Doubling down on the doughnut

Another round of legal wrangling has erupted in the years-long battle over planning control of the two-mile “doughnut” around Whitefish, and frankly we’re not surprised.

A District Court ruling recently invalidated a city referendum that threw out an interlocal agreement meant to be a compromise pact between Whitefish and Flathead County. The ruling gave the county the go-ahead to put county zoning in place in the doughnut, but Whitefish won’t go down without a fight.

The Whitefish City Council last week voted to appeal the court’s ruling and wants the city to have interim control of the doughnut while the state Supreme Court sorts it all out — again.

Conversations we’ve overhead between doughnut residents have called city officials “greedy, arrogant control freaks.” That’s a bit harsh, but there’s a kernel of truth there. The 2010 interlocal agreement was a sincere effort to patch up a bad relationship after the county pulled out of the original 2005 interlocal agreement over Whitefish’s heavy-handed critical areas ordinance. That new law imposed all kinds of regulations, some quite costly, for new construction in drainage-sensitive areas in the doughnut as well as the city.

Everyone agreed the 2010 agreement wasn’t perfect, but it seemed as if Whitefish would have meaningful planning oversight of the doughnut as long as they didn’t get too carried away. That wasn’t good enough for some Whitefish residents, though. In an all-or-nothing quest, they successfully persuaded enough city people to vote for the referendum that tossed out the compromise agreement.

It’s still baffling how city folks were able to vote for something that clearly impacted only the doughnut people. The rationale, of course, was that Whitefish needs to have a say in how it grows beyond its border. Wanting orderly, well-planned growth is a laudable goal, but is it a foregone conclusion that county zoning in the doughnut would screw up Whitefish’s vision of growth? Let’s not forget an overwhelming majority of doughnut residents responding to a county survey said they want the county to govern them.

What rankles people is how Whitefish takes an elitist attitude that it knows best how places should be planned and developed. With the appeal to the high court, the city is taking an all-or-nothing stand.

It would behoove Whitefish to find some humility and beg the county to sit down at the table and work together on yet another compromise both sides could live with.

Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily Inter Lake’s editorial board.