Good afternoon, Beacon readers. Lakeside’s newest development — a proposal from multi-national Discovery Land Company that includes a private golf course and a 350-plus-unit subdivision — continues to move through various approval processes. Last month, the Lakeside County Water and Sewer District (LCWSD) board approved a water lease agreement for the project. The agreement would set aside 125 acre feet of water, or 40.7 million gallons, annually for the Territory 1889 Project’s municipal services.
The water rights are already owned by LCWSD, unlike a separate permit for new water rights the developer also applied for that seeks to divert 249 acre-feet of water annually from two new wells at the project site. That water permit is currently held up in litigation, with local watchdog groups arguing the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) failed to properly respond to concerns they raised about the permit.
The water lease agreement that LCWSD board members approved Aug. 18 still needs to go through the DNRC’s approval process (a separate step from the one in litigation), which can take anywhere from nine to 12 months, district officials said. If approved, it would be the first water lease agreement in the district, with an initial term of five years and the option to extend the lease. Board member Darcy Lard proposed raising the annual rent for the water from $62,500 – a number based on the cost of a full-time employee to help support the district’s growth – to $81,500.
“They should pay the same rate we pay,” Lard said, noting that district ratepayers pay a usage rate of $2 per 1,000 gallons. “I think it’s valuable and we should be charging more for it.”
Board members unanimously approved raising the rent to $81,500.
The agreement notes that either party can terminate the permit if the required approval from DNRC is denied, a “safety valve” in the agreement, board members said. The lease also states that Flathead Friends, the name the lease application is under, will defend the lease agreement and the district if a lawsuit is brought against the agreement.
Board member Marc Liechti pointed out it’ll still be awhile before the water rights are used as Flathead Friends has to build the infrastructure first. He added that typically the district doesn’t have additional water rights in reserve, and using them would benefit current ratepayers by helping pay for staff.
“We just ended up with it, which is a good thing, but typically you don’t have that,” Liechti said. “We’re not really giving anything up. We’re loaning them the water for a while…And then once they start using it, then they pay us the additional on top of the water fees.”
Zoë Buhrmaster here. Let’s flow into the rest of today’s Roundup.
For the past four summer seasons, Barclay’s Burgers has positioned itself along U.S. Highway 2 in Hungry Horse serving up burgers and fries with a twist
Judge Pauses Water Permit for Lakeside Development, Allowing For Administrative Review
A lawsuit local environmental groups brought against the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation challenges the agency’s preliminary approval of a water permit for the Territory 1889 development, and its dismissal of objections raised by the groups
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