October 7, 2022
Dear Supervisor Steele:
Save Holland Lake, an ad-hoc coalition of concerned citizens advocating for the pristine lake, surrounding ecosystem and our public land, respectfully requests that you extend the public comment period for the proposed Holland Lake expansion project beyond October 7, 2022.
In your initial scoping document you state, “all activities would occur within the existing 15 acre permitted area.” The language surrounding the “15-acre” Special Use Permit must be corrected. It is imperative the public is made aware of the fact that the current Special Use Permit is for 10.53 acres, and that the proposed project actually expands the HLL area by the lake and along the shoreline by 3.63 acres, increasing the Special Use Permit to 14.16 acres with an additional 5.22 acres set aside and planned for wastewater due to the project expansion, making the grand total of land requirements for the project to be 19.38 acres.
This discrepancy has not been explained to the public and is not in the scoping package. Your agency has continually been referring to the current Special Use Permit as 15 acres, which is not accurate. Citizens deserve to be told factual information and therefore provided with enough time to further comment on this matter. Even today citizens are adding public comments to the Forest Service site that reference a 15-acre site that does not exist.
Please advise us as soon as possible about this request to clarify and correct this misinformation, and allow American citizens ample time to understand the true scope and impact of this project.
(We also are enclosing a media release that fully explains the issue and problem.)
Thank you for your prompt consideration.
Sincerely,
Jacole Johnson, Cheri Thornton, Travis Cole, Lucy Dayton, David Roberts, Bill Lombardi
Members, Save Holland Lake
Cc: Montana Congressional Delegation
Cc: Michele Mavor, Chris Dowling
Click Here to learn more: Developer Seeks Almost Twice the Acreage of Current Permit Issued
