The Columbia Falls Planning Commission recently sent a positive recommendation for the Teakettle Heights subdivision onto city councilors.

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 and soccer field, total 26.3 acres, about 33.8% of the property.

Ruis will offer an alternative financing package to qualified home buyers of 2% down and a mortgage loan rate of 1%+ or less of the market rate, subject to approval, according to the conditions.

He added later that no bulk or investor buying will be allowed as he plans on selling the homes below market rate between $550,000 and $600,000.

The site is in the Flathead County and would be annexed into Columbia Falls. It is partially zoned as light industrial with the remainder left without zoning. 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 about 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 argued 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 he plans to retain about 1,850 acres to serve as a ranch. 

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 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 argued that 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 get 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 and 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 federal agency 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.”

But as far as residential use on the property is concerned, the EPA confirmed on May 11 in an email to  the Hungry Horse News that it was suitable at the site.

"(The) EPA evaluated residential exposure as a part of the Record of Decision in the Baseline Human Health Risk Assessment for the Western Undeveloped Area which includes the proposed Teakettle Heights residential development. EPA concluded there were no unacceptable risks due to site-related contamination for future residential use in this area," project manager Allie Archer said. 

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 “deceleration” 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.