Committee approves zone change

The Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee voted unanimously last week to recommend a zone change request for a pair of properties on McCaffery Road.

The properties, owned by Flossie Caverly and Daniel and Susan Schraeder, are currently zoned agricultural, or AG-40, and the owners are seeking a change to suburban agricultural, or SAG-10, to allow them to separate the two properties and the existing owners to own their own homes. The property already is non-conforming.

The properties have a total area of 46.5 acres. The area was originally homesteaded by the family and had multiple houses before zoning, said Olaf Ervin of Montana Mapping, who spoke on behalf of the applicants. The family wants to separate out the property before its matriarch passes away, he said.

A third house was separated out through a property line adjustment a few years ago.

A lower density of SAG-10 was requested instead of SAG-5, based on the Bigfork Neighborhood Plan, Flathead County planner Allison Mouch said. Its current access as well as environmental restraints fit this zoning, she said.

"Overall with the requirements there weren't any red flags," Mouch said. "We recommend approval."

Additional density could be possible through clustering or a Planned Unit Development, but much more would be unlikely based on the land, Mouch said.

However, the applicants have expressed that only one additional home is planned in the near future, as another family member plans to build when he retires, Ervin said.

No agencies of members of the public have expressed opposition to the application, Mouch said.

BLUAC chair Shelley Gonzales pointed out that the change would create a buffer from the less dense AG-40 and the higher densities of SAG-5 that surround it.

"It makes a lot of sense for the community as well as for yourselves," Gonzales said.

The application will be before the Flathead County Planning Board at 6 p.m. April 14.

SENIOR LIVING

Resident Kevin Coates gave a preliminary presentation to the committee on plans for a future application that will allow for the creation of a triplex of independent senior living homes on his wife Leslie's 1-acre property on Chapman Hill Road.

The property is currently zoned SAG-10, which makes it already non-conforming. Coates will be seeking a zone change for residential apartment, or RA-1, based on a recommendation in preliminary discussions with the Flathead County Planning & Zoning office. To put a triplex on the property will still also require a conditional use permit, he said.

Coates initially presented on the project in 2005, when the committee advised him to wait until the Bigfork Neighborhood Plan was completed. The plan was approved and adopted last June.

Coates said he is pleased to find that the plan is in line with needs identified in the plan for infill as well as senior and affordable housing.

"It's a benefit to the community," Coates said, pointing out that seniors are the area's largest demographic.

The property, he said, is also free of environmental constraints, close to public services and on a paved county road.

The property is surrounded on three sides by the higher density Ponderosa Boat Club and Mill Creek Subdivision and to the south by about 15 acres of SAG-10 property. A realtor has told Coates that it will not affect the surrounding property values.

"This area by all charges seems quite suitable for RA-1 zoning," Coates said.

Coates said currently they could not discriminate by age in renting the properties, but have looked into licensing by the state to do so.

He said current plans for the facility lend to senior living. These include no-step entries, one-story living and handicap accessible doorways, hallways and bathroom facilities.

"We lost a parent recently," Coates said. "That's part of our motivation to do this — to give an opportunity for seniors to have quality life as they lose mobility."

Approximately 85 percent of the property would remain undeveloped, with ideas floating around about a community garden or outdoor area for residents to enjoy.

Plans also call for the existing building on the property to be converted into a storage building and caretaker's residence.

Gonzales said similar properties, like the senior apartments in the Crestview development, have become prized.

"I firmly believe we need more 'senior housing)," Gonzales said.

Members did recommend Coates consider changing the current carports to garages, given the cold weather and chance for ice.

Some members expressed concerns that with an RA-1 zone significantly higher density could be placed on the property if it was sold or plans changed.

"It's very difficult to argue with hypotheticals," Coates said. "We want to work with you guys to do this right."

He pointed out that RA-1 is not in compliance with the designated land use of suburban residential in that area in the plan, but said that the area would be better designated urban residential based on its current zoning and uses. In urban residential designations, RA-1 would be compliant.

Members encouraged him to float less dense zoning by the planning office to see if there were other alternatives.