A group representing neighbors of a proposed subdivision that would include a manmade waterski lake is suing the Flathead County Commission, and asking a judge to declare void the commission’s approval of the waterski subdivision.
Rose Crossing Neighborhood Coalition, LLC, filed a civil suit against the county commission on July 2. The coalition describes itself as including a member who owns property with a boundary contiguous to the proposed subdivision. Attorneys for the group include Samantha Travis and Sean Frampton.
At issue is the proposed Rosewater Subdivision, a 154-acre development near Rose Crossing in Evergreen that would include 46 single-family residence lots, 12 townhouse lots and a 27-acre manmade lake, which developer Bill Tanner said would be split into two sections and used for waterskiing.
Flathead commissioners gave the subdivision’s preliminary plat approval on June 3 after several months of consideration went into the project, including a couple trips through the Flathead County Planning Board and two different votes at the commission level.
During the June 3 meeting, the commission added some extra oversight for the project, which had received some negative attention from neighborhood residents who were concerned about the potential environmental impacts the lake might have.
The oversight included an attempt to mitigate nuisance impacts from waterskiing, mimicking time limitations set on public lakes for the sport. Waterskiing and other boat-towed recreation will not be allowed on the Rosewater lakes between sunset and sunrise.
The second change was that the six water-monitoring wells would all have electric monitoring sensors, instead of the two initially proposed.
The lawsuit contends that the commissioners violated the Montana Subdivision and Platting Act, the Flathead County Growth Policy and the Montana Constitution when they approved the Rosewater Subdivision preliminary plat.
The state subdivision act requires an applicant to submit an environmental assessment that should evaluate the “probable impact” of a subdivision on “local services, public health and safety and the natural environment,” the suit states.
The complaint contends that the commission failed to adequately consider the probable impacts the Rosewater Subdivision might have, and the environmental assessment and operation and maintenance manual for the lake do not address the concerns either.
With regard to the county growth policy, the lawsuit alleges that the commissioners’ approval of the subdivision plat goes against the Two Rivers Neighborhood Plan, which designates the area of the proposed subdivision as an environmentally sensitive area. The suit also states that the neighborhood plan says a development must include provisions for “parks, recreation and open space that can be used on a regional, community or neighborhood level,” but the water ski lake at Rosewater would be only for private use.
Commission approval of the subdivision plat also violated the right to a clean and healthful environment as stipulated in the Montana Constitution, the lawsuit alleges, because the board failed to adequately study and document potential environmental impacts from the subdivision.
The plaintiffs also allege that the commission violated the right to public participation by not allowing the public enough time or information to reasonably participate in the decision.