The Columbia Falls Planning Commission on Wednesday sent a positive recommendation for the Teakettle Heights subdivision onto the city council.  

The vote was 3-0 with members Dulcie Berube and Justin Ping absent.   

The planned unit development proposed by developer Mick Ruis calls for a total of 421 units on 78.05 acres south of Aluminum Drive on former Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. lands.    

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 closest buildings to Aluminum Drive, are proposed at 45 feet tall. All other buildings will be less than 35 feet.  

Open space and park areas, including a baseball field, total 26.3 acres, about 33.8% of the property. 

The site is in the Flathead County and would be annexed into Columbia Falls. It is currently partially zoned as light industrial and the remainder unzoned.  If the city annexes it, the zoning would change to CR-5 (two-family residential), which allows two units on 5,400 square foot lots which is equal to approximately 12 units per acre. The proposed development is looking at 5.4 units per acre gross, the city planning staff report noted. The change in zoning aligns with the city’s 2019 growth policy.   

Neighbors roundly opposed the development, citing a host of concerns about the density, traffic, impacts on wildlife and the character of the neighborhood, which is primarily single-family residences in what’s known as Aluminum City.   

“It’s going to radically change our existing neighborhood,” resident Samantha Milner said of Teakettle Heights.   

Residents claimed the subdivision apartments were too close to their own property lines and would obstruct views of the mountains. They also lamented that Ruis had already cut down most of the trees. Ruis has previously said he cut down the trees because of the 2,300 or so acres he bought from CFAC, about 1,850 acres, will be his own personal ranch. Ruis has race horses and has another ranch in Kentucky.   

Another concern was that the development was within the greater 960-acre boundaries of the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. Superfund site, though the Environmental Protection Agency said tests have found no contamination on the smaller 78-acre Teakettle Heights site. 

“The conditions in the following exposure areas at the site do not pose an estimated lifetime cancer risk above de minimis levels or potential for non-cancer effects due to the presence of site-related contaminants of concern. These exposure areas include ... the western undeveloped area,” the EPA’s record of decision on the plant cleanup notes.  The subdivision would be located in the west developed area.   

The worst contamination at the site is to the east and north of where the aluminum plant once was, according to the EPA and studies completed by the company. The plant was torn down in 2015.  

There was still plenty of concern about unknowns at the site overall. Peter Metcalf of the Coalition for a Clean CFAC urged the commission to consider tabling the application until the actual cleanup of the Superfund site was completed.   

He claimed the baseline risk assessment of the area did not assess direct contact with the soil where a future child might play in the dirt. He said the coalition was going to meet with the EPA and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to try to gain more answers.   

The planning commission sympathized with the concerns and added some conditions to mitigate them. One condition required that test wells that were drilled in the Superfund process that are still on the subdivision site be undisturbed and access be preserved. Additionally, the commission required an addition to the subdivision’s covenants, conditions and restrictions that it was a Superfund site. They also added a condition that the developer obtain a letter from the EPA that the developer has worked in good faith to address items the EPA had previously noted in a letter sent to Ruis in February 2025.   

That letter notes, "To ensure the remedy remains protective of human health and the environment, any development must be compatible with the EPA cleanup actions and any institutional controls. The EPA and Montana Department of Environmental Quality will identify institutional controls and engineering controls during the remedial design stage of the Superfund process.” 

It also notes that groundwater use restrictions could be put in place and that Ruis, “upon request by the EPA, implement and record institutional controls in the official county property records.”   

Some members of the audience claimed the city didn’t have capacity to serve the subdivision with sewer and water.   

But city manager Eric Hanks noted that the city had capacity to not only serve the subdivision once it was completely built out, but also had enough capacity for several hundred more residents. He also noted it did its projections based on federally-recognized standards for population estimates per unit. The city estimates that each person will use about 67 gallons of water a day, which is conservative based on what the city already sees at its sewage treatment plant from existing users.   

The commission also added a condition that Ruis plant a buffer of trees between the subdivision and adjacent landowners to at least partially make up for what was cut down.  

From a traffic standpoint, Flathead County suggested a “decleration” lane to Aluminum Drive and most agreed that eventually the speed would need to be reduced in the area, but that would require a warrant study by the Montana Department of Transportation since the North Fork Road is a state highway. 

City council will take up the application and make a final determination at 7 p.m. June 1 at its regular meeting. There will be an opportunity for public comment at that meeting as well.