Planning Board sets 'doughnut' work session

A Flathead County Planning Board workshop to begin the process of creating permanent, long-term measures for county planning and zoning in the “doughnut” area around Whitefish will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 11.

The work session, during which no formal action will be taken, will take place in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building, 1035 First Ave. W. in Kalispell.

The county commissioners recently approved recommendations from the Planning Board on how to proceed with zoning and lakeshore regulations. A Montana Supreme Court ruling last year gave planning control of the doughnut area to Flathead County.

For lake and lakeshore regulations, the planning staff has been directed by the Planning Board to prepare a text amendment to Flathead County Lake and Lakeshore Protection Regulations, adding Whitefish and Lost Coon lakes to the list of lakes over which those regulations have jurisdiction.

The lakeshore-related text amendment is scheduled for a public hearing by the Planning Board on March 11. A copy of the proposed amendment will be posted to the county website no later than 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20.

For planning and zoning, the board is moving forward with discussion and consideration of repealing the 1996 Whitefish City-County Master Plan and using the Flathead County Growth Policy as the planning document to replace the interim zoning around Whitefish with county-initiated zoning.

The planning staff has been directed by the board to prepare a list of issues that have been raised by the public regarding planning and zoning around Whitefish. 

The list of issues and a report summarizing the nature of the issues, along with a map showing where the issues are located will be forwarded to the board and posted to the county website no later than 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6.