City growth plan a factor in doughnut changes

A handful of Whitefish residents addressed Flathead County commissioners Monday morning about the county's takeover of the "doughnut" area.

Whitefish's doughnut is a two-mile planning zone outside city limits over which the city took control in February 2005 based on an interlocal agreement with Flathead County.

On March 13, 2008, the commissioners voted 2-1 to rescind the agreement.

Since then the county has been taking steps to reclaim planning and zoning jurisdiction within the doughnut area.

Part of those efforts have included amending the county's growth policy to remove references to the interlocal agreement.

One of the major sticking points has been how the county will deal with Whitefish's 2007 growth policy. People supporting the Whitefish growth policy asked the commissioners to let the document guide growth in the doughnut area.

Flathead County, however, has not adopted the updated Whitefish growth policy.

By adopting the amendments to the county's 2007 growth policy, the county would plan the doughnut area using the 1996 land use map from the Whitefish/County master plan.

The question of Whitefish's growth policy came up repeatedly at a July 16 county Planning Board meeting.

The Planning Board did not give any recommendations because neither the board nor the county's Planning and Zoning Office staff had reviewed the document.

Planning and Zoning Director Jeff Harris said he has read through the Whitefish growth policy twice since the July meeting and said he didn't think the plan would be appropriate for the county to adopt.

The commissioners did not take action Monday on amending the county growth policy.

They are scheduled to make a final decision on the text amendment on Oct. 15.