Pursuit Glacier Park Collection has submitted a plan for workforce housing on about 24 acres of land in West Glacier.

The property at 100 R.E.A Road is adjacent to the company’s RV park. The Phase I plan calls for a mix of three dormitories, cabins and RV spaces to accommodate about 230 seasonal workers from May to October.

Pursuit owns most of the property and shops in West Glacier, including a sit-down restaurant, a miniature golf course, general store, bar, a pizza place, raft company, grocery store and gift shop.

It also owns an RV park and  cabins complex to the west as well as properties and shops in Glacier National Park.

The employee housing would be between the quaint small neighborhood and the RV Park. The work camp, as the company refers to it in its application, will not see any actual work, just housing for employees. Quiet hours would be the same as the RV Park and dark sky friendly lighting is planned.

It would have no outdoor advertising and the existing road would be modified to a 22-foot gravel roadway with a loop for fire service. Drainage will go to retention ponds at the east end of the property.

The plan is for a gravel parking lot with 135 parking spaces, but according to the regulations for a work camp, for every employee a parking spot is required. Having said that, many Pursuit employees do not even have vehicles, as they are from other countries, here on work visas.

The Canyon Area Land Use plan sets standards for work camps, which are considered a minor land use, including things like buffers from adjacent property lines and the Flathead River, for example.

Under CALURS, a work camp is defined as, “A parcel of land on which housing is provided by employer(s) doing business or having a business interest within the boundaries of the Middle Canyon Area ... for two or more individuals or families living separately, for the exclusive use of the employees of the employer. Housing may include camping spaces, trailer parking spaces, mobile, modular, or other permanent structures, and includes any associated water supply and distribution system, sewage collection and disposal system, solid waste collection and disposal system.”

There are no limits on the size or scope of the camp under the current regulations, though county sanitary regulations could be a limiting factor to a degree. The application states it will use the existing water system from the adjacent RV Park.

The company employs more than 800 over its Glacier Park operations, according to Gary Rodgers, Chief Operating Officer, Pacific Northwest, Pursuit.

“Longterm, our goal is to create a centralized employee housing on the boundary on the boundary of West Glacier to relocate our work force housing closer to their place of work. We have applied for a Minor Land Use Review for this project on a Pursuit-owned site nearby to the West Glacier RV Park. This will be a phased process over a number of years and aims to provide a combination of accommodations options including site for RVs, dormitory housing and management cabins,” Rodgers said in a statement.

People can comment on the plan until Feb. 9 until 5 p.m. The best way is via email at [email protected]. County planner Eric Mack said the county has 10 days to finish its review unless it requires more information from the applicant.