Columbia Falls developer Mick Ruis’s Teakettle Heights project on former Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. lands will go before the Columbia Falls planning commission at 6 p.m. April 13.

The planned unit development calls for a total of 421 units on 78.05 acres south of Aluminum Drive. 

Ruis purchased most of the CFAC property about a year ago. About 1,850 acres of the site, which is about 2,400 acres total, will be his personal ranch, he told the Hungry Horse News last week.

Teakettle Heights will be located on the south side of Aluminum Drive and will be annexed into the city. 

It includes 125 single family residences on detached lots, 56 single family townhouse sublots and 240 multi-family apartment units. 

The apartments, which would be the closet buildings to the road, are proposed at 45 feet, with all other buildings be less than 35 feet. There are also several open space areas  

The legal address of the development is 1800 Aluminum Drive. It will have two access points – one to Aluminum Drive and the other directly to North Fork Road. The property is outside the CFAC Superfund site boundary.

CFAC had owned the property since the 1950s. 

Ruis said the single-family homes he hopes to sell for about $550,000 with owner financing so people can purchase one with a low down payment and interest rate. 

He said the final price of the homes will depend on the cost of bringing utilities to the site. The city’s water main runs near the property, but the sewer line will have to be extended north under the BNSF Railway tracks. 

If approvals come fairly soon, Ruis said he would like to start grading this year. 

He also spoke to criticism about removing the trees on the property. Ruis said the ranch will have stock like horses and they need open pastures, not woods. 

Ruis races horses and in 2018 his stallion, Bolt d’Oro raced in the Kentucky Derby.

He also has a ranch in Kentucky.