Council will take up Kapoor subdivision on April 17

The Columbia Falls City Council will take up a 180-unit subdivision proposed by a Florida developer at its April 18 meeting at 7 p.m. city manager Susan Nicosia said Monday. Council postponed a decision on the subdivision at 7030 Highway 2 West last week after the council meeting went until after midnight.

Florida-based developer Rishi Kapoor is asking for city approval of the complex on 22 acres on the north side of Highway 2 just east of the river.

Kapoor is CEO of Location Acquisitions, part of Location Ventures, out of Coral Gables, Florida. He is proposing 99 single family attached homes in 3-and 4-unit buildings, 81 apartment units, a private clubhouse, a public park, green space and on-street parking.

The land is currently a 10-acre parcel and a 12-acre parcel, both of which have long been horse pastures. The land is wet and contains a manmade pond and host of wetlands. Borings in a geotechnical report found the water table to be just over 2 feet below the surface.

The developers are asking for a zone change from CSAG-5 and CSAG-10 (Suburban Agricultural) with a 5 and 10 acre minimum lot size to a proposed zoning of CR-4 (Urban Residential) zoning. A planned unit development overlay would allow for just under 8 units an acre.

The Columbia Falls City-county planning board voted unanimously for a negative recommendation to council of the project as proposed, citing a host of concerns about wetlands, the Flathead River, traffic, wildlife and density.

The planning board also previously rejected a high density development directly across the road for similar reasons. That project, called River Highlands, called for 83 single family homes, 98 townhomes and 162 apartments — 343 units total.

Developer James Barnett pulled the application for Highlands before it made it to city council.

At last week’s hearing, Kapoor told council that he came to Montana “just for the sole purpose of wanting to visit and hike in Glacier Park.”

He said he had a “fascination of Montana Growing up as a kid in Georgia.”

“Those first hikes turned into a love for the outdoors and for what the greater Flathead region has to offer,” he said.

But critics say his project would compromise the very values Kapoor claims to espouse.

“This water (the Flathead River) is internationally recognized,” Vin D’Angelo, a fisheries biologist with 15 years experience researching native fisheries in the Flathead.

D’Angelo was speaking of the North Fork Watershed Protection Act, an agreement between the U.S. and Canada that banned all mining and energy development in the North Fork of the Flathead.

“We can shoot all those efforts in the foot by leaking sewage this close to Flathead Lake,” he said.

But he said there were broader issues at stake as well.

“(We) need to stop turning this place into everywhere else, which it is not,” he said.

But Gulf Interstate chief pipeline engineer Lance Thomas gave a presentation on the efficacy of direction drilling a sewer and water line under the river to serve the new subdivision.

“You make sure you use material that’s strong enough … twice as strong as it would ever need to be,” he said. Then it’s pressure tested to a higher level than it would ever see in its lifetime, he said.

Throughout the pipe’s life, the city would run in-line inspection tools to examine the pipe, Thomas said.

“If it’s deteriorating, then you, yeah, you replace it,” he said.

While the developer would pay for the initial installation, the city would pay for replacement.

But critics worried about the nature of the river, as it shifts and slides and moves gravel in its bed. While directional drilling has been done across the the Flathead Valley — Kalispell has similar lines crossing the Stillwater River, for example, the Flathead River can shift massive gravel bars in a single spring high water cycle.

Hilary Lange, the owner of Lary’s Fly and Supply Shop in Columbia Falls and a longtime fishing guide, said the “potential for scour, big time!” as she rattled off a host of reasons why the development could harm the river.

The longterm impacts to the river in the end, were the arguments most brought to the table — they weren’t opposed to high density development — they were, however, opposed to it near the Flathead River.

While the development does leave small buffer between the proposed clubhouse and the river, the land is less than acre and looks to be a playground and parking.

All told, only two people spoke in favor of the development and one of those was the real estate agent involved in the transaction.

Mayor Don Barnhart prior to the meeting asked that people from the city proper testify at the hearing. While most lived east of the river outside the city limits, there were others that lived inside the city as well, including some prominent business owners.

They all opposed the project.

The zone change cannot pass by a simple majority vote, Barnhart noted. It needs a two-third majority to pass, as 25% or more of the neighboring landowners have protested the change.

The provision is part of the city’s zoning law.

It is also important to note that this is not the only parcel of land Kapoor has plans to develop. He is also seeking a zone change from the county on about 112 acres of farmland about a quarter of a mile to the east from an agricultural designation to residential.

In addition, there’s another 140 acre parcel just to the east of that which is also listed for sale.

Both of the parcels immediately abut the Bad Rock Wildlife Management Area.

It may be a matter of time before city services are extended to those properties as well — in Kapoor’s plan for the apartment complex, the sewer line is shown as extended to the eastern-most edge of the property, putting it within a quarter mile or so of the 112-acre parcel.

The county planning board will take up that zone change request at 6 p.m. at the planning offices in Kalispell on April 12.