The Stevensville Town Council was split on whether to accept a small piece of park land near the Stevensville bridge, an item that was considered at the March 24th council meeting. The land ownership will now revert to the county. The 1.52-acre piece, which is located adjacent to the Bitterroot River on the northwest side of the bridge, was offered to the Town in 2017 by Ravalli County for use as a potential river access site.
During the tenure of former mayor Jim Crews, the owner of land at the river on the northeast side had attempted to shut off river access on his property which would in effect shut off access to Stevensville River Park, a 20-acre park on the east bank just to the north of the private piece of property. Crews contacted the county and negotiated the donation of the land on the west, securing potential river access pending the outcome of the access dispute.
Council member Marilyn Wolff said she had a real problem with this piece of land. “It’s where two roads converge, the bank is incredibly steep… I think there are liability issues… It is the fastest part of the channel and the deepest part of the channel. If you were to develop that for fishing, I would also see a problem with the highway, which is a state highway, because now you’re going to have two accesses for trucks pulling boats, and you’ve just come out of the Stevi Wye at 45 miles per hour – there are going to be accidents there.”
Mayor Steve Gibson said he didn’t see what use the land is to the town. “I only see a liability,” said Gibson.
Michaelson said he looked up the old minutes and found that the land was donated on the condition that it would be maintained and utilized for recreational purposes within five years.
Vickie Motley, park board member, said that nothing had been done because the access problem had been addressed when the private land was sold to a new owner and Fish, Wildlife and Parks got involved. The once-private piece now belongs to the state and is a developed fishing access site.
“But I think it’s [the piece on the west] still a viable piece of land for the city to have, whether or not you put money into developing it,” said Motley. “There are so many cars out there, I think it can be used for parking. But looking long term, if you have property on the west side of the river, then you have access to potentially consolidate highway property into the Town of Stevensville. I think It’s something you need to look at financially going forward. It may be just a little piece of property, but it can tie into what the city owns and how the city could potentially grow to improve its financial statement with businesses that are moving out there.”
“I think it’s a valuable piece of property that you seriously need to look at,” added Motley. “Even if it’s only for parking, I think it can do a lot for the town. Just that connecting piece on the west side of the river can be huge… If you turn it back now, you may not get that opportunity. Then you definitely shut down the growth of Stevensville. I’m not a proponent of Stevensville growing a whole lot, but I think you need to keep those options open.”
Council member Cindy Brown recommended keeping the property and perhaps trying to work with another agency like Fish, Wildlife and Parks to develop it in the future.
The final vote was 2-2 with council members Stacie Barker and Brown voting in favor of keeping the land, and council members Bob Michalson and Wolff voting against. The mayor declined to break the tie.
Michalson reported that the Planning & Zoning Board had met and elected Jim Sayre as chair, Travis Hindle as vice-chair and Angela Lyons as secretary.
In other business, the council:
• approved the purchase of interrupters and water meters for the Public Works Department;
• approved a language change to Utility Billing Policies & Procedures;
• approved Resolution 457b, amending Water & Sewer Billing Policies;
• approved a new airport hangar.
The mayor said that the council will resume holding its meetings at the North Valley Public Library starting with the next meeting.
Victoria Howell can be contacted at editor@bitterrootstar.com or 406-207-8793.