City-County Minutes September 29, 2003CITIES & COUNTIES STH MONDAY MEETING
Minutes
September 29, 2003 @ 7:00 p.m.
Columbia Falls City Council Chambers
Present:
Flathead County
Kalispell
Whitefish
Commissioner Howard Gipe
Mayor Pamela Kennedy
Mayor, Andrew Feury
Commissioner Gary Hail
Manager, Chris Kukulski
Manager, Gary Marks
Alan Marble; .OES Director
Councilpersons:
Councilpersons:
Forrest Sanderson, Planning Dir.
Jim Atkinson
Sarah Fitzgerald
Flathead City -County Health Dept.
Robert Hafferman
Kim Fleming
Joe Russell, Director
Duane Larson
Turner Askew
Columbia Falls
Fred L.eistiko
Doug Adams
Manager, William Shaw
Hank Olson
Erik Garberg
Councilpersons.
Tri-City Planning Office
DNRC
Jolie Fish
Tom Jentz
Ted Meade, NW Region
Don Barnhart
National Forest Svc.
Claudette Hohn
Steve Brady
Tad Rosenberry
Alan Marble, OES Director presented the Hazard Mitigation Planning Process and
asked that each city provide a representative for the Executive Planning Committee.
One representative from each city should have a broad overview and have the ability to
select other committee members as the process progresses. Flathead County
Commissioners will approve all steering committee members, The application should
have been in by August 1, and the PDM plan should have been done by September 30.
The wild fires interrupted this preliminary stage so an extension has been granted. He
asked that each city provide a representative as soon as possible.
Four primary wildland fire organizations have worked independently and report to
different agencies. An integration of pre -fire planning and management into a
countywide pre --disaster plan is essential to public safety and the local economy. The
NW Regional RC&D Council would act as the grant administrator and facilitator that
would lead the effort to develop a countywide strategic document that meets the
Homeland Security and FEMA Pre -Disaster Mitigation planning requirements. A pre -
disaster mitigation plan needs to be in place to be eligible for pre -disaster mitigation
funding.
A countywide strategic document would become the Wildland Fire Annex to Flathead
County's 2004 PDM and provide for 1) a unified approach to wildland fire prevention,
education and awareness, both public and private, 2) development of a countywide fire
hazard assessment, areas -at -risk, and mitigation projects, 3) gathering data, maps,
evacuation routes, etc. The PDM would then be updated every five years.
1
Ted Meade, Area Manager, DNRC gave an update on the activities of the
Department. Field foresters are scoping the burned areas to estimate the amount of
salvageable timber and environmental impact on the state owned lands. Two to three
million board feet of salvage may be ready for timber sale in October. Dave .hones,
State Forester is providing assistance to those private landowners who are interested in
technical assistance. There may be financial assistance for emergency rehab from a
federal program called Federal Forest Land Enhancement Program for the non -industrial
landowner. $250,000 will be available state wide. Applications are open until November
14, 2003. Assistance in tree planting will also be available. The department will be
involved with the Pre -disaster Mitigation Plan.
Steve Brady, National Forest using the map of the Flathead Valley forest fires, gave
the statistics on the losses in acres. There had been 370 initial strike fires that had been
put out and Brady credits all agencies for their coordinated efforts. This fire season
consumed two million people hours with only one injury. Over one million dollars will be
spent in bare area rehab in the major burn areas. Seeding, straw waddling (check
dams), new culverts will be put in place to prevent hillside erosion and creek
contamination from runoff. Trees along roads and highways have been removed to
prevent falling onto roadways. There is significant salvage potential on Wedge, Robert,
Blackfoot Complex and Crazy Horse fire areas. Estimated 3.5 million board feet of
salvage timber will be for sale in October from national forest land. Congress is at work
to provide relief for the cost to the state of Montana. The state estimate of the cost of
fire suppression is $40 million, but it is unlikely relief would be that much. Although
wildlife habitat and huckleberry areas have been destroyed. the wildlife, primarily grizzly
and black bear, seemed to have moved into other areas and will be monitored.
Doug Adams, Whitefish City Council explained the resolution that Whitefish
passed on September 2, 2003. The resolution expresses the council's concern about the
threat of forest fires in close proximity to the city. The resolution states the affect on
health, economy, and recreation and the burden on the taxpayers as a result of wildfires
on public lands. Doug Adams urged the other cities to adopt such a resolution to send
a message to federal and state forest agencies: 1) active forest management, 2)
environmentally responsible thinning, (3) aggressive firefighting and containment, (4)
controlled burns, and (4) quick and efficient burned area rehabilitation. Commissioner
Hall handed out a similar Flathead County proposed resolution.
Joe Russell, Director of City -County Health Dept,, presented the history of the
involvement of the Board of Health in the plat approval process assuring safe water and
water treatment. Russell projected the population of Flathead County to be 90,000
people in the year 2010. A conservative estimate of 5,000 new homes will be built.
Major plaMing is occurring in the area around Kalispell. He offered a variety of methods
to encourage developers to lay infrastructure in new major subdivisions of 35-50 house
lots. (1) Non -municipal sewer treatments have been installed and are working
successfully. (2) Developers could lay "dry sewer" lines so that when treatment is
available in the area, they are ready to tap in. (3) Step systems where home owners
initially use a septic tank and the effluent is then transferred to a treatment system. (4)
2
Phantom lot creation with water and sewer infrastructure for possible subdivision of the
original lot in the future. Russell is available if cities would like to invite his input into
their growth policies. Russell recognized Flathead County Commissioners for denying
large platted subdivisions with septic systems. Developers are very cooperative in
providing alternatives in order to have their plats approved. Once septic systems have
been installed in density, extension of water and sewer to newly developing fringe areas
is very difficult.
Tom 3entz, Tri-City Planning, displaying a map of Kalispell and surrounding area,
pointed out where new subdivisions have been created, where annexation has occurred
and the location of septic systems. His projection of population growth and new
housing starts, including second home purchases could exceed 6-7,000 per year. The
population of Kalispell could reach 40-50,000 in the next 15 years. The time to deal
with the growth is now. Kalispell has approved preliminary plats for 700 homes this
year, Whitefish approved 200 and Columbia Falls approved 270. The three cities either
have approached 100% platted or are very close. After 10-20 years of very slow
growth, the area is faced with anticipating a 28 million dollar staggering cost of
extending infrastructure to their fringe areas. Developers are willing to play by city rules
in putting in that infrastructure. The map showing septic systems in areas between
Kalispell water/sewer service and outlying developing areas shows the difficulty in
leaping beyond those private systems to provide connections.
Gary Hall, County Commissioner, handed out a brochure on the West Nile Virus and
petition to collect signatures. The Petition will be for Flathead County Commissioners to
establish a county -wide Mosquito Control District funded by levy of up to 2 mills. West
Nile Virus has spread across the Continental Divide in Montana and is in the Flathead
area. Approximately $260,000 would be raised through the collection of the additional
levy to fund the use of mosquito larvicide that would be applied to water's edge before
the spring hitching season.
7olie Fish, Columbia Falls Councilperson thanked everyone for coming. Fish
expressed her appreciation for the presentations and the cooperation shown by all the
cities and agencies.
The meeting adjourned at 8.50 p.m.
3