Whitefish 'won't tolerate' doughnut divorce

If Flathead County decides on Thursday to sever its interlocal agreement with Whitefish for the two-mile "doughnut" planning area, the city won't recognize the action, Whitefish City Attorney John Phelps said.

"The city absolutely won't tolerate it," he said. "It's a non-action. It's meaningless legally."

The county's withdrawal would push the disagreement over planning control into the legal arena.

"I don't know who sues whom," Phelps said, "whether we ignore it and they sue us, or we sue them."

In a letter responding to Kalispell attorney Tammi Fisher's suggestion that the county's new growth policy may have nullified the interlocal agreement, Phelps noted that the city insisted on language in the interlocal agreement that would prohibit either party from unilaterally withdrawing from or terminating the agreement.

"Without this language, the city would not have entered into the interlocal agreement," Phelps said.

Fisher was hired by Tom Thomas of People of the Doughnut to review the agreement created in 2005 and comment on its validity. Phelps disagrees with Fisher's contention that the agreement may be void because of the county growth policy.

"By agreement, the county's growth policy stops at the edge of the city's two-mile doughnut," Phelps said in his letter to Fisher. "The city's jurisdiction within the two-mile doughnut, therefore, is not threatened by the county's growth policy."

The Whitefish City Council has tentatively scheduled a workshop at 5:30 p.m. March 17 at Whitefish City Hall to meet with residents of the doughnut area and large landowners in that area, such as F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co.

"We're willing to pursue ways to give a voice to those living in the doughnut," Phelps said. "We want to try to get a feel for how many people" have issues over the interlocal agreement.

Phelps said both opponents and proponents have spoken at council meetings.

"There are 4,000 people in the doughnut. If they [the commissioners] have heard from 50, that's a pretty small percentage," he said.

The city of Whitefish recently completed zoning the doughnut area and included it in the new growth policy. Undoing that "could create a horrible mess with the property owners in the middle," Phelps said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com