Council supports new park

At it's January meeting, the Lakeside Community Council agreed to offer support of the new lakefront park in Lakeside.

Resident Margaret Davis gave an update on the progress of the new park and asked the council to go on record in support of the plan. The park is a personal project undertaken by Davis and Bruce Ennis. The couple started the venture to address what they saw as an unsafe situation where children were swimming near the boat ramp because they did not have another public place nearby to swim.

The council voted unanimously to draft a letter of support for the park to send to the Flathead County Commissioners.

Davis said they are anxious to get started on construction while Lake levels are low or they will not be able to complete the project this year.

A permit is currently being processed to allow for construction in the Lake Shore Protection Zone and may need to go before the commissioners, Ennis said.

The lakefront provided by Davis and Ennis along with that owned by Flathead County will provide roughly 190 feet of lake frontage for the park, and roughly the same amount along Highway 93. Davis and Ennis intend to develop the property and then turn it over to the county to make it a public facility.

The couple is working with the county attorney's office to draft a memorandum of understanding that includes their plans for the park and the condition that if they do the work they say they will that the county will accept the deed for the property and operate and maintain the facilities as appropriate.

Work on preparing the site will continue through the next year, with an expected completion date of fall 2010.

Concerns

Not all residents are excited about the prospect of the new lakefront park.

Lakeside resident Noel Bartlett spoke at the meeting and expressed concerns for the landowners who would neighbor the park, saying that it would mean a loss of privacy and the quiet enjoyment of their homes.

"We'll be fighting all through the process," Bartlett said.

Bartlett said the disadvantages that can come with parks such as trash, noise, trespassing and unlawful behavior would depreciated the nearby properties' values. He said there are already a number of public areas, including state parks and other lake access.

"We're not that deprived of lake access on the lake," Bartlett said.

Bartlett also expressed concerns that limited parking in the area, even including the nearly 40 parking spaces that will be put in place, will cause problems, citing the more than 200 cars he saw one day near the Somers lake access as an example.

"This is what you're inviting," he said as he showed photographs of the cars lined up along the roadways of Somers.

He went on to imply that he and some fellow property owners may seek alternative recourse if they are not successful in public comments, perhaps through legal avenues.

"How would you like to have someone knock on your door and tell you that they want you to know they bought the property next door and plan to take out the house and put in a public pool?" he said. "How would you feel about that?"

Council members asked if there had been considerations to mitigate some of Bartlett's concerns.

Davis said they were aware of the concerns, including parking.

"We are fully compliant," Davis said. "No variances will be required. We have honored all setbacks."

"It's a high priority for the general population to have more and better lake access," Ennis said. "We've done our best to respond to neighbors' concerns."

Few places will be dark in the park, they said, where behavior like Bartlett expressed concerns about could go on.

"The openness of this park is much less attractive than other parks," Ennis said. "The community watch will make a big difference."

Plans include a 6-foot wall on the north end of the property separating the park from homeowners as well as additional landscaping and trees reaching higher than the fence as a buffer.

Council member Barb Miller said she used to live by a swimming pool in North Carolina. In the summertime, she heard children laughing and playing.

"Personally, I didn't find it offensive," she said.

Council member Rex Boller, who has worked in appraising and real estate, said Bartlett would be hard pressed to find empirical evidence that property values would be greatly reduced.

"I think it would be similarly affected when next to condos," he said. "I don't think we'll see adverse effects to property values."

On the contrary, he said, it may draw more interest.

Resident Mark Tannenberg said the current access is overcrowded and he, with his family including four kids, often use the space as they do not have private lake access.

"We're grateful to have that," he said.

She said they plan to replace the three existing docks that are in poor condition with two new docks. There will also be a permanent swim platform, partially to protect swimmers and serve as a barrier from boats. The whole park will be ADA compliant, Davis said.

The restroom facility on the west side of the property will not be winterized and will not be open year round. Ennis and Davis said they are still exploring ways to secure the bathroom, possibly through timed locks as the park is intended to be for daytime use.

Council member Brent Hall asked what considerations had been given to security. Ennis and Davis said it was still being discussed. There may be a proposal to have a park host shared with the Ben Williams park.

Council members expressed appreciation for the couple's efforts.

"Your generosity and time commitment [on this project], I'd like to commend you on that," chair Keith Brown said.

Other business

Also at the meeting, Josh Townsley requested the discussion of the possibility of bringing natural gas to Lakeside. Townsley could not attend the meeting, but gave chair Keith Brown talking points in his stead.

He proposes to work with Northwest Energy to run the existing natural gas pipe down to Lakeside from Spring Creek, a distance of approximately five miles to downtown Lakeside.

Financial considerations are part of the drive to explore this option, with propane prices more than double the cost of natural gas, Brown said.

The cost of extending the pipe would be $100,000 per mile, adjusted for terrain and the size of the pipe. This would need to be funded by the community of Lakeside through a co-op that would be formed.

Individual home hookups would cost about $1,000 per 100 feet to the customer. These hookup costs as well as other mechanisms could be used by the community as part of the payback on the pipe.

Northwest Energy is interested in gauging the level of interest in Lakeside in natural gas through a petition, Brown said. Townsley has suggested that Northwest come and give an educational session at an upcoming meeting.

The council told Brown to let Townsley know they would be supportive.