Court Receives Deposit for North Shore Bridge Removal
After failing to submit payment last year, and extending his deadline this spring, Roger Sortino deposited $300,000 for removal of bridge to Dockstader Island
By Micah Drew
A decade-long legal saga centered around a 519-foot-long bridge connecting the north shore of Flathead Lake to the privately owned Dockstader Island has passed a major milestone.
On July 13, Flathead County District Court received a $300,000 deposit from Roger Sortino through his company Flathead Properties Inc., the defendants in the suit following the death of property owner, Sortino’s daughter Jolene Dugan. Sortino had previously self-imposed a Dec. 15, 2021 deadline for submitting funds for the bridge’s removal, but failed to secure the money. In a court filing on March 7, Flathead County District Court Judge Robert Allison ordered intervenor Roger Sortino deposit $300,000 within 30 days, a deadline which Sortino failed to meet.
Allison previously wrote that Sortino had managed to “derail the monetary issue” after failing to make the deposits in time.
“It has been a truly protracted effort to secure these essential funds,” said Don Murray, attorney for the Community Association for North Shore Conservation (CANSC) which successfully sued Flathead County in 2015 for issuing an invalid permit to Mr. Sortino.
In 2019 the Montana Supreme Court upheld a decision by Allison that the lakeshore permit was invalid, and the structure needed to be removed.Since then, Allison has repeatedly expressed frustration over delays in the bridge’s removal. In the recent filing, Allison wrote that “the Court has come to the realization that the tail is wagging the dog,” adding that Sortino had ample time and opportunity to come up with the “means and method of removal of the bridge but failed to comply with the Court’s order.”
Sortino originally came up with a cost estimate of $150,000 to remove the bridge, which included plans to build a temporary road on the lakebed adjacent to the bridge to remove it. The road would also span 800 feet of floodplain area on the shore of Flathead Lake. Allison stated that the plan submitted by Sortino had “an absurd level of complexity,” and while the bridge was built with a single permit from the county, the demolition plan required “at least seven permits, and the involvement of five different agencies.”
Last year Allison asked that CANSC appoint an engineer to act as Special Master to develop an expedited plan for removal. Mitch Stelling of Great West Engineering was appointed and instructed to determine the best method of removing the bridge in a timely manner.
“With the deposit of this $300,000, the Court now has the funds to proceed with the removal of the bridge,” CANSC co-chair Dave Hadden said in a press release.
Great West Engineering will submit a demolition plan to the Court and Flathead County, and if approved will secure the necessary permits to remove the bridge this winter.