Whitefish lakeshore plan ready

A long-awaited overhaul of Whitefish Lake lakeshore-protection regulations gets its first public scrutiny at a Whitefish City-County Planning Board hearing on Thursday.

Considered the most significant update of Whitefish lakeshore rules in more than a quarter century, the controversial revamp recently won lakeshore committee approval on a 5-3 vote.

The dissenters, however, took the unusual step of drafting a minority report, claiming many of the lakeshore regulations are invalid and unenforceable.

Attorney Sharon Morrison, a new member on the lakeshore committee, wrote the minority report, alleging the lakeshore regulations are "structurally defective" because they exceed the authority granted by the state Legislature to local governing bodies.

Joining Morrison in support of the minority report were committee members Ken Stein, a Realtor, and Scott Ringer, manager of The Lodge at Whitefish Lake.

The trio suggested "scrubbing" the regulations to dispose of inconsistencies, excesses and constitutional violations.

Whitefish City Attorney John Phelps sent a letter to the Planning Board on Friday, asserting that the minority report's arguments are flawed.

"There are so many legal reasons why the regulations are lawful and enforceable that I cannot provide them all in this letter," Phelps wrote.

Phelps contended that most of the comments in the minority report result from a "fundamental misunderstanding of Montana municipal law."

To date, no lawsuit regarding Whitefish lakeshore regulations has successfully overturned the legality of the regulations.

Lakeshore Committee Chairman Jim Stack, who spearheaded the 2 1/2-year-long process of rewriting the regulations, said he believes Morrison has a conflict of interest in serving on the committee because she's a partner in the Morrison & Frampton law firm that's currently involved in litigation against the city in several contentious lakeshore violations.

Morrison said she doesn't view her committee work as a conflict of interest.

"Jim [Stack] himself lives on the lake and has a definite mind-set," Morrison said. "There may be areas where a conflict could exist, such as if a client came to the committee. I would excuse myself" in those cases.

But Stack said Morrison didn't excuse herself from voting on a recent mitigated settlement for a lakeshore violation that involved one of the law firm's clients.

BEYOND the dissension among lakeshore committee members is the fundamental goal of the rewrite - to make the regulations easier to understand.

"One of the primary reasons for this revision was to consolidate and reorganize regulation text to make the lakeshore regulations more applicant-friendly," Stack said.

A second objective was to clarify regulations in a manner that's consistent with prior interpretation and enforcement by the Whitefish and Flathead County planning offices.

A tightening of the rules wasn't the intent, Stack said. Instead, regulations have been eased in a number of areas.

Language pertaining to nonconforming structures was one of the most troublesome elements of the rewrite.

An existing regulation - allowing complete replacement of a nonconforming structure with a 20 percent reduction in surface area - was deleted from the rewrite early on. That amendment was added about eight years ago, but "turned out to be a disaster," Stack said.

The proposed regulations for nonconforming structures largely follow existing county regulations, with some tweaking.

For nonconforming structures that are damaged or destroyed in excess of 50 percent, the proposed rules say a structure "may be rebuilt to its previous condition if the conditions for a variance are met and it meets other applicable zoning or flood-plain regulations."

The replacement of nonconforming docks has been given a special section to allow replacement without reduction in size.

The proposed regulations apply to Whitefish and Lost Coon lakes, and the Whitefish planning staff is recommending the inclusion of Blanchard Lake.

A complete copy of the proposed lakeshore regulations is available on the city of Whitefish Web site, at www.whitefish.govoffice.com.

The public hearing begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at Whitefish City Hall.

The lakeshore regulations are scheduled to go to the Whitefish City Council on June 15.

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