Wheatlanders Say No to Cavanaugh Plan
 | Author:
Nancy Marks, Reporter
Nancy Marks: MT43 News Secretary and News Editor |
Wheatlanders Say No to Cavanaugh Plan
Nancy Marks
Reporter
Folks living in the Wheatland area of southern Broadwater County want county commissioners to reject land developer Steve Cavanaugh’s plan for a Rolling Glen Ranch minor subdivision.
The Broadwater County Commission held a public hearing on the issue Tuesday evening, August 1, in the Flynn Building in Townsend. About 40 people showed up, overwhelmingly opposed to Cavanaugh’s intention to sell three 20-acre parcels as a legal minor subdivision, even though it would connect with the land in his huge Rolling Glen Ranch Master Plan.
The commission has a deadline of next Wednesday, August 16 to determine if it is indeed legally a minor subdivision or instead a phase of his Master Plan. If the commission rules against it being a minor subdivision, Cavanaugh will have to meet stringent state laws and county regulations for major subdivisions, and county conditions specifically for Rolling Glen.
Of the 18 people who spoke at the hearing, the only proponent was Cavanaugh himself, a graying man who limped to the podium recovering from hip-replacement surgery. At one point he noted that he will not live to see completion of the 34 phases of his Rolling Glen Ranch Master Plan, expected to spread over some 30 years.
The other 17 people who spoke were uniformly opposed to the minor subdivision proposal. Testimony showed that many do not trust Cavanaugh, based on experience with his early development and sale of Rolling Glen Ranch lots before the business came to a halt when he filed for federal bankruptcy protection in 2008.
Elizabeth Barton, a Wheatland Meadows resident, used a familiar adage to caution the commissioners against Cavanaugh’s reliability: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” she said.
Perhaps the biggest concern among opponents was falling groundwater tables as evidenced by domestic and irrigation wells drying up in the rapidly growing area of several hundred homes.
Cavanaugh explained that of the three 20-acre parcels of his proposed minor subdivision, two of the parcels would be further subdivided into 14 lots each, for a total of 28 lots and each lot with its own well and septic sewer system.
The proposed subdivision is accessed off Wheatland Road and is located about 4.3 miles northwest of the Interstate 90-US Highway 287 interchange. The interchange is central to businesses, including the Wheat Montana bakery, Town Pump gas station and truck stop, Steer Inn trailer sales, and Bridger Brewery.
Cavanaugh, who lives in Anaconda, downplayed concerns about water. He said that instead of relying on a 2007 water survey by the State Department of Natural Resources, he has worked with that agency on deep drill tests, one down to 650 feet, to show the aquifers have more than enough water for all homes and businesses in his master plan. He talked at some length about aquifer studies, including one costing his development $250,000. Community wells and sewage systems are planned as the development of Rolling Glen Ranch progresses.
The master plan is technically called a Planned Unit Development, or PUD, and is to be developed in phases. Cavanaugh emphasized that lots must be sold in his proposed minor subdivision to provide money to develop the next phase.
When and if it is ever fully developed under the master plan, Rolling Glen Ranch would be a town of 2,599 residential, civic and commercial lots with two golf courses, a town center, parks and trails covering 1,724 acres. Apparently, it would be mostly a community of retired people, as shown by the obviously retired age of folks at the hearing.
Shawn Koenig, a rancher whose property borders Rolling Glen Ranch, said the water table for his irrigation well has fallen so much in recent years that it no longer supports a second cutting on his 48 acres of alfalfa and grass hay. He also spoke of area businesses running short on well water. He pointed out that construction of the state Highway Department’s new rest area off the highway interchange was completed months ago but has not opened yet for lack of water. He spoke against “stabbing in a bunch more houses now.”
Butch Barton, who lives in the nearby Wheatland Meadows subdivision, said he opposed approval of the proposed minor subdivision. “The water issue is huge,” he said. Barton said the “Town Pump’s well dried up, so they had to punch a new well.”
Commissioner Lindsey Richtmyer questioned Cavanaugh about well water for the 28 parcels he plans in the minor subdivision. “Would they have to go 650 feet for water like your test wells?” she asked. Cavanaugh evaded her question, saying only that each parcel would have its own well and septic system.
County Attorney Cory Swanson tried with several questions to pin down Cavanaugh on whether his proposed three-parcel subdivision is actually a phase of his master plan rather than just a minor subdivision. Cavanaugh gave a wandering response that didn’t seem clear.
Retired Three Forks teacher Julie Jensen, who lives in a nearby subdivision, pointed out her family could no longer irrigate their 17 acres because the irrigation well had gone dry.
Jensen also complained that more subdivision housing in the area would put undue stress on the Three Forks schools since the area is in the Three Forks School District. “It is huge for our school system. Their children may very well not be able to go to the Three Forks schools,” she said.
The lack of emergency services, including fire, sheriff and ambulances was another major worry. Michelle Bodenheimer who lives in the Mount Vista subdivision, voiced her concerns. “I am opposed to this subdivision because there are not enough emergency services as it is down here.” She said Cavanaugh “should be held to the same standards as everyone else. He needs to be accountable and should have to go by the rules” of the master development, “not just as a minor subdivision.”
Peter Reiss who lives in the current Rolling Glen subdivision and was Home Owners Association president for two years, voiced those same concerns. “We had a lot of headaches to solve that were historically based,” he said.
Several people gave harrowing accounts of the lack of emergency services. One woman said she nearly died of COVID during the epidemic because the nearest ambulance service her family could call was an hour away in Bozeman. “That’s with the population as it is now. What will emergency services be like when there is another subdivision?” she asked.
The town of Three Forks and the surrounding area, including the many nearby residential subdivisions, now have ambulance services with certified emergency medical technicians. The newly formed Three Forks Ambulance Service is a nonprofit operation organized by Barbara Mutter. She attended the hearing but did not speak.
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PhotoCredit: Photo Credits: Nancy Marks
Image 1 Caption: Developer Steve Cavanaugh speaks before Broadwater County Commissioners at a public meeting about his Rolling Glen Ranch minor subdivision.
Photo Credits: Nancy Marks
