Residents, agencies press Lincoln County over Shriber Meadows subdivision plans amid water, wildlife and fire-safety concerns

Lincoln County planning staff presented preliminary plats for the Shriber Meadows North and South subdivisions — a paired proposal to create roughly 27 lots on about 248 acres adjacent to Shriber Lake and Shriber Creek — and faced sustained public opposition and technical questions about water, wildlife and public-safety risks.

"There are a number of questions I felt hadn't been answered," said Dr. Robera McCanns, a recently appointed member of the county planning board, who said she abstained from the planning-board vote because of remaining uncertainties about aquifer capacity, well monitoring and access for emergency vehicles. Several other attendees raised similar concerns about groundwater connections to surface waters and the ability to enforce mitigation.

Planner Jesse summarized the application and the staff findings under the seven criteria required by the Montana Subdivision Platting Act (Title 76, chapter 3). He said the applicant proposes individual wells and septic systems, a mix of lot sizes (some small building footprints within larger parent parcels), and two variance requests: an increased spacing between turnouts on Forest Road 14486 and an access road that would exceed the county's 2,500-foot maximum. The applicant has offered a 30,000-gallon cistern for fire protection and an emergency egress route as mitigation.

Several nearby landowners and residents said they feared the subdivision could reduce flows to MDOT's Shriber Lake mitigation site and to downstream irrigators that hold older water rights. "Our wells have shown low static levels this year; last summer an artesian well up the valley went dry," said Earl Messik, who described multi-generation residence in the watershed and growing water shortages. Don Tracy, a nearby resident, asked whether lot density could be reduced to lower cumulative impacts.

MDOT and Fish, Wildlife & Parks submitted written comments and attended the hearing; MDOT told planning staff it has historically managed Shriber Lake for wetland mitigation and said recent actions (including beaver-dam removal and proposed water-control structures) are intended to protect downstream deliveries. Planner Jesse said the applicant's hydrogeologic memorandum concluded the aquifer is not hydraulically connected to the lake because static groundwater elevations differ from lake levels, but staff noted inconsistencies between well logs and test-pit data and described MDOT's disagreement with the applicant's conclusions.

The county's fire district and trustees said they could support the project if the proposed fire protection measures and a safe two-way emergency egress were provided and approved by the district. "We're not opposed as long as the criteria are met that we've been asking for," said Stu Chris, chairman of the Fisher River Valley trustees.

Developer representatives said there would be no proposed surface-water uses and that each dwelling would rely on exempt residential well allotments. Project engineer Andy said the hydrogeologic work and well data are included in the application and that many technical concerns are addressed in conditions proposed for final plat.

Planning staff recommended preliminary approval subject to 34 conditions, including further geotechnical analysis for the bench and access to Lot 10, clarified road easement/approach permits with MDOT and Forest Service, a cistern installation and recorded covenants that incorporate fuels-reduction and "living with wildlife" provisions. Jesse told the meeting the governing body has until July 2 to reach a decision on the preliminary plats.

The hearing closed after hours of testimony; commissioners did not take a final vote at the meeting and left the matter on the schedule for future consideration. The record includes extensive written comment, the applicant’s technical memoranda, and MDOT and FWP responses that the commission said it will weigh against staff recommendations before the statutory deadline.