Residents press city over size, tree loss and outreach for Gateway safety project

Columbia Falls residents urged caution Wednesday over the Gateway to Glacier safety and mobility improvement project, saying the proposed cross-section is too large for residential streets, will remove mature trees and that communication with adjacent property owners has been inadequate. Those concerns came during the city’s public comment period, where several residents described the project as more appropriate for commercial corridors than narrow residential streets. “My concerns with this project are the scale, location and transparency,” resident Andy Zimmerman said. He said the plan for Thirteenth Street shows multiple travel lanes, parking lanes and buffer zones that would expand the right-of-way on what he called an already-wide residential street. The project’s potential loss of green space drew multiple comments. Janelle Rose, who…