Condo to townhouse switch approved

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

A construction project already well under way across from Bigfork High School got a positive recommendation from the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Board for preliminary plat.

Representatives for the Timber Bay Townhouses project, located at 655 Commerce St., are seeking approval within Flathead County's subdivision regulations in order to sell the units as townhouses rather than condominiums. Because townhouse owners own the land the unit sits on, whereas condo owners do not, the lots will be subdivided and are therefor subject to review under subdivision regulations.

The project, which came before BLUAC a few years ago as the Dancing Fox Condominiums, was given the green light for a conditional use permit that allowed the building's construction on a commercial-zoned plot.

Since that initial conditional use permit, the project and the land has changed hands, with Bigfork-based Montana Build now spearheading the new slightly revised development.

Flathead County Planner Diana Brody said that a complaint had been received by her office about the building's height, but a measurement by the county's enforcement officer showed the peak to be exactly at the 35 ft. maximum allowable height.

The development will house eight units with parking on the side and in front along Commerce Street. As part of the conditions of approval, Terrace Hill Drive, which runs behind the units parallel to Commerce Street, will have to be paved up to county standards before final plat is issued.

A representative from Montana Build said he estimated the units would be sold "in the $300,000 range."

Though Brody was presenting from a "draft" staff report, she said she "will likely recommend approval" of the preliminary plat.

The evening's other agenda item, a zone change request as part of the redevelopment of the old bowling alley site on the corner of Highway 35 and Holt Drive in Bigfork, was continued to next month's meeting at the applicant's request.

SNAF, LLC, represented by Louis Tidwell, requested that BLUAC postpone the hearing for a month, agreeing also to postpone a scheduled hearing at the Flathead Planning Board from Nov. 12 to a date following BLUAC's next meeting.

In other business at the meeting, a workshop between BLUAC and the Planning Board to discuss the Bigfork Neighborhood Plan is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Nov. 20 in the Earl Bennett Building in Kalispell. The workshop, originally scheduled for early this summer, was postponed indefinitely pending the Flathead County Commissioners' decision on a passage regarding neighborhood plans in the Flathead County Zoning Regulations.

That meeting is open to the public.