Planners set date for growth policy vote

The Daily Inter Lake

The Flathead County Planning Board will decide Dec. 11 whether to recommend approval or denial of the revised draft growth policy.

The special Monday meeting comes more than five months after the draft was initially released for public review, and about 12 months after work on the document resumed after an extended hiatus.

Rather than vote on the policy during one of its regular meetings in December, the board decided to schedule a special meeting.

On Tuesday, Planning Board members also discussed whether to hold one last public hearing on the draft, given that they've made numerous revisions to the document during the past two months.

A final decision hasn't been made, but it appears that this won't be a formal hearing. However, the board is leaning that way largely because a general public-comment period will be held at the beginning of the Dec. 11 meeting, so one way or another, people will have an opportunity to express their opinions.

Since the draft policy was released June 30, several open houses and three public hearings have been held. The Planning Board also has spent more than 40 hours reviewing the document, in 14 public work sessions; another half-dozen or so work sessions could be held in the next few weeks, to address any lingering issues.

Additional written comment will be accepted after the county commissioners take action on the document.

When the Planning Board votes on the revised draft, it goes to the commissioners for approval. Assuming they're satisfied with the document, they'll adopt a resolution of intent. That will be followed by a 30-day written comment period, after which final action can be taken.

Whether the commissioners will take action on the growth policy before the end of the year is unclear. They typically don't schedule many decision-making sessions during the last two weeks of December.