Bond request to be heard Thursday

The Daily Inter Lake

On Thursday morning, Flathead County commissioners will discuss placing a land and water conservation bond request on the November election ballot.

Last week Moore Information, a polling company out of Portland, Ore., told commissioners that there was sufficient public support in Flathead County to pass a $10 million bond request.

The company also researched the possibility of passing a $15 million or $20 million bond.

Survey results, based on phone interviews with 404 county residents (less than half of 1 percent of the county's population), showed a 65 percent approval rating for the $10 million bond.

The Flathead Land Trust and Trust for Public Land lobbied the commissioners to put the bond request on the ballot. The Land Use Committee of the Flathead County Long Range Planning Task Force, the County Weed and Parks Board and the Flathead Conservation District also have voiced support.

If the bond request makes it to the ballot, and it passes, the money would allow the county to purchase development rights from willing landowners to conserve farms and ranches, acquire waterfront and recreational lands, protect clean water and conserve wildlife habitat.

The $10 million bond issue would cost about $19 a year for a homeowner with a $215,000 house.

Flathead County could draw up guidelines and work with a citizen advisory group to prioritize how to spend the money.

Four years ago, a similar bond effort was halted when county commissioners voted against putting it on the ballot. This time, however, the commission appears ready to let the issue go to the public for a vote.

The commissioners will discuss the conservation bond issue at 10:45 a.m.; the regular public comment period is at 9:15 a.m. Thursday.