Board addresses Helena Flats neighborhood plan
The Daily Inter Lake
A 4,800-acre neighborhood plan proposed for the Helena Flats area comes before the Flathead County Planning Board for a public hearing tonight.
The plan was developed last year by the Helena Flats Land Use Committee, with help from the University of Montana's School of Law Land Use Clinic. It outlines where certain types of growth should go and provides a series of goals and policy statements regarding such issues as public services, roads and natural resources.
If approved, the neighborhood plan would be included as part of the county growth policy. It would serve as the guiding land-use document for future development in the area.
The boundaries of the Helena Flats plan are U.S. 2 on the west, the Flathead River on the east, Pioneer Road on the north and Rose Crossing/Addison Square on the south.
The various land uses recommended by the plan include:
. A commercial strip along the highway, with the JTL Group gravel pit designated as "extractive industry." The southwest corner of the Pioneer Road/Helena Flats road intersection also would be commercial.
The plan discourages commercial uses that would create significant amounts of noise or dust or that would increase traffic along Helena Flats Road.
. A residential area on the southern border, split by Helena Flats Road, that would have an average density of one home per acre.
Recommended uses in this area include single-family homes on permanent foundations, parks and home occupations. Any other uses would be discouraged.
. Other than two small "institutional" parcels, all the remaining land within the plan boundaries would be recommended for rural residential development, with an average density of one home per five acres.
The plan also encourages the development of a regional park and bike-path system; encourages a 100-foot buffer zone along streams, creeks and rivers; and encourages cluster subdivision development.
However, it offers no density bonus for cluster development. It also recommends that undevelopable land, such as wetlands or floodplain, be excluded when calculating the number of lots that could be built in a cluster subdivision.
Tonight's hearing will take place in the second floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building, beginning at 6 p.m.