Park board argues Beaver Creek rules

The Hill County Park Board again extensively debated during its monthly meeting in Havre Monday what are — and what should be — the rules at Beaver Creek Park.

Board Chair Steve Mariani said several people had come to talk to him, and to Hill County commissioners, about receiving notices that they were out of compliance with their cabin site leases by having snowfences on their property. Mariani said many of those people took over leases with snowfences already on the sites, and coming back later to say they were violating regulations did not seem appropriate.

Mariani said the board needs to decide how to act to get cabin sites in compliance with the regulations, without singling people out or suddenly changing what people had been allowed to do previously, such as with the snowfences.

“We need to draw a line in the sand and move forward and make it right,” he said.

In a discussion moments later about sites with more than the allowed number of outbuildings, Mariani said every cabin lease transfer in the future should require the site be put in compliance with the regulations when it is transferred.

Setting rules on fences

Members of the board, and of a committee that had discussed rewriting the rules of the park in the last few years and made recommendations last spring, said the park rules and cabin site leases don’t prohibit snowfences.

Park cabin site leases say the leaser can erect a wooden or metal fence. No wire fences are allowed.

The board, after hearing recommendations from the Rules Committee, had voted in April to change the regulations to say fencing was allowed with prior approval of the board.

In May, the Hill County Commission said they would not allow that change in regulation until the board showed that the majority of the cabin owners desire the change.

Rose Cloninger of the park cabin owner association said Monday that she is nearly done with a survey of cabin owners to see what they want on that and other issues.

The board continuously discussed snowfences, including a discussion that they are prohibited because they are held together with wire and the regulations say no wire fences are allowed.

Board members Robbie Lucke and Renelle Braaten both said the board needs to set what the policies about fences — and other issues — are and then follow them.

Lucke said the cabin inspections should include notes on what the inspectors see at a cabin site. What is done about what is seen is the policy. The board doesn’t seem to have that policy now, he said.

Some cabin owners with snow fences on their sites received letters saying they were out of compliance while others didn’t he said.

“That’s a real problem,” Lucke said.

Board member Larry Kinsella said the board seems to be moving away from having rules at all, citing Braaten’s comments at previous meetings that the board should listen to proposals from cabin owners and decide on a case-by-case basis.

Braaten said she did not say the board should not set rules, but that it should use common sense in deciding what is allowed. She said if what cabin owners want to do or have done looks good, they should be allowed to do it.

If a snow fence can’t be seen or looks good, “What’s the problem,” she asked.

Park Superintendent Chad Edgar said rules need to be in place. If one person is allowed to violate the regulations another will say they should be allowed to as well. Going on a case-by-case decision means using a panel of judges rather than rules, he said.

He said he — and the board — should be able to tell cabin owners, “Yes or no, it follows the rules.”

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said unless policies are in place, the board will not be able to consistently make decisions. What looks good to one board member will not to another, he said. He suggested sending out letters to cabin owners giving them time — perhaps four years — to get their sites into compliance.

Audience members asked how cabins had been allowed to get into conditions where the board has to make a decision — if the site is out of compliance for several years, the board should cancel the lease and issue it to another person, they said.

Cabin transfers and agendas

The board also discussed several cabin-site lease transfers, including one request from a leaser from New York state who wants to transfer that to another New York state resident and transfer a lease to another site to himself, and another transfer request that would go to a resident of Georgia.

Lucke pointed out to Mariani that because those, and another issue about sending a letter to a cabin owner stating his site was back in compliance, had been added to the agenda Monday night, they could not be voted on that night. Lucke said items must be published in advance in the agenda before the board can vote on them.

Flood repairs ongoing, park usage steady

The board also heard updates on other issues. Edgar said the Federal Emergency Management Agency had met with county officials earlier Monday to continue the discussion on repairing flood damage in the last five years, including at the Lions Campground reserved site, which has been damaged extensively in several different floods.

Edgar said FEMA has approved moving or replacing the pavilion at that site at a different location and building a new bridge across Beaver Creek. He said FEMA set the deadline for completion as Oct. 15, 2015, for which he said he was glad.

“I want to close this out and be done … ,” Edgar said. “We’re moving forward and we’re optimistic at this point.”

He said park use has been steady, with a busy Labor Day Weekend at the park, with few problems as well.

He said cattle are back on the park — about 1,500 head so far — with two hit-and-run car-cow crashes already occurring.

He also reported that the sale of park use permits had been on par with previous years, with 515 day-use permits sold to date and 754 annual permits sold.

Edgar also said work is progressing on getting a new website for the park up and online.

Several board members and audience members complimented Edgar, or passed on compliments, that the park has been looking very nice and running well.

Fundraising and license plates

Ursula Brese of Friends of Beaver Creek Park said the group is in the late stages of planning its annual fundraiser, set for Oct. 4 at the Havre Eagles Club, and also is looking for items to use in silent auctions and raffles.

She said the group also is looking for ideas on what it can pay for for the park, and said the application has been sent in and the Beaver Creek Park specialty license plates, which will provide revenue to use to use on the park, should be available for purchase in January.