Final passage for growth plan
Commissioners unanimously OK policy update
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a growth policy."
With those words, Flathead County Commissioner Joe Brenneman signaled the culmination of more than four years of hard work on Monday, as he and his fellow commissioners unanimously approved the new growth policy.
The document replaces a 20-year-old master plan. It will serve as the fundamental guide for future land-use decisions in the valley, providing a basis for the county's subdivision and zoning regulations, and other regulatory efforts.
Despite last-minutes calls to change various parts of the policy - such as some unpopular requirements for new neighborhood plans or an 8-foot depth-to-groundwater standard for development over shallow aquifers - the commissioners approved the document with only a few minor tweaks.
Commissioner Gary Hall added a caveat to policies 40.3 and 40.4 that would allow the 8-foot groundwater standard to be adjusted up or down, if scientific evidence was provided to support the change. Language also was added to Goal 37 to prevent untreated stormwater from entering shallow aquifers.
Hall said he considered a number of other changes, but felt it was best to see how the new policy worked before amending it further. He also noted that the growth policy specifically calls for an initial amendment six months from now to address any glaring problems.
Brenneman said he was reminded of the feeling he got in school after finishing a test. If he had enough time to second-guess his answers, he invariably made changes that turned out to be wrong.
"Therefore, it's my opinion we should adopt the growth policy we have before us," he said. "It's not the document that I'd write, but it will work."
Brenneman and Flathead County Planning Director Jeff Harris are scheduled to discuss the growth policy at today's Kalispell Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Red Lion Hotel Kalispell.
The planning office also will hold a series of town-hall meetings over the next month, giving people an opportunity to ask questions about the new policy. All of the meetings will take place at 6 p.m.
The dates and locations include:
March 26: Flathead Electric Cooperative, Kalispell.
March 27: Marion School gymnasium.
April 9: Lakeside Chapel.
April 17: Bethany Lutheran Church in Bigfork.
April 24: Glacier National Park community building.
May 1: Mountain West Bank in Whitefish.
Now that the growth policy is in place, the planning office can begin work on some of the additional maps and management plans called for in the document.
A 30-day written comment period, for example, is currently under way for the updated subdivision regulations. The commissioners will hold a public hearing on the proposed regulations on March 28 from 3-7 p.m. in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building in Kalispell.
Copies of the updated subdivision regulations, as well as the final version of the growth policy, are available on the planning office Web site, at www.co.flathead.mt.us/fcpz/index.html
Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com