City attorney cautions council on bike path

The City of Columbia Falls won’t partner up with the Gateway to Glacier Trail group on a planned bike path that would run along the Flathead River just outside of town.

The trail group last year reached a license agreement with the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. that would allow the group to build a bike path on CFAC property. The company owns a large swath of land from just north of the U.S. Highway 2 bridge to the House of Mystery boat launch. The trail, if it’s built, would run along the river and would provide a scenic route for pedestrians and cyclists.

Earlier this month, group members Sarah Dakin and Jamie Belt approached the city council about assuming the license. Because it’s a government entity, the thought was the city could oversee the license for the longterm, while the group would build the trail itself.

But city attorney Justin Breck did some research and in a two-page memo to council March 19, he urged the city to not assume the license on several fronts, even though the trail would be a benefit to the community.

For one, the city’s insurer, the Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority would not insure the trail, which could leave the city open to lawsuits and would represent an unacceptable risk.

“Without coverage for defense costs, liability, and indemnity, the city would, as with any right, property interest, activity or engagement it undertakes, assumes, or owns, be at risk for potentially more than its budget could accommodate and certainly more than its residents would find acceptable,” Breck found.

The main problem with the trail is that it’s a license for use, not an easement, Breck noted.

The license allows CFAC to revoke or change it at any time. An easement, by contrast, is not revocable and would give the city a real property right. Whitefish, for example, has bike paths, but those are easements owned by the city and thus, under the city’s control.

As such, they’re covered by the Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority, Breck noted. There were also several problems with the license, Breck found, including leaving the city on the hook for maintenance and construction if the trail group dissolved and making sure the trail was closed during hunting season, as CFAC allows limited hunting on the property through an agreement with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. CFAC could also require that insurance coverage on the trail be increased at any time.

Breck told council that the best thing for trail group to do was to get an easement for the trail.

The council took Breck’s memo under advisement. The group could, he suggested, get its own insurance, or might potentially team up with the county, if the county’s insurance would cover it.