County takes first step to rebuild Fox Farm Road

Cascade County commissioners Thursday took the first formal step toward creating a rural special improvement district to pay for rebuilding and widening a rural section of Fox Farm Road.

They approved a motion of intent to create the RSID at the close of a two-hour special meeting in the Paddock Club at Montana ExpoPark during which a crowd of 40 area residents commented on the project’s cost, their need to foot the bill and the condition of county roads.

The commission’s action soon will start a 30-day period during which property owners can protest creation of the district, officials said, and residents will be sent specific instructions. While it technically would take objections from at least half the approximately 400 parcel owners to kill the road project, some 150 property owners were barred from protesting when their subdivisions were created.

However, county commissioners stressed that they might change or kill the project if they receive “a sufficient number” of protesting votes.

Residents of the growing suburban area south of Great Falls have expressed concerns about the aging, hilly and narrow road with no shoulders and steep ditches, particularly after fatal crashes over the years.

County Public Works Director Brian Clifton said the county has taken two surveys since last spring and found there is support for creating an RSID to rebuild and widen a portion of the road, so commissioners hired an engineering firm to do a preliminary study of its cost.

Preliminary projections show the RSID would cost about $4 million, including construction, engineering and interest repaid over 20 years. Each parcel holder would pay an estimated $534 a year over the 20 years.

The Montana Transportation Department is using a portion of the road building money assigned to this metropolitan area to rebuild and widen rural Fox Farm Road from the city limits to just south of Dick Road, Clifton said, and 58 percent of the affected property owners surveyed agreed they would support an RSID assessing themselves to extend the road reconstruction and widening another 1.2 miles to Fox Farm Road’s intersection with Dune Drive.

Clifton said more than 70 percent of the surveys returned indicated those residents would support assessments of at least $400 a year, with a majority approving the 20-year period.

But resident Steve Miller called those figures misleading, since nearly half of the area residents didn’t return the survey. Resident Charles Koether said he would have liked the engineering firm to have come up with a less expensive option that would have kept the annual assessments at $400 a year.

Clifton said the proposed road standards – two 12-foot-lanes, two five-foot shoulders and gentler ditches – are pretty typical for such busy rural roads and match what the state is proposing for the rural portion of Fox Farm Road to the north.

He said residents have complained about the current road’s lack of shoulders, giving little room to pass or pull over.

“But this road will have no sidewalks, no bike lane – no fluff,” Clifton stressed.

The county is putting aside $1.4 million in its regular road budget funds to do less extensive overlays on nearby Fawn and Dune drives and Dick Road, he said, but the major widening and rebuilding work that needs to be done on Fox Farm Road doesn’t fit in the regular county budget.

Clifton also said the cost estimates are conservative and chances are good that the project can be built for less money, especially if the county and state can get a contractor who teams up on the work. If more property is subdivided, that will also reduce the assessments for the other property owners, he added.

After 90 minutes of explanation and questioning, the commission held a formal public hearing during which four residents supported creating the RSID and five opposed.

“I’m pleased that we’ll rebuild Fox Farm Road, which could save lives,” resident Al Horn said.

Driving too fast and drinking may have contributed to some of the fatal crashes, he said, but a wider, smoother road with less severely sloped ditches will help reduce the risk “for all our sakes.”

Bruce Lahti said he doesn’t love the idea of $534 annual assessments, but sees no option.

“The road won’t get any better and the cost won’t get any cheaper,” he said.

Rex Tanberg said he’s lived in the area 30 years and recalled that an earlier RSID road project was “done on the cheap” because of opposition. Spending more money back then might have resulted in a better road that didn’t need such an expensive overhaul now, he said.

The projected $534 annual assessment amounts to “a buck and a half a day,” he said, adding that residents will realize that much in benefits from the improved road with fewer car realignments and better wear on their tires.

Dexter Busby said the Fox Farm improvements “are sorely needed,” but cautioned county officials against “project cost creep.”

Opponent T.J. Beck said he and his wife are probably the youngest property owners, with the smallest parcel, but will pay the same rate as folks with huge parcels.

“As a young guy, I have to live within my means, and I think the county should, too,” he said, adding that the rest of Cascade County should financially support Fox Farm Road improvements, as he supports those elsewhere in the county.

Residents Darrell Quinn and Jim Spaans objected to the project’s cost and suggested the county simply lower the road’s 45 mph speed limit to a safer level and enforce it.

Brian Lahti said he is retired, like many of the area’s residents, and the $534 annual assessment would eat into his living expenses.

Wade Deboo said the road improvements really need to be done, but the county and its engineers should have offered an option “somewhere between this Cadillac proposal and the jalopy road we have now.”