Written by: Michael Wright,  Bozeman Daily Chronicle Staff Writer 

A pair of Park County developers are taking their spat with the local water district to the Montana Supreme Court after a district judge ruled against them.

Max and Sue Berg, represented by attorney Karl Kneuchel, have filed a notice of appeal with the state’s high court in their case against the Gardiner-Park County Water District over the abandonment of a water pipe that served their subdivision near Gardiner.
A Park County district judge earlier this year ruled against them and ordered them to pay the district more than $666,000 in damages.

Kneuchel, the Bergs’ attorney, did not return a call seeking comment before deadline. Todd Shea, the attorney representing the water district, declined to comment because of the appeal.

The Bergs are the developers of the Fort Yellowstone subdivision north of Gardiner along Highway 89. Court documents say they got designs for the subdivision and water and sewer lines approved by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality in 1993.

An existing sewer line that served Mammoth and Gardiner was going to serve the subdivision, but the water line needed to be extended. According to court documents, the Bergs built the extension on the slope between the highway and the Yellowstone River but never built a retaining wall, which was required by the DEQ to stabilize the hillside.
In 2007, an engineering firm warned the water district that the water line might rupture because of erosion caused by the lack of a retaining wall. Court documents say that the engineering firm warned the district that the pipe’s failure could bust the sewer line as well, and potentially result in “millions of gallons of raw sewage” being washed into the Yellowstone River.

Court documents say the water district decided to disconnect the Bergs’ water line and install a new one above the subdivision. Around the same time, DEQ asked the Bergs to confirm whether the water line was built according to the plans, which included a retaining wall. That led to DEQ revoking their permit for the subdivision in 2009.

The Bergs later sued the water district in Park County District Court, arguing that the district’s decision to abandon their water line was detrimental to their subdivision. They asked for upward of $2 million in damages.

The water district denied their claims and in turn countersued the Bergs. Park County District Judge David Cybulski ruled in their favor in late August.

The Bergs’ notice of appeal to the Supreme Court was filed in early October. Formal briefs that lay out their argument will follow.