Council denies Airbnb rezoning petition

Editor's note: This corrects teh spelling of Greg Dolven's name in the photo caption.

A petition submitted by Northern Heights Drive resident Kerma Boyum to rezone the area her house is in from Residential Class A-1 to Residential General to allow an Airbnb was voted down by Havre City Council Monday after council members heard from several people that the petition was misrepresented to them.

"I was puzzled at first as to why she needed signatures to do what she wanted to do with her property," Saddle Butte Drive resident Joe Vernon said. "I feel that people should be able to do what they want to with their property. I'm not opposed to an Airbnb."

He said he wouldn't have signed the petition if he had known it was about rezoning, not just opening an Airbnb

"When I found out later from (Greg) Dolven that it was her trying to get a zoning restructure, I heard nothing of that, and it seems that there are several people that did not hear of that when they were signing, he said.

The issue has come up at the last three City Council meetings, with council members and community members opposing the idea.

Boyum submitted the petition June 24 with signatures of 26 of the 57 homeowners in the area proposed for the zoning change, more than 45 percent. She needed to collect signatures from at least 35 percent of landowners within 150 feet of the property that is proposed for rezoning.

Boyum was not at Monday's meeting, but several people who signed her petition told the council Monday they were mislead. Many of the people who signed the petition had requested their names be removed from the petition.

Northern Heights Drive resident Dolven said he and his wife learned last Thursday that the council might vote on rezoning the district, and they spent Friday and most of Saturday speaking with residents in the area. They found that every neighbor they spoke to was unaware of the petition's intent, he said.

"They said that she never had said anything about rezoning, just said that she wanted a bed and breakfast," Dolven said. "That's the way it was with each person we went around and talked to."

He added that he also compiled a list of 18 people who wished to retract their signatures from the petition, which he presented the council.

"These people are just not happy," he said.

Boyum's property is also for sale, Dolven and Vernon both said.

"Why would you put other people through something like this if you're not planning on living there," Dolven said.

Havre Mayor Tim Solomon said he received calls from 12 people who signed the petition requesting to have their names removed. He added that the city is unable to alter the petition once it has been submitted.

Solomon said that if the council voted the petition down, it would not move to the zoning board, but the petitioner is able to submit future petitions.

Council President Terry Lilletvedt said that she is not opposed to establishing an Airbnb, but there are clear issues with the petition.

"In this case, I think, it's a moot point for us to vote to approve it when there's no way that the whole neighborhood is going to vote to become a residential general," she said.

Council member Karen Swenson said that the petition is problematic.

"We are seeing a great disparity here between the first presentation and then the second," she said.

Bullhook Storm Drain Project

The council approved awarding Lakeside Excavation Inc. the contract to complete the Bullhook Storm Drain Project and approved updating Great West Engineering's contract for the project.

Bullhook starts at Saddle Butte southwest of Havre and runs into the city near Havre High School and then runs through the city. A few spots are still open, but most of the drainage has been covered by streets and buildings and dirt work over the last century.

Concrete pipes and metal culverts in the ground convey storm drainage through and under the city into the Milk River.

In October 2013, sections of street and sidewalk over the drainage began collapsing. The city had to block off a 10-foot-by 4-foot section of Third Street near Taco Treat off Fifth Avenue with sawhorses.

After three years of planning, the city awarded a a $1,972,503 contract to Kinkaid Civil Construction out of Mesa, Arizona, in August 2016.

The contract was paid through a $500,000 grant from the Treasure State Endowment Program, along with a loan and city funds.

When Kinkaid did not meet its deadline in December 2016, it sought an extension. The city went into negotiations with the company about the contract.

The city entered arbitration with Kinkaid in the spring of 2018.

The arbitration came back in favor of the city last fall, including the city receiving money for attorney fees, paid through Kinkaid's bond.

Solomon said that the bonding company has not yet settled with the city, but the plan is to use the funds available to do as much work as possible. He added that the city still has funds from the original project and will use those until the settlement with the bonding company is agreed on.

City Council and Hill County 

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson told the council during Monday's public comment section that the city has been double-billing the county for water, with Great Northern Fairgrounds paying for the same water the County Shop has been since 1979.

He said water, which went through a meter to the shop, was then piped through a second meter for the fairgrounds.

He said records he collected only from 2005 to 2018 but showed the fairgrounds had paid $25,477, and he estimated that the fairgrounds has overpaid about $40,000 since 1979 when the meter for the fairgrounds was put in.

Peterson said he understands the city doesn't have $40,000 available to pay that.

"I'm not asking for that," he said. "What I'm asking for is consideration. So how can we settle this without costing the city an arm and a leg to do so?"

The city received at no cost some ground up pavement, or millings, from a highway project several years ago, and he is proposing the city provide 4,000 yards of the millings to the county, Peterson said.

"No nickels and dimes, no dollars, just some millings to be given to help settle a situation that's gone on long before any of us were here," he said. " ... I'm offering them a cheap way out," Peterson said.

Peterson earlier in the day said that the millings would be used for improvements to the west road on the fairgrounds, the area around the Bigger Better Barn and the midway.

Solomon, who is a former fairgrounds manager, said at the meeting that the meter on the fairgrounds that is in question was removed in the early 2000s, between 2005 and 2008.

"I can tell you for a fact that the meter was removed when I was up there working and it had been removed for years up there," he said.

He added that City Council will look into the matter and consideration, then moving it to a committee for further discussion.

Look for more on this in upcoming editions of the Havre Daily News.

Tri-Agency Task Force and Color Run

The council accepted a grant from the Board of Crime Control to continue operation of the Tri-Agency Task Force, which is a multi-agency drug task force that operates from Liberty through Phillips counties.

Solomon said that this is a continuation on the grant, which has to be renewed for the agency to continue. 

The annual Bullhook Community Health Clinic's Color Fun Run/Walk was also approved by the council for Aug. 10. This will be the third year of this event.