Whitefish wants stream limits reconsidered
The city of Whitefish has asked Flathead County to reconsider proposed permanent zoning in the “doughnut” area outside of Whitefish that will reduce stream and wetland setbacks from 200 feet to 20 feet in the area where Whitefish gets its drinking water.
The county is converting the zoning in the area around Whitefish from city to county classifications, following a July 2014 state Supreme Court ruling that ceded planning control to the county. Interim county zoning currently is in place in the doughnut. The commissioners will hold final hearings Dec. 17 before voting on the zone changes.
Whitefish Mayor John Muhlfeld wrote a letter to the county commissioners on Sept. 19 outlining the city’s concern over the drastic reduction in stream and wetland setbacks. Years ago Whitefish imposed a water-quality ordinance that established setbacks for local bodies of water, including streams and wetlands, Muhlfeld said.
“The primary intent of this ordinance was, and still is, to protect and improve the quality of the Whitefish area’s water bodies,” he wrote.
Out of concern for the long-term protection of the city’s water supply, the city imposed the 200-foot setback for lands upstream of the municipal water supply intakes on Second and Third creeks in the Haskill Basin, the sources for about 90 percent of the city’s water supply.
Muhlfeld pointed out how Whitefish was forced to discontinue using First Creek in 1975 because of e. coli contamination and sedimentation resulting from residential and commercial development upstream of the city’s intake. And he reminded the commissioners of the conservation easement being put in place to help protect the water source.
He asked the commissioners to consider keeping the 200-foot streamside setback in place for Second Creek.
Muhlfeld’s letter was written after the public comment period had closed for the Flathead County Planning Board to consider it, according to county planner Erik Mack.
The county Planning Board held a special meeting Sept. 23 to tweak its recommendations for permanent county zoning in the Whitefish doughnut, following a barrage of last-minute comments, particularly for proposed zoning in the Houston Drive/East Lakeshore Drive areas and the Karrow Avenue corridor. The Planning Office received upwards of 100 pages of written comments sent after the board packets were sent out, so the board opted to consider those comments during the special meeting.
On Houston Drive and some parcels along East Lakeshore Drive, zoning on the Whitefish Lake side of the road was scheduled to change from R-1 residential with a 1-acre minimum lot size to R-2 residential with a 20,000-square-foot lot size. Neighbors opposed to the change were able to persuade the Planning Board to recommend retaining the R-1 zoning along the lakeshore.
In the Karrow Avenue area, zoning north of Blanchard Lake Road would become R-2.5 residential with a 2.5-acre minimum lot size. Most of the SAG-10 (suburban-agricultural zoning with a 10-acre minimum lot size) in that area will be eliminated and replaced with either SAG 2.5 or SAG-5 zoning.
The county also has proposed five new county zoning classifications to mirror zoning classifications Whitefish used in certain outlying areas. The new county zoning would include Big Mountain resort residential, Big Mountain village, business service district, secondary business and low density resort residential.
Proposed changes to the county secondary business zoning in areas such as the U.S. 93 South corridor will include adding auction barns and furniture and floor covering stores to permitted uses, and removing vendors from the list of uses.
Features Editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.