The quest for a new growth policy

A three-day blitz of planning activities this week may help refine efforts to build a new growth policy for Flathead County.

The planning marathon featured a pair of consultants hired to try to develop a road map for finishing the growth policy. That policy will serve as the area's fundamental planning vision for the foreseeable future.

Laudably, the planning sessions managed to put all the diverse local planning issues on the table in a concentrated few days. The planning office staff and planner B.J. Grieve in particular deserve recognition for putting these sessions together.

However, these sessions also produced a couple of reasons to be slightly concerned about the process.

It was a little disconcerting when, in spite of all the complaints that have been raised over the years about local planning, only 40 people showed up Tuesday at a meeting to do something about it.

That's hardly a groundswell of public interest in the future of the valley.

Another item of concern is the possibility of a turf dispute developing between the Flathead County Planning Board and the Long Range Planning Task Force, both of which want to be in the driver's seat for writing the growth policy.

That's just the sort of internal strife that won't help the smooth creation of a blueprint for the Flathead's future.

A huge amount of work needs to be done over the next year to produce a quality growth policy; achieving that will require a cohesive, cooperative approach.

On a related note, we surmise that the county's new planning director will have his hands full.

Jeff Harris takes over the county planning department on June 21. He hails from Las Vegas, which has seen growth on a scale far, far beyond what the Flathead Valley is experiencing.

But his Las Vegas experience may not prepare him for the unique and often-rancorous divide in Flathead County planning attitudes between the "we need to preserve the valley" contingent and the "don't touch my sacred property-rights" proponents.

We wish him well in finding a middle ground.