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Residents press board over Blacktail sublot deeds and Game and Fish fence; board asks for records and outreach to agency
Summary
Longtime Blacktail residents told the Park Board they believe two sublots were intended to be deeded privately decades ago; Game and Fish intends to place a fence along its property line, and the board asked staff to search historic minutes and records and to invite Game and Fish to discuss options including a possible land swap or easement.
Longtime Blacktail residents said they were told decades ago that two sublots adjacent to their cabins would be deeded into private ownership, but county records the Park Board staff checked do not show a recorded deed in the residents’ names. Residents urged the board to locate historical files and minutes to resolve the title question.
Greg Zavoni, who said he served on the Blacktail governing board for many years and was president of the Blacktail Dam Association, told the Park Board the swap that created the current parcel boundaries was negotiated in the 1990s and that some paperwork indicated the small sublots should have been transferred to private ownership. He said the original survey, talks with state Game and Fish representatives and later county action created a complicated boundary situation that residents now face.
Zavoni and his sister, Zona Bjornsson, both said they and other residents have used and maintained the land inside the green line around their cabins for decades. They said a planned Game and Fish fence along the blue line (the agency’s property line) could block historic access and require a neighboring property owner to remove trees and a shed to restore a 20‑foot access easement.
Park staff said planning and zoning signed off on plats in the 1990s and the recorder’s office recorded those plats, but staff has not found minutes showing a motion transferring the two sublots into private deeds. Staff asked Zavoni to provide any deeds or minutes he can find. The board agreed to give Zavoni until the next meeting to provide documentation and directed staff to search archived minutes and files. Staff also agreed to invite Kent Botswager of Game and Fish to a future meeting to discuss the planned fence and options, including whether a land swap or recorded easement could resolve access issues.
Board members discussed practical options if no deed is found: accept a recorded easement to preserve access, negotiate a land swap with Game and Fish for a small parcel in exchange for a larger tract elsewhere, or pursue sale of county property at fair market value under county code. One board member noted past small conveyances had been executed (a quarter‑acre conveyed for $1 in another instance) but emphasized that any sale now would normally require a public process and fair market valuation.
No formal board action transferring property was taken at the meeting. The board instructed staff to continue document searches, to report findings at the next meeting and to seek Game and Fish participation in follow‑up discussion. If documentation proving private ownership is produced, staff said it would settle the matter; if not, the board said an easement or negotiated solution would likely be required.
