborhood for mosquitoes, city manager Susan Nicosia told city council Monday night, but about a half-dozen neighbors didn’t want the spray and the county was also worried about the feral and domestic cats that call the park home.
On a typical evening, there’s several cats just lounging around the parking lot.
The community garden at the park had plans to cover the produce there while spraying took place, but it never happened. The county decided not to spray after the neighbor objections and concerns about the cats.
In other news:
- The city will help out the Masonic Lodge and at least one neighboring business to get at least some of the back alley on Nucleus Avenue paved. The city will fund the drainage engineering work for the lot, Niosia told the council. The lodge and an adjacent owner will pay for paving.
- The city declared the Columbia Rising Industrial Park as “infrastructure deficient.” The site, which houses SmartLam and the old Plum Creek sawmill, doesn’t have city sewer, water, broadband and other amenities. By declaring it deficient, it will be eligible for possible federal grants. The city is also looking at a Targeted Economic Development District for the park, which would use some property tax dollars to invest in improvements in the park. Nicosia said she was meeting the park’s engineers this week to go over plans for a preliminary plat for the park.
- The city designated Heritage Days as an official event. Notably, the Rotary Club will hold its music festival at Marantette Park on July 28. The music festival featured some great live music last year and was well-attended. With Heritage Days, the crowd should be robust.