Decision on county 'doughnut' zoning delayed until Monday

A decision about how Flathead County will move forward with permanent zoning and planning in the “doughnut” area around Whitefish has been postponed.

The commissioners will resume their discussion and vote on the matter at 10:15 a.m. Monday.

They had planned to discuss a revised recommendation from the Planning Board on Wednesday, but learned from Planning Director BJ Grieve there was an error in the draft minutes of the Planning Board meeting. Those minutes were sent out to at least one person who requested a copy.

In an effort to provide an “extremely transparent process,” Grieve suggested the postponement.

 The Planning Board has recommended the county rely on the county growth policy for land-use decisions in the area around Whitefish. While the county growth policy includes a land-use map, it does not lay out future land uses like the Whitefish growth policy does.

An earlier recommendation had suggested drawing on the land-use map in the 2007 Whitefish growth policy.

The board is sticking by its earlier recommendations to repeal the 1996 Whitefish City-County Master Plan and replace interim zoning with county-initiated zoning.

The county is working through the process of resuming planning control of the doughnut as directed by a July 2014 Montana Supreme Court ruling.