Kapoor zone change delayed
An aerial view of the 113-acre parcel Location Ventures was attempting to buy from the Wilkinson Trust.
A Florida developer’s request for a zone change has been put on hold again.
Developer Rishi Kapoor of Location Ventures has scaled back the request from a zone change of from agricultural to residential on 113 acres east of Columbia Falls across Highway 2 down to just 12 acres — land that his company owns.
As such, a public hearing that was set for the May 10 Flathead County Planning Board has again been postponed until June 14, said county planner Erin Appert on Monday.
The property is 7240 Highway 2 East, just north of the Big Sky Waterpark. It’s currently zoned Suburban Agricultural 10. The zone change request would ask for R-1, but just on the 12 acres.
The land is located immediately adjacent to Highway 2 and already has a home on it.
The initial zone change included a large portion of the Wilkinson Ranch, which is just to the north.
This is the third time the zone change request has been put on hold.
Kapoor in April asked for a zone change on 22 acres of land just east of the Flathead River Bridge from the Columbia Falls City Council.
In that proposal, he was 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.
Council denied the zone change, as Kapoor had planned 180 units for the property and there were concerns about traffic safety and the environmental sensitivity of the area, as about half of it was wetlands.
That parcel was in the city’s planning jurisdiction. The 12 acre parcel is just up the road, but it’s in the county’s, not the city’s planning jurisdiction.