Joe Sangimino
Ask Joe Sangimino
Approximately 17 wooded acres and +/- 320 feet of Flathead Lake frontage offer an uncommon combination of shoreline, forest, and room to breathe just 4.2 miles from Lakeside. The property is protected by a conservation easement, preserving its natural setting while providing a designated development area for a residence. Owned by the same family since the early 1900s, this is an opportunity to carry a Flathead Lake legacy forward. The approximately one-acre development area has road access, with a one-half-acre building envelope for the residence and garage. The planned home faces east over the water toward the Swan and Mission Mountains. The sellers have a preliminary architectural plan for a three-bedroom, three-and-one-half-bath home with a two-vehicle garage. The plans show approximately 3,335 square feet of living area, including the lower level. Under the easement, the residence is limited to 3,500 square feet, including basement area, and no more than two stories. The plan set may be made available to a buyer. The easement also makes the path to building unusually specific: the right to construct the home and garage belongs personally to the current sellers and does not transfer to a buyer before those improvements are constructed.
Beyond the building envelope, the wooded acreage offers space to enjoy the property, its wildlife, and its shoreline in keeping with the conservation easement. Deer trails wind through the ponderosa pine forest across the ridge and down to the water's edge. Flathead Lake spans almost 200 square miles and is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. Its waters invite boating, paddling, swimming, and fishing for lake trout, lake whitefish, smallmouth bass, and yellow perch. Nearby Lakeside offers waterfront dining and a marina, while Glacier National Park adds another remarkable destination within the region.
The conservation easement places permanent limits on use. It restricts subdivision, additional unauthorized buildings and commercial facilities, mineral exploitation, dumping, and new roads. A large separate shop, a cleared or improved golf-cart route to the shore, and dock or shoreline work should not be assumed permitted without written confirmation from Montana Land Reliance and any required governmental approvals.
A buyer seeking to build would need to work with the sellers on a construction and conveyance arrangement that complies with the easement, with the permitted residence and garage constructed before transfer. The scope, timing, funding, approvals, and completion requirements of such an arrangement would need to be established in the purchase contract and confirmed with Montana Land Reliance and counsel. Buyers should review the recorded easement, amendments, plans, and proposed construction arrangement as part of their due diligence - as well as any proposed security interests.
