Community council sought for Evergreen

The Evergreen Business and Property Owners Association is proposing that a community council be formed in Evergreen.

The council would be patterned after a similar one created in Lakeside in 1996. According to association president Kerry Finley, it would be an elected body that represents the Evergreen community on a variety of planning issues and other matters of local concern.

Finley presented the idea during a meeting with the Flathead County commissioners on Wednesday.

The main purpose of the meeting was to ask the commissioners to restrict the boundaries of any potential extraterritorial planning jurisdiction for Kalispell. About 20 people showed up in support.

Over the last three years, Kalispell and the county have had sporadic discussions about re-establishing all or part of a joint city-county planning jurisdiction that was eliminated in 2001.

The jurisdiction extended beyond the city limits and allowed Kalispell to have some say in the type of development within the so-called "doughnut" area.

The commissioners recently revamped planning boundaries around Whitefish and Columbia Falls, giving the cities complete control of subdivision and zoning activities in a limited area immediately outside their borders.

Kalispell has expressed interest in having that same authority. To facilitate further discussions, a map outlining tentative planning boundaries has been generated.

The map shows the eastern border of the proposed jurisdiction running along the Whitefish River. The jurisdiction excludes almost all of the Evergreen sewer district; however, it includes a small portion of the Evergreen fire district, as well as an area two miles east of the Kalispell wastewater treatment plant that the county offered to Evergreen for a new treatment plant.

On Wednesday, several speakers encouraged the commissioners to exclude all of the fire district and the proposed treatment plant site from any potential planning jurisdiction.

"We already have everything we need in Evergreen," said one. "We don't need the city telling us what we can do. I don't believe Kalispell can do anything for Evergreen other than raise our taxes."

"When others refer to Evergreen, they limit it to the area within the" sewer district, Finley said. "People in Evergreen define it as the area within the Evergreen fire district."

Finley gave the commissioners a copy of an "action plan" that outlined several ways in which the Evergreen Business and Property Owners Association intended to become more involved in planning issues.

The plan includes working with the county on updating the growth policy; supporting the construction of a new sewage treatment facility, as well as the use of decentralized sewage treatment technology; working with the new Long Range Planning Task Force; and supporting the creation of a community council.

Planning also was a driving issue in the formation of the seven-member Lakeside Community Council in 1996.

Voters there approved the creation of the council in 1995 when the Lakeside neighborhood land-use plan was adopted. The council provides recommendations on subdivisions, zone changes and other planning matters within its jurisdiction. It also discusses local issues and occasionally represents the community before the commissioners.

Prior to Wednesday, all three commissioners have said that they want to tread cautiously before any new planning jurisdiction is created for Kalispell, in part so they can see how the new jurisdictions work in Whitefish and Columbia Falls.

Commissioner Gary Hall said the new county administrator, Mike Pence, also needs to become familiar with the community before any planning boundaries are changed. A new county planning director has to be hired as well, and whoever fills that position may need time to become familiar with the issues.

Former planning director Forrest Sanderson resigned in December. Interviews for his replacement are scheduled next week.

"We are in the very, very early stages of this process," Hall said.

Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com