Ravalli Co commissioners stay on track with Legacy Ranch review

Commissioners reviewing reams of info on Legacy Ranch(HAMILTON)- It appears Ravalli County commissioners are working through a snag that threatened to delay a final decision on the controversial Legacy Ranch project.

A week after emotional hearings over the proposed subdivision north of Stevensville, Ravalli County commissioners are wading through the details of the proposed project. But at one point it appeared any decision might have to be delayed until late June over questions of reviewing any "new" information submitted by the project's opponents. 

However, the board was able to work through the problem and remains on track to possibly decide Legacy Ranch's fate this week. Commissioners will continue reviewing the project Tuesday morning in Hamilton. 

Ravalli County commissioners to debate Legacy Ranch

Dennis Bragg photo(HAMILTON)- The hearings are about over. Now it's time for the Ravalli County commissioners to decide what to do with a controversial ranch proposal in the northern Bitterroot Valley. 

The owners of the Legacy Ranch are hoping to revive a project first proposed several years ago but shelved with the downturn in the housing market. They want the county's approval of the major subdivision to put over 600-homes on the 500-acre tract. 

But during hearings last week, most of the people at public hearings in Hamilton and Lone Rock blasted the project and its potential impact on the rural character in that section of the valley. A few speakers argued it was a good project that would provide more affordable housing. 

Monday morning commissioners are set to hear the rebuttal comments from the developers and then start debating what action to take on the proposal. 

Legacy Ranch proposal goes to Ravalli Co commissioners this week

County commissioners toured the Legacy Ranch site May 1st(HAMILTON)- Ravalli County commissioners will spend hours and hours this week considering whether a developer should be allowed to build hundreds of homes on farm land north of Stevensville. 

The owners of the Legacy Ranch, just off the East Side Highway north of Stevensville, have resurrected a project that was first proposed several years ago, but then shelved after the economy tanked. Even now, the consultant working on the project can't say exactly when the proposed 500-homes would be built on the 400-acre tract. But the plan is to have Legacy Ranch constructed over a period of 30-years.

Although the developer has offered assurances of steps taken to minimize the environmental impacts of the project, opponents haven't been convinced. And they have turned out in droves during previous hearings before the Ravalli County Planning Board, which recommended approval. 

Monday morning, the board will start its own public hearings, setting aside two full days, and perhaps Wednesday as well to hear from the developer, the public and deliberations. While most of that work happens in Hamilton, commissioners will go to Lone Rock School for part of the public hearing, starting at 6 p.m. 

Ravalli Co commissioners dive into Legacy Ranch

Ravalli Co commissioners tour the Legacy ranch site Monday morning- KPAX TV photo by Dennis Bragg(STEVENSVILLE)- The future of the controversial Legacy Ranch subdivision is in the hands of Ravalli County commissioners this week, with board walking the location where hundreds of homes could be built in the coming decades.

Last week the Ravalli County Planning Board recommended approval of the Legacy Ranch proposal after wading through more than 20-hours of testimony and deliberation on the project. 

The panel added a number of conditions covering questions ranging from access to impacts on the environment and wildlife from the development on a 5-hundred site off the Eastside Highway. 

This morning, commissioners and planning staff walked the site to get a better idea of what's being proposed. 

The developer's consultant explained how the project will be built over a period of more than 30-years, eventually being home to an estimated 17-hundred people. If built today that would make it one of the largest towns in the Bitterroot Valley. The developers maintain they've accounted for issues like groundwater management, and making accommodations for wildlife. 

But residents who live nearby and joined this morning's tour dispute those claims, saying there are major questions that haven't been answered. 

Commissioners will hold their own public hearing later this week, blocking off most of the day Thursday to take comments. 

Forest Service moves to secure water rights on Bitterroot streams

Blodgett Creek at heart of water rights dispute- Dennis Bragg photo(HAMILTON)- A move by the U.S. Forest Service to secure water rights to protect fish in Bitterroot streams is setting off new alarm bells in Ravalli County. 

The Forest Service is starting to claim water rights on the streams feeding out of the Bitterroot Mountains in a move to protect endangered species like native cutthroat and bull trout. The move is allowed under a water compact with the state approved 5-years ago.

However, filing water rights on Blodgett Creek outside Hamilton has suddenly put the issue square on the radar of Ravalli County commissioners. And Friday morning Bitterroot National Forest managers faced not only the upset commissioners, but a roomful of angry people. 

The Forest Service tried to explain the new water right would have an effective date far behind historical rights in the valley. 

"We are over a hundred years junior to every single right in Blodgett Creek. And it's non-diversionary. It never leaves the stream," explained Jed Simon of the Forest Service's Region 10 Headquarters. 

But county commissioners, along with the ranchers and property owners, disputed the agency's data being used to claim the water, accusing the agency of trying to secure water "that isn't there" on the small streams, at a time when the Bitterroot basin remains closed to further water claims.

Bitterroot National Forest Supervisor Julie King said the move is only to protect the future fisheries, pointing out that was one of the objectives of Ravalli County's recently enacted Natural Resources Policy. 

"I don't have an ulterior motive with it. This obviously started long before I got here. Honestly I don't know of any ulterior motive for this, other than for fish."

Commissioners feel the Forest Service should do more to stop fires and allow backcountry dams to be easily maintained if the objective is saving fish.

"First thing should have been the watershed. Second thing should have been to expand the water reservoir up there for the water to be able to run year 'round for the fish. I just don't like this whole process," complained Commissioner Ron Stoltz. 

"You don't get it, it appears to me, on one side without getting the responsibility on the other side to maintain that same thing that you're saying you're taking. Especially if it's more water than actually flows in the stream at any time during the year," said Commissioner J.R. Iman. 

Commissioners set a hearing for February 20th to take more public input and decide whether to formally oppose the Forest Service's application.