Vote notexpected at meeting

The Daily Inter Lake

Discussion about Whitefish's beleaguered critical areas ordinance continues at tonight's Whitefish City-County Planning Board meeting, but a vote isn't expected.

The board has held a couple of workshops in recent weeks to pore over the proposal section by section. The proposed legislation stems from a recommendation in the city's stormwater master plan calling for tighter regulations in drainage-sensitive areas.

City planners and consultants have been working on changes to the draft.

Suggested changes include:

. Remove or reduce setbacks next to buffers to 10 feet, the same as for the recently adopted lakeshore protection zone.

. Adopt critical-areas regulations only for areas designated as urban or suburban in the new growth policy.

. Establish uniform buffers of 75 feet next to all streams except Second Creek, the city's water source.

. Reconsider properties subject to erosion-control requirements.

. Make provisions for subdivisions that already have completed a geotechnical report, to avoid duplication.

. Modify slope standards so that review for slopes would start at a higher percent incline. The planning staff anticipates a large number of requests for determinations on steep slopes, but not as many problems are expected with flatter slopes, a city memo said.

. Simplify the process restoration plan on a single-family lot.

Tonight's discussion focuses on reasonable-use exemptions, a planning tool that allows property owners to build on property with drainage or slope issues.

"We've had a lot of input," board chairman Martin McGrew told the City Council on Monday. "I expect we'll hold more workshops."

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Whitefish City Hall.