Page 20 - Flathead Beacon // 4.2.14

20 | APRIL 2, 2014
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FLATHEADBEACON.COM

Slowly

Sliding Away

A group of homeowners worked for four years to secure

a federal grant to help mitigate the sloughing of their

property, but the project is in limbo now that Flathead

County has ceased involvement

By Molly Priddy

TWhe landslide on Susan Storfa’s property along Whiteish Stage Road, seen from Village Greens in Kalispell. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON

hen Susan Storfa and the project, despite Flathead County 2010.
clude clay and silt, and there has been
her family moved not having to pay for any of the grant’s At that point, Storfa was trying to
development activity in the area since
into their house atop matching funds. launch a project to stabilize her own the 1970s, when the Mission Valley sub-
a bluf on Whiteish Commissioner Pam Holmquist was backyard, but found she would need divisions started cropping up north of
Stage Road, the view not present at the hearing. more than just one house in jeopardy to
the properties listed in the grant appli-
of Village Greens Golf Course, which For the commission, the concerns secure a public grant.
cation.
However, in recent years, the sig- sits below the house to the east, was ob- about the project come down to fears of Then came the soggy spring of 2011,
niicant erosion events – landslides in scured by trees.
being liable for any potential failings. which caused statewide looding and
at least two places, one behind Storfa’s “You could not see my house from For the homeowners, the sudden change prompted a presidential declaration of

house, and a smaller one behind the down below,” she said last week.
in the county’s tone is confounding; the disaster for Montana. Storfa saw a notice
property two houses north of the Stor- Today, the large pines are gone, tak- county’s Oice of Emergency Services for FEMA meetings for homeowners,
fas’ – coupled with high groundwater en by a landslide in 2010, and the golf has been involved from the beginning noting that the City of Kalispell had re-
levels and looding on the Stillwater Riv- course and community are clearly vis- and the commission authorized a search ceived a FEMA grant to ix Bufalo Hills
er have led to considerable sloughing.
ible below, framed by the dramatic Swan for engineering qualiications for the Golf Course.
“If unabated the annual erosion rate Mountains further to the east.
project in January.
By the fall, Storfa was in touch with
of the slope will catalyze catastrophic It’s a gorgeous view, but it’s discon- “I’m very upset,” Storfa said after the her neighbors and the people living be-
failure of six residences over the next certing for the Storfas, who lost about meeting.
low the bluf in the Village Greens com-

three to eight years,” the FEMA grant two-thirds of their backyard property in Erosion isn’t a new concern in Flat- munity. They had their irst meeting
application reads.
the spring slide.
head County; each spring, many prop- about the slope stabilization project in
Tax appraisals put the collective val- Thus began what would be a four- erty owners keep keen eyes on river October 2011, and sent of a letter of in-
ue of these properties at over $1.4 mil- year efort to get a $400,000 slope stabi- and groundwater levels, though major tent to pursue a hazard mitigation grant
lion, according to the application.
lization mitigation grant from the Fed- landslides are not a typical occurrence. on Dec. 21, 2011. Storfa said her group
The erosion has also added sediment eral Emergency Management Agency There was a large slide south of the Stor- found its own grant writer for the proj-
to the six-acre storm water retention that would ensure the Storfas’ and ive fa’s residence in 2010, when a section of ect.

pond, which sits behind houses in the of their neighbors’ houses wouldn’t be the bluf above the Hillcrest subdivision Flathead County is listed as the ap-
Village Greens community below the the next to slide to the bottom of the in Evergreen collapsed.
plicant on the letter, and the Oice of
bluf. According to the grant application, bluf.
After the Storfas’ back lawn slid, they Emergency Services is listed as the ap-
the homeowners in Village Greens were However, that efort was stalled pursued potential grants to help stop the plicant on the inal grant application.
also on board with the project.
March 26 after the Flathead County slope’s downhill shift.
The grant makes note that the proper-
The proposed project would con- Commission voted to terminate the Susan Storfa said she contacted the ties in question – six lots to the east of
struct safer slopes, provide adequate grant process. Commissioners Gary Oice of Emergency Services at that Whiteish Stage Road and west of Village
drainage to reduce the risk of low- Krueger and Cal Scott said little before point, and OES deputy director Cindy Greens – are in both Flathead County’s

ing water removing more soil, restore the vote, but in interviews afterward ex- Mullaney said she was in touch with the and the City of Kalispell’s jurisdictions.
the pond’s storm water capacity, repair
plained they were uncomfortable with
bluf homeowners about the slumping in
The bluf’s geologic components in-