Columbia Falls next in line for planning boundary work

by NANCY KIMBALL The Daily Inter Lake
| October 3, 2004 1:00 AM

The commissioners' latest offer to Columbia Falls was hammered out last spring. It sat on the back burner over the summer while the county tried to work out an agreement with Whitefish, but came back to the front last week.

City Council and planning board members seem to be of one mind on planning boundaries for Columbia Falls: Expand the city's jurisdiction beyond the county's offer, specifically south of the Flathead River, but don't take on subdivision review duties there.

Monday night's council meeting at 7 p.m. in City Hall could confirm or alter that impression. Then the Flathead County commissioners will get to weigh in again as yet another chapter is written in the county effort to shrink and modify cities' planning authority

While the commissioners' original offer reduced the planning area substantially from its 4.5-mile doughnut around the city, last spring's compromise adds some parcels back in.

Those include 200 acres southwest of the U.S. 2-Montana 40 intersection, 160 acres to the northwest including the Midway Drive-In and several homes, the relatively dense North Hilltop neighborhood to the east and the northern third of Meadow Lake Resort.

Elsewhere, the county's proposed planning boundary follows the state-determined zoning jurisdiction that reaches one mile out from city limits. A significant exception is that the county deleted planning authority south of the Flathead River.

But staff at the Tri-City Planning Office had a different idea, and last week the Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board agreed with the planning-office proposal and sent it to the city council unanimously.

The counter proposal accepts the county's boundaries but adds a chunk of land to the north - including U.S. Forest Service land, city-owned land at the Cedar Creek Reservoir site, and Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. property. It stretches east to U.S. 2 and cuts back west to the river just north of Columbia Heights.

And it adds planning jurisdiction south of the river, to line up with the one-mile zoning boundary.

Overall, the board agreed to reduce its planning jurisdiction by more than 50 percent.

The county also wants the city to take on subdivision review authority in its entire planning jurisdiction. That move would shift planning staff time, regulation authority and cost for that work from the county to the city.

City-county board members, however, recommend the city reject that provision and limit its regulatory power over subdivision design standards to city limits.

The counteroffer keeps city regulatory power virtually unchanged, but fights to keep a voice in planning decisions surrounding the city in all the logical growth areas, city officials say.

Planning board members questioned the hurry-up attitude set when Commissioner Howard Gipe said he would support an agreement with the city, but only if the vote were taken by Nov. 30. He retires from office at the end of December.

The city had hoped to finish work on its growth policy, a process that probably will take another year of gathering public comments and drafting a document, before drawing this map, Mayor Susan Nicosia said.

"But I think we can agree on a map" without adopting specifics, Nicosia said later. "This only sets the boundaries, not what exactly goes in those neighborhoods."

They also took issue with the commissioners' contention that the city would find it too expensive to extend water and sewer services across the river but could do so under the railroad tracks to the west.

That idea helps form their rationale for cutting the city out of planning for growth south of the river but allowing it to the west. Commissioners also say residents just outside city limits do not consider themselves as part of the city because they cannot vote on city issues.

"I think the commissioners think they have a mandate to not plan," planning board member Dave Renfrow said.

"I'd like to see the city stand firm and say we have a document, and see them stay with it until we have a more rational group of commissioners," Renfrow said. "We don't want to inherit a mess" because city standards are not being represented in growth on the outskirts.

"We don't want to go back to our city boundaries," Nicosia agreed.

"This step they are taking sends a message to me that they want to cut some of the communication," board member Sarah Dakin said.

"But I want to preserve that. We need to keep that communication, because those people send their kids to our schools. They consider themselves part of Columbia Falls."

Although not likely to cause a repeat of what happened in Kalispell, where planning jurisdiction was cut back to city limits, the Columbia Falls situation has a few of the hallmarks that led recently to a standstill in Whitefish.

There, commissioners voted 2-1 against a city-approved plan, scuttling years of work.

Commissioners Gipe and Bob Watne said people living on the outskirts of Whitefish would be subjected to planning regulations without having a vote on the people imposing those regulations.

"I believe giving us the planning jurisdiction, with representation as it is, is the best option," Nicosia said, praising the planning board's cohesiveness and balanced discussions.

"The people who say, 'We are a part of the Columbia Falls community,' are best served by the city-county board, not the county board. Our board members live in those neighborhoods … they help drive those issues we talk about."

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com