Growth plan work extended by a week

The Daily Inter Lake

After tweaking the revised growth policy for three hours on Tuesday, the Flathead County commissioners decided they would need a second meeting to finish the work.

The commissioners were able to complete their review of the first eight chapters of the document, leaving a portion of Chapter 9 and all of chapters 10 and 11 for the second meeting next week.

Chapter 10 deals with neighborhood plans. The modifications to this section were among the most controversial made by the Flathead County Planning Board.

On Tuesday, the commissioners made about three dozen changes to the Planning Board's version of the growth policy. Most were minor rewordings, with portions of some deleted policies being reinstated and a handful of policies deleted. Most of the changes were in Chapter 2, the land use chapter, or in Chapter 8, which deals with natural resources.

"I want to remind people that this process is just beginning," Commissioner Dale Lauman said. "I've heard many comments to the effect that 'This is it,' but it isn't. This is the beginning of something. There will be corrections and additions in the future, and we need to all work together to make it the best document it can be."

Some of the more significant changes agreed to by the commissioners on Tuesday include:

Policy 10.1 - As originally written, this policy would "discourage high- and medium-density development within the 500-year flood plain."

The Planning Board deleted the policy, in part because of concerns about just how large an area would be affected. (The 500-year flood plain includes much of the Evergreen community.)

However, after noting that the text of the growth policy encourages the community to "be vigilant about avoiding high-density residential development in flood prone areas [because] history shows taxpayers bear the burden of flood recovery," Commissioner Joe Brenneman recommended reinstating at least part of Policy 10.1.

The commissioners agreed to discourage high-density development within the 500-year flood plain.

Policy 17.2 - The original policy stated that, "with the exception of water-based parks, subdivision park requirements should be used to create and/or fund dedicated park sites of no less than five acres to accommodate operation and maintenance costs."

The Planning Board deleted the policy without discussion. The commissioners agreed to put it back in after Planning Director Jeff Harris said it had the support of the county Weed and Parks Board.

Policy 34.2 - The policy would "discourage development in critical water areas as identified in the watershed management plan."

The commissioners deleted the policy with minimal discussion. They seemed to think it might be overly restrictive, particularly because the watershed management plan hasn't yet been created.

Policy 35.3 - The commissioners reinstated language asking for the investigation "of the feasibility of a regional wastewater treatment system."

Goal 39 and related policies - The growth policy initially proposed "protecting sensitive areas over shallow aquifers of less than five feet to the surface."

The commissioners changed this to eight feet.

Policy 42.3 - The initial policy would "discourage industrial and other land uses that impact Glacier National Park's Class 1 airshed."

The Planning Board deleted the policy because of concerns that it would restrict almost any kind of development near the park.

Commissioner Gary Hall said he had looked into the issue and didn't think it would have that effect. He proposed rewording the policy to "encourage industrial and other land uses that don't degrade" the park's airshed. That change was unanimously accepted.

The commissioners will complete their review of the revised growth policy, including the neighborhood plan section, on Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 1 p.m.

They are currently scheduled to consider a resolution of intent regarding the growth policy the next day at 10:30 a.m. If that's approved, it will kick off a 30-day written comment period.

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