Lakeside plan ready for public review

A draft revision of the Lakeside neighborhood plan now is available for public feedback.

The Lakeside Community Council voted 5-0 Tuesday to release the draft for input.

Comments will be taken through June 19. Then the neighborhood plan drafting committee will revise the draft to send it back to the community council on June 30.

When the community council approves the draft, it will go to the Flathead County Planning Board for more review.

If and when the Planning Board recommends approval of the draft, it will go to the Flathead County commissioners for more review and a vote on whether to adopt it.

Copies of the draft are available at the county planning office and the West Shore Community Library in Lakeside.

People also can view and download the draft at the draft committee's Web site at http://lakesideplan2008.com or at the planning office's Web site at flathead.mt.gov/planning_zoning.

Interested people also can contact county planner Andrew Hagemaier at 751-8200 or at ahagemeier@flathead.mt.gov.

Written comments can be e-mailed to LakesidePlanCommittee@bresnan.net, or mailed to P.O. Box 157, Lakeside, 59922. The comments need to include the writer's name, location of the appropriate Lakeside property, and a way to be contacted by phone or e-mail.

Comments also will be collected at boxes at Flathead Bank, Glacier Bank, Blacktail Grocery and the West Shore Community Library.

A neighborhood plan is essentially a document of grassroots guidelines on how an area's residents want to see their area developed.

Such a plan is nonregulatory and not legally binding, but is used by the county's planning department, planning board and commissioners to guide land-use recommendations and decisions.

Lakeside's current neighborhood plan was adopted in 1995.

Flathead County has 17 neighborhood plans for unincorporated areas that date back to the 1990s. An 18th plan recently was added.

Since Flathead County installed a new growth policy in 2007, the original 17 neighborhood plans need to be reviewed and probably updated to comply with the new policy.

Lakeside's upcoming proposal is the latest in a handful to do so.

The 1995 document contains no standards, visions or goals. Growth has blossomed in Lakeside since 2001, with only the current sparse neighborhood plan in place.

Mostly by mail, the drafting committee conducted a community survey in 2008, and then used that feedback to begin putting together a first draft in late 2008.

According to the 2000 federal census, unincorporated Lakeside had 1,679 people, 705 households and roughly 800 out-of-the-area landowners.

The committee sent out 1,265 survey forms. Roughly a third were returned to account for 966 people and 421 households - more than half of the area's permanent population.

In rough terms, the survey showed that:

n Access to Flathead Lake and traffic safety concerns are the leading concerns.

n Walking and bike paths plus open spaces and parks are other top concerns.

n Affordable housing is a concern, but does not rank as high with the Lakeside public.

n A theme of keeping a small town feel with no strip-mall-like businesses wove through the responses.