A $450,000 federal grant for the construction of Intermountain’s therapeutic youth group home near Somers has been stalled amid questions about the environmental assessment for the project.

Flathead County was poised to ask the state Department of Commerce to release the Community Development Block Grant money on Tuesday, but declined to do so after receiving letters of concern from the Flathead Lakers, Citizens for a Better Flathead and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Intermountain, a Montana agency that serves vulnerable children and families, plans to build a $1.64 million, 5,500-square-foot facility on North Somers Road to house up to eight children in need of intensive therapeutic care and support. The property is adjacent to the Blasdel Waterfowl Production Area.

All three entities providing public comment by the Jan. 6 deadline found deficiencies in the environmental assessment completed as part of the block-grant process. They asked the county to mitigate concerns ranging from stormwater management and sewage treatment to the home’s proximity to the waterfowl area.

The county commissioners last month issued a finding of no significant impact and public notice for the release of grant money. That triggered a public-comment period. The county, which applied for the grant, conducted an environmental assessment of the property and determined the project wouldn’t have any significant impact on the environment. 

“The environmental assessment will be evaluated in light of the comments and more research will be done upon which a future determination will be based,” Planning Director BJ Grieve said. “This is an example of exactly how the process is meant to work.”

Depending on the results of the county’s further examination of the environmental assessment, it could trigger the need for a more complex environmental impact statement or a revised environmental assessment, both of which would be subject to further public comment, Grieve said.

It’s too early to know whether the additional review will delay the construction of the group home, he added.

Citizens for a Better Flathead, which said it supports Intermountain’s application for federal money to expand its services, favors moving the location of the proposed home away from the border of the waterfowl area.

State Wildlife Biologist John Vore had the same request, stating the environmental assessment doesn’t adequately address the impacts of Providence Home on public use, particularly hunting, on the Blasdel Waterfowl Production Area.

“The proposed placement of buildings in the development is close enough to the Waterfowl Production Area that it will cause many hunters to avoid that portion of the [area] and it will lead to complaints from future residents of the Providence Home about legal hunting activities,” Vore said.

Comments from both nonprofit land-use groups voiced concern about Intermountain’s master site plan that shows future plans for multiple structures and parking for 300 to 400 cars for occasional events.

Glenna Wortman-Obie, Intermountain director of communication and marketing, said the master site plan doesn’t include additional dormitories but does show a conceptual drawing of a small school building and an even smaller administration building.

“We are not planning to build either of these buildings in the near or intermediate future,” Wortman-Obie said. “There is no second phase.

“The parking for 300 to 400 cars is shown as ‘temporary parking’ on the master site plan,” she said. “The area is actually slated to be a soccer field but, should we decide to have a donor event or a ribbon-cutting on the site, the architect is showing that this is a flat, open area where we could park cars in such an event.”

The block-grant application deals only with the single Providence Home facility, Grieve said. Therefore the environmental assessment dealt only with that facility.

“If they apply for a second or third building [using block grant funding], at that point we would look at the cumulative impact,” Grieve said. “You review what’s in front of you and what’s in the rearview mirror, but not what’s so far down the road.”

Grieve pointed out that because Intermountain’s 76-acre site is not zoned by the county, the nonprofit organization could expand its facilities without any further environmental review if no government money is used.

“If they use their own money, the county doesn’t review except for septic and water. It just like any other unzoned land,” Grieve said.

Even though the land-use groups and Fish, Wildlife and Parks are urging a bigger buffer between the proposed group home and waterfowl area, in this case there’s no regulatory law requiring a setback.

Wortman-Obie said Intermountain will continue to work with the county and the land-use groups to allay their concerns.

“We feel confident that we will be able to mitigate any environmental impacts,” she said. “In the end, this is a home for eight local children who need help and time to heal from trauma or emotional stress in their lives. Its footprint is small on our 76 acres and its impacts will be no more than most large family homes.

“It must be built and operated to high standards to receive Montana state licensing and will be run in a professional and community-friendly way,” she added.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.