County planning activity takes a nosedive in 2008

Subdivision lots down 65 percent

County planning fee collections - down 35 percent in 2008.

Number of subdivision lots created - down 65 percent.

Call volume at the county planning office - down 21 percent.

The numbers told the story of a free fall in Flathead County growth in 2008 as Planning Director Jeff Harris presented the county's annual planning and zoning report to the county commissioners on Tuesday.

The county collected $203,485 in development fees in 2008, about $111,650 less than in 2007. That has prompted the planning office to keep two vacant positions open indefinitely as a "fiscal precaution" this year.

Over the past five years, the county has collected an average of about $315,000 a year in planning-related fees, with a spike in 2006 to $430,330. Harris said he will propose a $200,000 annual projection for planning-fee revenue in the next budget cycle.

The commissioners approved new fees in October 2008 - a 40 percent increase since the last rate adjustment in 2005 - to offset the slump in construction activity.

While the planning office had a decrease in short-range, permit-based applications, it was kept busy with projects related to the county's new growth policy and the extra workload created when the commissioners rescinded the Whitefish interlocal planning agreement and took back planning activity in the two-mile "doughnut" around Whitefish.

Harris pointed out that when Whitefish and Columbia Falls interlocal agreements took effect a few years ago, the application volume was significantly reduced, from a record 708 applications in 2004 to 492 applications in 2006.

THE COUNTY planning office received 45 applications for major and minor preliminary plats in 2008, totaling 375 lots, and 60 applications for final plats. It's a 30 percent drop from 2007 for preliminary plats and a 7 percent decrease in final plats.

Subdivision lots don't exist until final plat applications are approved, Harris pointed out.

Last year, just 251 new lots were approved, a 65 percent drop from the 699 lots approved in 2007 and a 71 percent decrease from the five-year high of 842 lots in 2004.

A noteworthy variation in 2008, Harris said, was a drop in the average number of lots per subdivision application, accompanied by a marked increase in the acreage being subdivided.

More than 3,400 lots have been platted over the past five years in the county, but Harris said that overall the county has roughly 30,000 lots that have been OK'd for construction.

New projects this year include a Flathead County development predictability map to provide guidance for development density.

The planning office also will continue its update of county zoning, flood-plain and lakeshore regulations and will finalize a county transportation plan.

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