Options surface for Whitefish doughnut zoning

The Flathead County Planning Board on Wednesday dives into its second workshop to discuss long-range planning and zoning in the “doughnut” area around Whitefish.

The commissioners last month imposed interim county zoning for the doughnut. The county was tasked with moving forward with zoning the area around Whitefish following a Montana Supreme Court ruling in July that ceded planning control from the city of Whitefish to the county.

Interim county zoning can be in place for one year, with a one-year extension if needed. It replaced Whitefish city zoning classifications with similar county classifications in most cases.

The Planning Board held its first work session Oct. 1 on the long-range zoning of the doughnut area. At the end of that workshop the board decided to continue the discussion, using public comments and board discussion to prepare an analysis of long-range zoning options, similar to what recently was created for Whitefish-area lake and lakeshore regulation options.

The doughnut zoning analysis was completed late last week by the county Planning Office and defines three options: Take no action and allow interim zoning to expire; pursue a planning process during the coming year to update the 1996 Whitefish City-County Master Plan; and pursue a planning process to update the 1996 plan using the current city-adopted 2007 Whitefish growth policy as a starting point.

The 1996 plan boundary extends approximately 4.5 miles outside Whitefish city limits as they existed at that time.

The options analysis will be discussed at the Wednesday workshop, which begins at 6 p.m. in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building, 1035 First Ave. W. in Kalispell.

The analysis is posted on the county website, at http://flathead.mt.gov/planning_zoning/documents/WFPlanningOptionsAnalysis11X17.pdf