2023: A year in review

Here’s a look at some of the top stories of 2023.

    • Growth, or lack thereof. Two controversial proposals to build high density housing east of the Flathead River were rejected by either the city council, the Columbia Falls City-County planning board, or both. On the south side of Highway 2 just east of the river developer James Barnett and partners proposed building about 343 units on 49 acres, while directly north of the highway developer Rishi Kapoor of Location Ventures proposed building an additional 180 units or so on an old horse pasture. 

Both were almost universally opposed because of traffic, wildlife impacts and concerns about potential impacts of drilling under the Flathead River to install city sewer and water systems. One concern was if the sewer line broke, it would pollute the largely pristine and coveted waterway. City council voted down the Kapoor proposal in a split vote, while Barnett pulled his plans after being rejected by the planning board not once, but twice. Kapoor has since run into legal trouble in his home state of Florida, with creditors filing multiple lawsuits against him in that state. He is also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as FBI, according to stories in the Miami Herald for some of his real estate projects in Florida. 

Still, it looks like developers are trying to do something on at least some of the land, as one plot Kapoor eyed for development has seen multiple test borings and is back on the real estate market.

In downtown Columbia Falls, developer Mick Ruis opened his new buildings on Nucleus Avenue, which are a blend of long and short-term rentals as well as commercial space.  He also bought the Columbia Bar from longtime owner Cary Finberg. A bagel shop opened and closed within months in one location of Ruis’s building. He opened a steakhouse called Monaco as well, which has seen mixed reviews from locals.

• A house that the Flathead Conservation District maintains was illegally built on the idyllic banks of lower McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park made headlines. The case is sure to continue well into 2024 and quite possibly beyond that. John and Stacy Ambler started building the home on a sliver of a private lot along the creek in late 2022 after purchasing the property in 2019. The Conservation District claims the home is illegal because the Amblers didn’t comply with the Montana Natural Streambed and Land Preservation Act of 1975, which requires what’s known as a 310 permit to disturb the bank. The District has ordered the home removed by April 1 of this year. The Amblers, in turn, have sued the District in both county and federal court, challenging its jurisdiction in the matter. The story brought national attention and was the most-read story online this year on the Hungry Horse News website.

• Glacier National Park dropped the reservation requirement for 2024 this summer for visitors entering the Going-to-the-Sun Road via St. Mary. This came after Congressman Ryan Zinke threatened to defund Glacier’s overall effort to use a reservation system for crowd control during peak visitation hours and places. The Park also dropped the reservation requirement for Two Medicine. Folks entering Glacier from the west entrance, Polebridge and Many Glacier will need a reservation during the summer season, however.

• The Environmental Protection Agency announced its proposed action to best clean up the defunct Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. site. The plan, in short, calls for consolidating waste and then putting a slurry wall around the site’s worst landfills. 

The plan is very unpopular with most of the public, however, who want to see the waste removed entirely.

• In school news, Columbia Falls welcomed Cory J. Dziowgo as its new superintendent. Dziowgo (pronounced Jeffco) replaced longtime administrator Dave Wick, who retired. Dziowgo will be tasked in 2023 with guiding a high school bond measure before voters, as the aging building needs some renovations and possibly, expansion.

• It was with great sadness that Columbia Falls mourned the death of baseball coach and Blue Moon Bar and Nite Club owner Bill Sapa. Sapa died of natural causes at his home in April. He was 53.

• In sports, the Wildkat softball team won its first-ever state A softball title. The boys wrestling team won a state title — its first in decades and the football team made it to the state championship, coming oh-so-close to its second school title. The Wildcats came from behind to tie Dillon on the road in regulation only to get edged in overtime 36-35 as Dillon scored on a 2-point conversion for the title. The girls soccer team also battled to the state A championship, but lost to rival Whitefish, 3-1.

• The Ridge Fire just south of Martin City in Emery Creek kept residents on edge for several weeks last summer. But favorable weather in August helped quell the blaze, though the fire, and others burning west of here, poured smoke into the region for weeks on end as the area saw another hot and dry summer.

• The City of Columbia Falls settled a lawsuit with neighbors over Kreck Riverside Park. In the settlement, the city opted to put up a fence to keep people from trespassing on neighbor Mark Cahill’s property. The settlement still preserves public access to the river, however.

• In wildlife news, the Blackfeet Tribe released more than 20 free-ranging bison in the prairie below Chief Mountain. The hope is the herd establishes a sustainable population that will roam into Glacier National Park and tribal lands.