Article published Apr 11, 2008

Landowners near Highwood site sue county

By KARL PUCKETT

Tribune Staff Writer

A lawsuit filed Thursday in Cascade County District Court asks a judge to throw out a March decision by Cascade County commissioners to rezone 668 acres east of Great Falls for a coal-fired power plant, saying it was spot-zoning.

Southern Montana Electric Generation & Transmission, the developer of the $790 million Highwood Generating Station proposed for that site, is not named as a defendant.

Company attorney Mary Jaraczeski said SME would request to be a party in the case and "vigorously defend the rezoning."

The suit was brought by the Montana Environmental Information Center in Helena and 61 plaintiffs who either farm or live near the site, which is located along Salem Road.

It's the second time in 15 months MEIC and the landowners have sued the county for rezoning the land.

MEIC and the landowners also sued the county in December 2006.

That lawsuit was later dismissed after commissioners rescinded a decision to rezone the land and changed its zoning rules.

"We're not willing to have the coal-fired generator as a neighbor," said Bob Lassila, an organic farmer and one of the plaintiffs, on Thursday.

The Urquhart family, which owns the land, applied for the rezoning. The family plans to sell the land to SME.

Commissioners approved rezoning the farmland to heavy industrial March 11 by a 2-1 vote. Commissioners Joe Briggs and Lance Olson supported the change, while Peggy Beltrone voted no.

"If I had thought it was spot-zoning, I wouldn't have voted for it," Briggs said.

He added that he expected the county to get sued regardless of how the vote turned out.

The county took extra care to avoid errors, consulting with a land-use attorney and getting the public involved in the process, he said.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit say the decision was spot-zoning because the land-use change benefits one family and SME while disrupting agricultural operations of surrounding landowners.

"This was a decision that was made to benefit just a few landowners to the detriment of all the neighbors," MEIC's Anne Hedges said.

The plaintiffs also say the county failed to comply with public participation requirements because the developer submitted new information to the commission the same day as a Jan. 15 public hearing, leaving the public no time to review it and comment.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to void the decision and force the county to pay for litigation expenses.

The county purchased litigation insurance through the Montana Association of Counties at a cost of $7,551 a year following the first lawsuit, Briggs said. The coverage has a $10,000 deductible.

The organization excluded coverage for zoning actions from its standard policy in 2002, but offered counties the option of buying it back at an added cost.

Cascade County, which initially declined to buy the extra insurance, later decided to purchase it at Briggs' suggestion.

The county spent $21,000 on outside legal counsel for the first lawsuit and on rewriting the rezoning regulations, according to the county's finance office.