Board almost finished with growth policy

By WILLIAM L. SPENCE

The Daily Inter Lake

After seven weeks and about a dozen work sessions, the Flathead County Planning Board appears to be on the home stretch in its review of the draft county growth policy.

The board has gone through all 48 goals and 200-plus policies proposed in the document, making numerous minor changes and a handful of major changes or additions. It is now reviewing the text.

Several board members have suggested that work on the growth policy could be wrapped up by the end of November. They will then forward a recommendation to the county commissioners.

In general, the Planning Board has taken a slightly more liberal approach toward growth than was evident in the draft - preferring, for example, to "discourage" certain types of development rather than "restrict" them, or to "mitigate" rather than "prohibit."

The most significant changes made to date have to do with open space and neighborhood planning: The board weakened the open space protection provisions contained in the draft policy, and added language that will make it harder to create new neighborhood plans.

Some of the modifications include:

Neighborhood plans

. Policy 43.8: This new policy requires that a petition be signed by at least 60 percent of the landowners and 50 percent of the acreage affected by a proposed neighborhood plan, before any work begins on the document.

Basically, this requires substantial buy-in from the neighborhood up front, rather than waiting until a plan is created to find out how much support it has.

. Policy 43.9: Another new policy that requires a second petition, midway through the plan development process, before the planning board or county commissioners take any time to review it.

The intent is to demonstrate that a plan still has substantial neighborhood support before it goes out for public review.

. Policy 43.10: Another new policy which clarifies that a new neighborhood plan is null and void if, within 90 days of being adopted by the commissioners, it's opposed by 40 percent of the affected landowners or by 50 percent of the acreage involved.

Open Space

. Goal 9 in the draft policy called for the "preservation of functional open space that respects private property rights and that preserves the character of rural, suburban and urban Flathead County for the benefit of future generations and the natural environment."

The planning board replaced that with a goal to "define, identify and list desirable characteristics of open space preservation."

. Policy 9.1: "Encourage the preservation of open spaces" that serve the public health, safety and welfare was changed to "identify open spaces" that serve the public.

. Policy 9.2: "Create regulatory incentives for the perpetual preservation and protection of open spaces during the development process." The planning board removed the word "perpetual."

. Policy 9.5: Develop a voluntary exchange of development rights program, to help encourage dense development in areas with appropriate infrastructure while providing a mechanism to protect sensitive areas from future growth.

The planning board eliminated this policy.

. Policy 9.6: Clarify that open space should be used to complement development "and create livable communities where daily interaction with ballfields, trails and interconnected natural areas improve quality of life for all residents."

The planning board eliminated this policy.

The growth policy was written by the Flathead County Planning Office staff, based on the comments submitted during an extensive public involvement process. It will serve as the county's fundamental planning document, providing a basis for subdivision and zoning regulations and offering guidance to determine the appropriateness of future land-use proposals.

Once the planning board completes its review and forwards a recommendation to the county commissioners, the commissioners can reject the policy, amend it or adopt it as presented.

If they adopt it, there will be a 30-day written comment period prior to final adoption.

The next planning board workshop regarding the draft growth policy takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. today in the commissioners' hearing room.

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