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RIMROCK IN THE NEWS

Dispute over, Rimrock pushes ahead with plan

By ED KEMMICK
Of The Gazette Staff

A two-year dispute between the city of Billings and the Rimrock Foundation officially came to an end Monday, when a federal lawsuit filed by the foundation was dismissed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby.

The dismissal order was issued two weeks after representatives of the city and the foundation signed an agreement ending their dispute, paving the way for Rimrock to develop a 1.68-acre tract on the North Side.

Rimrock CEO David Cunningham said the foundation will submit plans to the city today for a 2,200-square-foot modular home that will be built on the site and will provide post-treatment sober housing for up to eight women. Rimrock is a nonprofit addiction-treatment business with headquarters at 1231 N. 29th St. and residential treatment centers at seven other locations in Billings.

The foundation filed the federal suit after the City Council voted in February 2006 to deny Rimrock's application for special review, which would have allowed it to build a fourplex on its property at 1721 Eighth Ave. N.

Rimrock contended that the city violated federal fair-housing and anti-discrimination laws by failing to approve its plans for the treatment facility.

Lawsuit agreement

The foundation eventually will build a fourplex on the site, Cunningham said, but the modular home is being built first because many things have changed since the lawsuit was filed.

Sober housing for women is one of the most pressing needs identified by Rimrock, Cunningham said. People stay in sober housing for six months to a year after completing treatment for substance abuse, giving them a chance to get back on their feet while receiving continuing therapy, he said.

Residents of the sober-housing unit will be working and paying taxes, and they will pay Rimrock only $250 a month for rent and after-care services.

"When you give them that kind of opportunity, they perform extremely well," Cunningham said. Rimrock hopes to have the modular house occupied in about two months.

Another factor in the decision to postpone construction of the fourplex is that Rimrock has added other residential units in the neighborhood in the past two years. One of them, known as Cottonwood, provides sober living for nine men in an existing house on the same property where the modular house will be built.

Residential treatment quarters

And even with the city's $400,000 payment, Cunningham said, it would be too costly to build a fourplex now. Costs have risen substantially in the past two years, he said, and "the economy is certainly a major concern right now."

If all goes well, the fourplex will be built in about two years. It would provide intensive residential care, one step below the inpatient care offered at Rimrock's main building. Under the agreement with the city, construction of the fourplex has to start within five years.

The foundation has traditionally had a good relationship with the city, Cunningham said, and looks forward to putting the dispute behind it.

"Our objective now is to move forward in a very positive way. We really do want that relationship back again," he said.

Mayor Ron Tussing said the City Council never intended to prevent Rimrock from building on its property but only objected to its specific plans for a fourplex in the residential neighborhood.

"You win some, you lose some and you move on," he said. "I don't have any hard feelings toward Rimrock."