A Bigfork couple whose commercial wedding facility was shut down three years ago because of a zoning violation is once again seeking a permit to resume holding weddings.

Alana and Bill Myers are seeking a conditional-use permit to establish a high-impact recreational facility and caretaker’s facility at their Ten Arrows Ranch off McCaffery Road.

The Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee will take public comment on the proposal at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 28, at Bethany Lutheran Church in Bigfork. The committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to the Flathead County Board of Adjustment for final consideration.

The Myerses held weddings at their ranch for two summers, but when they ramped up to a full schedule in 2013, neighbors complained about the noise, dust and other intrusions. The county Planning Office investigated and shut down the facility because the property isn’t zoned to hold weddings.

In October 2014 Alana Myers pleaded guilty in Flathead County Justice Court to a criminal misdemeanor for violating county zoning laws. Even though the Myerses had agreed to no longer accept payment for use of the wedding facility, Alana Myers had continued to hold weddings and receive payment throughout a 30-day notice to desist issued by the county, and a subsequent reminder period, and by then the 2013 summer wedding season was over.

An investigation by the Planning Office revealed that Myers accepted a discounted fee of $1,900 from a bride-to-be after stating in an email that the ranch was legally able to hold weddings, even though no permit had been granted.

The Facebook page for Ten Arrows Ranch now states: “We want to clarify that we are not able to do, book, or hold weddings here.”

On Jan. 27, 2016, the Planning Office sent the Myers Ten Arrows Trust notification of two further zoning violations, in response to written complaints. One complaint indicated the Myerses were using their property as a resort dwelling for short-term rentals, a use not permitted in the suburban agricultural 5-acre zone where the ranch is located. A second complaint said the ranch was being advertised as being available as an event center in conjunction with the rental of a cabin on the premises. An event center requires a conditional-use permit in the SAG-5 zone.

Part of the documentation for the latest complaints of zoning violations were listings for the ranch facility on the Airbnb website in December 2015.

Neighbors remain opposed to the presence of a wedding facility.

Lance Morgan said the wedding center “would be a public nuisance that will greatly disturb our neighborhood as it has in the past.

“The Myerses would be able to host weddings every night of every summer weekend. It’s hard to believe the county government would give one family permission to ruin the peace and quiet of so many neighbors, especially since the Myerses have violated and disregarded county zoning laws multiple times,” Morgan said.

The latest request for a conditional-use permit is the couple’s third attempt to operate the ranch as a high-impact recreational facility, a use that would allow weddings for the suburban agricultural zoning of the rural property.

Their application in 2014 was pulled from the land-use advisory committee and the Board of Adjustment agendas after Alana Myers was charged with the zoning misdemeanor.

Regarding neighborhood impact, the conditional-use permit application notes the Myerses will require all music to be turned off at 10:15 p.m., with no amplification of music outside the barn during receptions. Also, amplifiers in the field would face south toward an empty hay field.

They also propose to limit event attendance to 250 guests, and have all guests off the property by 11 p.m. No car honking would accompany the bridal couple’s departure, the application further states.

No more than 20 weddings would be held during a calendar year.

The Myerses plan to add 15 to 20 pine trees at least 10 feet tall in the northwest corner of their property to further diminish any view one of the neighbors would have.

The couple did not return a phone call from the Daily Inter Lake

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