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North Shore Subdivision Plans Officially Expire

Proposed subdivision was subject of lawsuit against county after commission rejected plans

By Molly Priddy
The North Shore Ranch is an approved subdivision that sits on 367 acres of open land near Flathead Lake along Montana Highway 82. Courtesy photo

After years in the public eye, the North Shore Ranch Subdivision project is officially over, now that Flathead County considers the preliminary plat plans expired.

The anticlimactic end to the North Shore Ranch came on April 11, when the Flathead County Commission acknowledged that the developers were no longer trying to gain extensions on the preliminary plat proposal. The last two extensions were for two-year chunks at a time.

The subdivision was first proposed in 2006, and spent the next few years in revision before it made it before the county commission in 2008. Public opposition to the project, which would have been located on more than 360 acres on Flathead Lake’s north shore neighboring the Flathead Waterfowl Production Area, was considerable.

The county commission rejected the subdivision’s plans on account of the flooding and seismic activity in the area, as well as the proximity to the waterfowl area.

A month after, the developers – Kleinhans Farm Estates – sued Flathead County over the decision. The county settled through mediation, with a $1 million settlement to be paid to the developers. In 2010, negotiations attempting to secure the land in a land trust failed.

In 2015, the land was listed for sale at $7.9 million, down from its previous listing price of $8.75 million.