A potential new site for the Bigfork green-box waste collection site has been found and an appraisal of the property is underway.

After Bigfork residents last year opposed the Flathead County Solid Waste District’s plan to close the Bigfork green-box site and consolidate that site with Creston and Somers, the Solid Waste Board gave the community the go-ahead to find a viable new collection site.

The current site along Montana 82 is too small, with no room for expansion, and illegal dumping of hazardous waste and commercial garbage have been chronic problems, according to county Public Works Director Dave Prunty.

Prunty said he and Landfill Operations Manager Jim Chilton have been looking for an alternative site for several months and recently found a 5-acre parcel on the north side of Montana 83 near the Little Brown Church. The property is owned by Tim Calaway and his father-in-law.

“It’s a 10-acre parcel that they said they could cut in half,” Prunty told the Solid Waste Board on Tuesday. “It’s pretty flat ground, it’s secluded. The size is good and recycling is an option there.”

Prunty said Calaway has spoken with most of the neighbors near the site and hasn’t gotten much opposition.

The property is zoned Suburban Agricultural, with a 5-acre minimum lot size, and would accommodate a waste collection use.

The county commissioners authorized an appraisal of the Calaway site but are standing firm in requiring the formation of a rural solid waste district if the Bigfork green-box relocation moves forward, Prunty said. Such a district would require Bigfork residents within the district to pay for their garbage service.

Commissioner Gary Krueger, who represents the commission on the Solid Waste Board, said “if the community wants extra service, they’ll have to have a district.”

It would be similar to a Rural Special Improvement District that requires the affected property owners to pay for road improvements, or the county’s dust abatement program that requires a financial commitment from property owners, Krueger said.

“There will be a vote of that community and if they vote not to” form a district, it’s their decision, Krueger said. “If Bigfork [in the future] incorporates, then they’d have to haul their own” solid waste.

If residents within a designated area were to vote down the formation of a green-box district, “Plan B,” the board agreed, would be to proceed with the Bigfork site closure and consolidate with the Creston and Somers sites.

Several board members said a precedent already has been set for consolidation. Marion and Kila green-box sites were consolidated into a new facility near Ashley Lake.

At the eastern end of the county the three smallest collection sites at Essex, Nyack and Glacier Haven Inn have been consolidated into a new East Corridor site near Essex that opens June 1.

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