A court hearing on a county decision to terminate a grant for slope stabilization near Village Greens was postponed on Friday for another three months, much to the chagrin of homeowners who want the unstable bluff reinforced.

The new hearing date is 10 a.m. Sept. 23 in Flathead District Court.

Whitefish attorney Sean Frampton, who is representing Scott Gearhart and Susan Storfa in the legal action against the county, said both parties agreed to the continuance “because of additional document production.”

The hearing initially was set for April 23, then was moved to June 27 to allow more time for the county to provide documentation to Frampton.

In April Flathead District Judge Ted Lympus granted a temporary restraining order stopping the commissioners from terminating the grant.

“It’s frustrating it’s taking so long,” Gearhart said. “I don’t want to have to live through one more year of this.”

Gearhart lives in a townhome near the edge of the bluff above the Village Greens subdivision and golf course in Kalispell.

With a previous go-ahead from the Flathead County commissioners, the homeowners had worked successfully to get a $298,000 slope stabilization mitigation grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, using the county as the required sponsoring government agency.

The homeowners also put in their required match of $102,000 to stabilize a steep bank that first slid in 2010. On March 26 the commissioners abruptly backed away from the project, citing liability concerns.

Another portion of the bank collapsed June 19 under the weight of record rainfall.

“I’m just sick about it,” Storfa said. “Now it’s too late to do anything this year. I hope nothing else happens.”

Storfa also lives on the bluff near the slide area.

Both Gearhart and Storfa said they’ve heard unofficially that the county is working with some state entity to find a way to allow the grant to proceed without the county being involved. They don’t care who sponsors the FEMA grant; they just want the problem fixed.

Kent Atwood, state hazard mitigation officer with the Montana Department of Emergency Services, said in April he didn’t see any way to reassign the grant.

Atwood said federal regulations for FEMA mitigation grants require the asking jurisdiction to have an approved predisaster mitigation plan. The county has such a plan and Kalispell also formally adopted the plan by resolution.

The city of Kalispell could have been eligible to apply for the grant but declined to do so.

Atwood recently said he was unaware of any effort by the county to seek state intervention.

Deputy County Attorney Tara Fugina couldn’t be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

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