Columbia Falls City Council Delays Decision on Meadow Lake Development

After nearly two hours of public comment overwhelmingly opposed toa proposed development near Meadow Lake Golf Course, the Columbia Falls City Council on Jan. 3 voted to delay action on the major subdivision until Jan. 17.

The 47-acre development, a 103-lot subdivision called Tamarack Meadows, was proposed by Schellinger Construction with technical assistance by Carver Engineering. The subdivision would have dwellings on 22 acres along with seven acres of streets and 17 acres of open space including a publicly accessible gravel path.

During a Dec. 13 planning board meeting, members of the neighboring communities spoke against the development, claiming it does not fit with the character of the surrounding subdivisions and would create safety issues with the influx of traffic. The planning board unanimously approved the development, with several conditions, including requiring the applicants to resurface two ingress roads, Meadow Lake Drive and Turnberry Terrace; require traffic mitigation measures on Meadow Lake Drive; and require Tamarack Meadows to participate in road maintenance with the adjacent Mountain Watch subdivision. 

The council’s vote to delay the decision last week was prompted by Columbia Falls Mayor Donald Barnhart, who indicated a desire to collect more information about the history of the proposed development, as well as additional traffic impact information for the main ingress corridors, especially Turnberry Terrace, which was identified as the primary access for construction due to existing speedbumps that slow traffic.

The directing of construction traffic onto Turnberry Terrace, a private road, drew strong opposition from assembled residents, who filled council chambers.

Jeremy Pappenfus, the president of The Woods at Mountain Watch homeowners’ association, moved to his property on Turnberry Terrace from Whitefish in 2019 and spoke about the concerns additional vehicles from 100 homes on the surrounding roads.

“We feel an undue stress will be placed on these communities … not just from the infrastructure phase of future building, but in residential traffic,” Pappenfus told the council members. “I would love to be able to ride into the farmers market on Thursday night on my bike with my family, but it’s a risk and will be more of a risk with this development.”

A traffic impact study (TIS) submitted by the applicant showed that the subdivision will add roughly 900 additional vehicle trips per day to the ingress roads — Meadow Lake Drive and Tamarack Lane — as well as Turnberry Terrace, which connects the two roads near the subject property. Two additional developments north of Columbia Falls will also increase traffic in the area, but weren’t considered in the TIS.

Meadow Lake Drive is a county road with no shoulder, and several residents spoke about the problematic traffic along the road and number accidents they’ve witnessed.

Chris Smith, who lives on a nearby road, said he routinely pulls cars out of the ditch as they drive toward the developments.

“I can’t let my kids play in my front yard anymore, because traffic streams by my house 24/7,” Smith said. “Traffic is just insane already, so I’m concerned about more.”

Dan Singer, president of the homeowners’ association for Meadow Lake West Estates, said a condition requiring sidewalks along Meadow Lake Drive would be acceptable to the neighboring communities, and overall stressed the need for more discussions between the three HOA groups and the developers.

“All of the HOA members in this room would approve a development if it was 50% less capacity,” Singer said. “I can tell you that this subdivision is not right for this area. If you took the lots and just doubled them, you’d get complete approval from everyone in this room. It’s a problem with the size of the lots, the density, the traffic and safety.”

Some councilors expressed a desire to have the nearby residents on the same page as the developers before the subdivision goes forward.

“To have a happy community, you’ve got to play together,” councilor Paula Robinson said. “You’ve got to play fairly, everything is interconnected.

Public comment for the development was closed at the end of the meeting and will not be open on Jan. 17.

“The feedback we get from the public, we take it seriously and we take into consideration,” Barnhart told the assembled residents before ending the meeting. “Sometimes we can’t do anything about it, but we do take the testimony seriously.”