A group of neighbors opposed to a Pursuit “work camp” in West Glacier have filed an appeal on the project to the Flathead County Board of Adjustment.

The appeal claims the project, which will create a complex to house about 137 employees in three dormitories, 11 cabins and 19 RV spaces on 24.644 acres just west of Glacier Drive, should receive greater scrutiny as a major land use.

Under the Canyon Area Land Use Regulatory System zoning, a “work camp” is considered a minor land use.

In their appeal, neighbors say this is a “misclassification” of the project and that it will have significant impacts to the character of the community, the privacy of the residents, wildlife  habitat and migration, security, property values and traffic. Glacier Drive has long been a quiet neighborhood tucked back in behind the hustle and bustle of West Glacier, the primary entrance to Glacier National Park.

The Flathead County Board of Adjustment will have a public hearing on the matter at 6 p.m. May 5 at the planning and zoning offices in Kalispell in the county’s South Campus building.

Since the work camp was considered a minor land use plan under CALURS, county planner Eric Mack approved the project, which has a legal address of 100 R.E.A Road in West Glacier on Feb. 23, administratively.

“CALURS specifically identifies a work camp as a Minor Land Use within the Middle Canyon, subject to administrative review and compliance with performance standards. The zoning administrator does not have discretion to reclassify a use that is expressly listed as a Minor Land Use under the governing regulations,” the county planning staff report noted at the time.

It also noted that the camp, as designed, complies with performance standards.

“The work camp is clustered internally on a 24.644-acre parcel, maintains required setbacks, preserves existing vegetation for screening, and does not extend above ridgelines visible from U.S. Highway 2. Compliance with these standards ensures compatibility as defined by CALURS,” the staff report noted.

But it doesn’t seem right, noted longtime resident Margot Nye Peters. Her grandmother, Helen Gibb, built their house on Glacier Drive some 80 years ago.

Up until now, it’s been a quiet neighborhood.

“Our little street has been there quite awhile,” Peters said. “Now there’s going to be (what amounts to) a subdivision next to us.”

She also noted that according to the plans, this is only phase one and Pursuit could build more phases.

Pursuit has said previously it needs to employee housing for its seasonal workers, who man the shops and lodging it has in West Glacier in and around the park. It notes there would no be year-round residents and no actual work at the camp.