Cluster zone recommended for Bigfork

The Flathead County Planning Board unanimously recommended approval of Residential Cluster zoning for the Bigfork Zoning District on Wednesday.

The zoning, which was requested by Lodgepole Inc., would allow professional offices within the 630-acre zone.

Due to build-out and other limitations, it could only affect the Holt Drive corridor, limited areas on Chapman Hill Road and Bigfork Stage as well as internal features of future mixed-use developments, according to the staff report compiled by the Flathead County Planning Office.

The Planning Board also decided to set March 9 as the date to recommend approval or denial of a greenbelt zoning district. A public hearing and workshop on the new zoning already have been held.

If approved, the zoning would apply to 79 acres on the east side of U.S. 93 between Ponderosa Lane and Autumn Court that currently is zoned agriculture and suburban agriculture. The greenbelt zoning also could be used on other highway corridors in the county.

The greenbelt zoning was requested by a group of property owners known as Noonan et al.