Planning should be cooperative

First it was Flathead County and its three cities planning together.

Then it became the county on its own and the cities combined in a separate planning situation.

Next year, it looks like there may be three or four distinct planning offices run by the county and the individual cities.

In the 25-year evolution of local land-use planning, the Flathead Valley seems to be moving in an unusual direction: away from cooperation and toward every-government-for-itself operations.

The latest schism stems from Whitefish's plans to pull out of the Tri-City Planning Office, which has handled planning duties for Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Whitefish for three years (since Flathead County abruptly divorced itself from combined planning).

Whitefish has some valid reasons for wanting to go it alone, but its departure probably will pull the plug on cooperative ventures among the cities. Kalispell could easily put together its own planning office, but Columbia Falls might be in a bind in establishing planning oversight on its own.

The result could be a whole host of independent planning jurisdictions with no common ground and no thought for the common good, which may well cross the borders of individual cities.

At a time when mounting growth pressures are putting a premium on proper planning, it seems like a major step backwards to dissolve planning efforts that can transcend government boundaries.

There is some hope, perhaps, on the horizon.

County Commissioner Gary Hall has proposed a new long-range planning commission. He envisions the group helping the valley decide how and where it wants to grow, rather than simply responding to development pressures.

That's a laudable goal - in fact, the lack of long-range planning is a primary reason Whitefish cited in its move to withdraw from the three-city planning operation.

The commission, however, would be up against the juggernaut of development that is affecting virtually every corner of the valley. Many of us benefit by growth, but many of us also benefit by planning. That's why we have planning in the first place - to mediate between short-term interests and long-term concerns.

But by the time a long-range panel has come up with its vision, that vision already may have been sharply limited by the market-driven planning that is rewriting the planning and zoning map of the valley on almost a weekly basis.

The splintering of joint planning likely does not sit well with those who worry that the future of the Flathead Valley is being carved up in piecemeal fashion.

Cooperation in planning should be the mantra among planning offices, not just something we look back on as a vestige of the good old days.