***** Orange Acres has currently been closed by Missoula County attorney Fred Van Valkenberg, and deputy attorney James McCubbin, Missoula county commissioners Michele Landquist , Bill Carey, and Jean Curtis. Governor Steve Bullock's redefined definition of a subdivision for lease, rent or otherwise conveyed caused us to get sued, despite repeated requests and visits to the governors office in Helena, and county commissioners meetings, they have done nothing to help us.
here is some information about our case.
I am being sued by Missoula County for helping people with a free place to stay at my ranch Orange Acres. At no time was my place open to the public, only invited friends I had made on the internet and in person. Many are on a tight budget, underprivileged, veterans, unemployed or disabled. we did not discriminate based on sex, age, religion, race, or sexual orientation.
Our property has a certificate of sanitation approval (cosa) from the state of Montana that says single family residential (it’s the state's version of a septic permit). It specifies that septic tanks must be 100 feet from irrigation ditches and state laws require groundwater testing in areas where ground water might be.
Missoula county employee Tom Barger illegally approved 2 County septic permits on the
property in 95 and 97 for commercial use for a business with up to 20 employees, and placement of a septic field 60 feetof the irrigation ditch. He did not require groundwater testing despite a site map showing a filled in pond and irrigation ditch above the septic site, and puts a line though the groundwater testing section.
The property also has commercial electrical and water permits. The water rights are for 23,030 gallons a day, the previous business on the property had an employee shower and bathrooms, and employee kitchen.
Missoula County verified the property was unzoned to me, and verified it had a legal commercial septic permitted system before I bought the property in 2007.
Missoula county employee Tom Barger visited orange acres and told us we could not have people stay in trailers or rvs like Wal-Mart and truck stops do (no law says this). But he told us we could build cabins or sheds with beds within 300 feet of the bathroom, and could have people stay in the commercial building , and could take the wheels and tires off rvs and they would be recycled cabins. He never told us we needed a bigger septic or a Cosa rewrite. The county tried to tell us we could not give people free food like the food bank does, and we could not let people use our dishes and kitchen for free. Tom Barger then retired from Missoula county.
Missoula county attorney Fred Van Valkenberg, and deputy attorney James McCubbin sued us two years later, accusing us of, creating a subdivision for rent or lease, being a trailer park and campground for lease or rent and open to the public, even though we only let invited guests stay for free. ( Ironically at the time the occupy Missoula movement was camping on the county's own property at the courthouse.)
We agreed to work with the county to settle the matter and bring our property into compliance, and let them inspect our property without a search warrant, they told us we could not use the guest cabins they said we could build, but could attach the buildings and have one big 8 bedroom house. Then the county told us we would have to attach the building with rooms, not just a hallway, (no law says this). The county told us we would need a bigger septic, we agreed.
Then the county told us a single family home could not have 2 kitchens (no law says this), and we could not connect the buildings with just a hallway(no law says this either). The County then released a memo citing a selfcontained rv and someone camping in a tent was legal, contrary to what Tom Barger had told us.
The county then sold us a building permit for 700$ to attach the 2 buildings (with rooms), then they revoked our building permit a month later after demolition of sidewalks, steps, and landscaping for the addition saying it was a mistake to issue it until the septic was approved.
The county then told us we would have to move the septic field 40 feet because it was approved 60 feet from the irrigation ditch by Tom Barger which was illegal, and we would have to wait 9 months to do ground water testing for the new septic field even though Tom Barger had approved the site 3 times previously without
groundwater testing. We paid $560 for groundwater testing.
The county then said because the neighbor floods his field with irrigation water and the test holes had water in them that orange acres would never be allowed to have anything more then a 3 bedroom house and 6 employee business on its 8 acres property. The county has done nothing to stop the neighbor from flooding our land even though the state constitution guarantees us equal protection under the law. We were able to show them water trespassing onto our land from the neighbors property in person.
The county admits they were wrong to ever allow the home and business on the property before we bought it but refuses to take responsibility and either grant us a variance and let us expand or purchase the property from us.
I have been to Governor Steve Bullock’s office in Helena twice asking for help and he has done nothing, I have been to 3 meetings with county commissioners Michele Landquist , Bill Carey, and Jean Curtis, and they have done nothing.
We are now asking the court for a jury trial and counter suing Missoula county for the illegal permitting in the past, we cannot afford the $40,000 for an attorney and it would be better to just give the property back to the bank before
spending that kind of money, so I will be representing myself in court unless public outcry gets someone to represent me or can bring the county to negotiate. They cost another ranch in Missoula $145,000 in legal fees.
There is no real health threat on the OA property, no overflowing septic, our septic system works fine. We allowed the county health department to inspect our land and they found nothing to complain about other than the septic size requirement. We have 8 acres and many parcels in the county have as much as 8 homes per acre, yet the county is denying us to build one 8 bedroom home.
The county and state does not meter any ones actual septic use, only the number of bedrooms, and does not check for people dumping toxic waste or chemicals down a septic field or in the city sewer. You could have 18 people living in a 2 bedroom house and not be in violation, but when I want to have 8 people in an 8 bedroom house I am. The city of missoula dumps its sewage in the river after filtering and settling, dumping chemicals and toxins into the clarkfork. It's kinda like writing a speeding ticket for a parked car that looks fast while not writing one for driving 120 in a school zone. The department does very little real environmental protection but excels at creating its own job and using taxpayer funds to pursue its own land use and political agendas. This is class warfare, rich people picking on poor people.
I have spent thousands of dollars trying to comply with the law, been lied to repeatedly by county personnel citing laws that do not exist, the county told me i could not give people food like the food bank does, could not give people dishes and pots and pans like goodwill sells for a profit, that I could not let people park overnight like walmart and the truckstops do, and sued me for letting people camp in tents on my land while people were camped on the courthouse lawn, told me i could not connect my house with a hallway (it had to have rooms), that a house in missoula county could not have 2 kitchens or what they deemed food preparation areas.
The tribe has installed new septics all around us without any permits and they can install septics 5 feet from our property, I have asked for documents giving the county health department authority on the reservation when the state constitution says it does not without explicit consent from both the state and federal government.
Our neighbor is dumping 120,000 gallons of water a day on our property illegally, if I did that to the courthouse lawn and flooded the basement of the courthouse, I would be arrested, but the county has failed to protect me and violated my state constitutional rights to equal protection under the law and my right to a clean environment. I was able to show the water trespass in person and in groundwater test results to the health department personnel, and they have done nothing. If the 2 weeks of irrigation water during the height of fire danger of the summer is a threat to a proposed expanded system then its an equal threat to my existing system. The county permitted the septic in violation of multiple state laws in 1995 and in 1997 then verified it was a legal system to me in 2008 before i bought the property. I have driven to the governors office and state deq in helena, and have appealed to help from the county commissioners multiple times. Everything I have done has just been so I could help others less fortunate than myself for free, and this is how the elected officials are helping poor people?
I am starting a letter to the editor campaign to gather support and public awareness for our cause, here is some information about writing our local newspapers a letter supporting Orange Acres and what I do to help people.
If you never stayed at Orange Acres you can still write about how I did something nice for you, as a character reference. I hate to ask favors but if the county gets its way they are going to sue me for everything I got.
My goal has always been to make people’s lives better if even only for a few days, with your help maybe I can win my case and continue to help others. Thank you for your help. -JeffreyJames Halvorson
