Subdivision rules come up for public review

The Flathead County Planning Board will hold a workshop on Wednesday to receive public comment on proposed revisions to the county's subdivision regulations.

The meeting will be from 6 to 9 p.m. in Room 139 at the Flathead Valley Community College Arts and Technology Building. A second workshop is scheduled Aug. 6 if necessary.

The Planning Board has been working on the regulations since July 12, 2007. All of the proposed revisions and the board's rationale behind each proposal can be found online at http://flathead.mt.gov/planning_zoning/downloads.php.

The provisions pertain only to land slated for subdivision and do not apply for other land-use actions.

Comments will be taken on the proposed revisions in the following order:

Application Deadline and Fees, Subdivision Cluster Development, Subsequent Minor Subdivisions, Phased Major Subdivision Plat Submittals, Condominiums, Remainders, Floodplain Provisions, Dust Control and Air Pollution, Access, Road Design and Construction Standards, Roadway Improvements, Fire Protection, Wildland Urban Interface, and Stream Riparian Setback Requirements.

People will have an opportunity to comment on each proposal.

Some of the more substantial changes include:

. No remainder lots or parcels would be permitted on tracts of land less than 160 acres. A remainder is a parcel created by the segregation of a subdivision from a larger original tract. A remainder less than 160 acres that is attached to a proposed subdivision would be considered a lot in the subdivision and cannot evade subdivision review.

The proposed size of remainder lots was 60 acres, but a Montana Supreme Court ruling bumped the number up to 160 acres.

According to the county, significant abuse has occurred by using remainders to meet overall density requirements. They have been used to evade major subdivision review by using the remainder as the sixth lot.

. Under the Road Improvements section, the Planning Board will discuss adding a provision that requires a subdivider to pave or provide a dust palliative if the subdivision is served by an unpaved road.

If the road, either public or private, that provides access to and from the subdivision has a combined average daily traffic volume of fewer than 200 trips per day, the county commissioners would require the subdivider to pave a portion of the primary road or do dust abatement for 15 years.

If the average daily traffic volume is more than 200 vehicle trips per day, the road would have to be paved.

. All subdivisions within the wildland urban interface would be required to be planned, designed, constructed and maintained to minimize the risk of fire, allow for safe and adequate vehicular escape from fire by residents and to permit effective and efficient suppression of fires.

A contentious issue under the wildland urban interface provisions is the requirement for a second access (or multiple accesses) for emergency vehicles.

In the proposed revisions, the commissioners would have the right to deny any subdivision or require further mitigation in the wildland urban interface.

. Subdivision applications may be required to include a complete conceptual storm water drainage plan and a dust control plan.

. A substantial addition concerning standards for flood hazard evaluation.

. One of the most contentious sections in the subdivision regulations involves stream setbacks and buffers. The proposed setbacks and buffers are:

. A 250-foot setback and vegetative buffer of 100 feet for the Flathead River and its three forks, the Stillwater River and the Whitefish River.

. A 200-foot setback and 75-foot buffer along Ashley Creek from Smith Lake to the Flathead River and the Fisher River in Pleasant Valley.

. All other streams would have setbacks of 60 feet with buffers of 50 feet.

Once the Planning Board has finalized its recommendations, the subdivision regulations will be forwarded to the county commissioners. The commissioners will hold a public hearing and again take written and oral public comments.

Reporter Michael Richeson may be reached at 7578-4459 or by e-mail at mricheson@dailyinterlake.com