Plan to subdivide land near Haskill withdrawn

An application for a subdivision for an open tract of land off East Edgewood Drive has been withdrawn from the county.

The Flathead County Planning Board voted 4-3 to forward a recommendation of denial to the County Commissioners on the zoning change request.

The 39-acre property just east of Haskill Basin Road is zoned as agricultural. The property owner had been seeking to change the zoning to suburban agricultural, which would have allowed the property to be subdivided into three lots.

The property owner formally withdrew the application, according to Eric Mack with the county planning department.

“They are going back to the drawing board because of issues with the flood plain and groundwater,” Mack said.

The property is within the Haskill Basin Estates Zoning District and is split between Whitefish’s and the county’s jurisdiction.

The property was recently purchased by Haskill Creek Holdings LLC.

“Property values in the Whitefish area have escalated to the point that large agricultural tracts have tended to transition to rural residential use when such land has gone to market,” the property owner stated in the zone change application. “The ultimate subdivision of the subject property into three parcels will surely maintain its rural character and provide good opportunities for smaller scale agricultural activities around the home sites.”

County planning staff noted the zone change would not constitute spot zoning because adjacent properties are zoned suburban agricultural.

“This proposed zone change would allow for the same uses that are currently permitted and currently exist in the adjacent [zone],” the staff report notes.

According to the property owner, the riparian, wetland and flood plain areas of the site would have been set aside as undisturbed conservation zones as part of the development plan.