City settles Cahill lawsuit, will put up fence

The Columbia Falls City Council approved a settlement with Mark and Inge Cahill over Kreck Riverside Park Monday night.

The Cahills, which own land to both the north and south of the park, sued the city in Flathead County District Court in the summer of 2022, claiming the narrow park near the Old Red Bridge was a nuisance.

“People frequently use the park to trespass and engage in other unlawful conduct that interferes with the uninterruptible enjoyment of Cahill property and is unreasonable,” the couple claimed in its original complaint.

They wanted the city to close the park entirely.

In the settlement, the city agrees to “install and maintain a six-foot spire-type fence along the southern boundary of Kreck Riverside Park … extending to the top of the bluff as is structurally feasible. The foregoing item will be completed within one year.”

In addition, the city will “provide signage on the north and south borders of the park including language similar to “No Trespassing, Private Property” and displaying the hours of operation of the park.”

The city also agrees to “enforce its current and future trespass and hours of use laws and ordinances in good faith in regard to activities in and around the park.”

The Cahills, in turn, will drop their suit.

City attorney Justin Breck told city council Monday night the settlement would cost far less than going to trial.

The fence is expected to cost about $14,000, city manager Susan Nicosia told council.

The Cahill’s property was previously owned by Loren Kreck, a conservation-minded resident who actually donated a path that ran along the river on his property.

The park is named after him.

But when Kreck died, the Cahills insisted the easement be expunged, claiming the path was resulting in vandalism on their land, even though Kreck never seemed to have a problem for the decades he owned the land.

More recently, the city has experienced vandalism at the park and in turn, has installed surveillance cameras at the site.

The Red Bridge has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2010. The bridge, however, is not in the city limits. It is in the county and little has been done to take care of it for the past 25 years, save for paint.

The city over the years has invested about $25,000 in landscaping and other amenities at Kreck Park, which also provides access to the river for fishermen.