Page 18 - Flathead Beacon // 4.30.14

18 | APRIL 30, 2014 NEWS
FLATHEADBEACON.COM

MOTIVATION

FOR MOM! “OUR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE WITH

THIS SITUATION AND WITH ANY

$150 OFF
OTHERS IS TO DO THE BEST WE CAN

90 Day Challenge!
TO TREAT EVERYONE EQUALLY.”

BJ Grieve, Flathead County planning director

Spring is the best time to
get into shape for summer!

Let M Team Fitness help! BRIDGE
the project, that would involve a public
Your goals become
Continued from page 5
hearing.
our goals.
For the project to continue, the
length to the structure due to running county commission would either have to
Together we can
into obstacles.
grant a permit amendment, which is not

make it happen!
“We said, ‘Well, you better stop, be- an uncommon occurrence, or the devel-
cause now you’re out of compliance with oper will have to apply for a major vari-
Call today for a the permit,’” Grieve said.
ance.
Being out of compliance with the “Our primary objective with this sit-
FREE consultation!
permit is diferent than being out of uation and with any others is to do the
compliance with the Flathead County best we can to treat everyone equally,”
Lake and Lakeshore Protection Regula- Grieve said.
471-6711
tions, Grieve noted.
Roger Sortino, who has been part of
In 2011, Jolene Dugan submitted an the permitting process because his fam-
application for a lakeshore construction ily owns the land, though he does not
project for the access bridge, a project own the land anymore, said he had no IN THE BLUE COW BUILDING
that is not speciically listed in the regu- comment on the issue when reached by
lations as work requiring a permit, nor is the Beacon.
it listed in the unallowable construction Dave Hadden, an adjacent landown- CERTIFIED FITNESS TRAINERS • ONE-ON-ONE ATTENTION
or installation projects in the Lakeshore er to the Sortino property, said he’s been PERSONAL FITNESS STUDIO • NUTRITIONAL GUIDANCE • AND MORE...

Protection Zone.
keeping an eye on how the project is com-
In a memo dating back to when ing along. Hadden said he was primarily
Grieve was considering the project, he concerned about what he considers the
wrote that the bridge wouldn’t be con- developer’s attempt to get the county to
sidered a roadway because it is entirely oicially abandon an access road on Holt
on private property and does not provide Drive, located between private property
access to any other property or any ex- and the waterfowl protection area.
isting public road, nor would it be con- Hadden started a petition to prevent

sidered a dock because it wouldn’t pro- such a move by the county, though none
vide boat moorage, access to a moorage has been oicially considered so far.
area, swimming facilities or related ac- Lakeshore property owners have
tivities.
spoken publicly about dealing with tres-
But construction would be similar to passing from people trying to reach
that of a dock, Grieve reasoned, and the the lake, and the trash, tire marks and
bridge would have pilings, which are al- burned-out ires left behind, despite the

lowed with a permit.
no-trespassing signs.
Grieve also took into consideration As for the bridge, if the developer
the lake frontage on Dockstader Island wanted to connect the bridge to Holt
and the mainland when calculating how Drive with a road, he would have to ap-
large the bridge could be, and that the ply for a loodplain development per-
Sortino family, which owns most of the mit if the road consisted of ill dirt and
land, pays taxes on all of it, including the crushed gravel, Grieve said. There would
portion that is underwater during the be no such permit required if someone

summer connecting the island to the wanted to just drive across a loodplain.
mainland.
Another option could be trying to
The bridge would also provide for a get the property’s status as a loodplain
canoe overpass so people could still use changed on FEMA maps, Grieve said.
the water, Grieve wrote.
As of Monday, April 28, the devel-
The planning oice forwarded the oper had not iled a permit amendment
permit application to the Flathead application, Grieve said. If the planning

County Commission, which approved it oice receives one, and it is accepted as a
in March 2011.
permit amendment, it will be forwarded
Now that construction on the proj- to the county commission for a decision,
ect has started three years after the fact, Grieve said.
Grieve said there has been plenty of pub- “It will not be processed faster than
lic attention paid to the new structure. anyone else,” Grieve said. “We’re in the
None of it has been subject to public busy season, but we will not bump it
hearings because that isn’t the protocol ahead.”

for lakeshore permits, he said, but if a [email protected]
major variance is required to continue