LETTER: Lake County's bumbling response to density plan

How many people does it take to defend the rights of 30,000 Lake County residents (minus the Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council and a few misguided residents of Polson) concerning whether or not to keep or discard a highly litigious county regulation known as the infamous “Density Plan” — not to be confused with the “County Growth Policy” — that no one has read or kept track of since it went into effect in 2005?

When the county attorney (specifically employed for six months by the county commissioners to review these documents/policies) stands up in an open public meeting and pretty much says “this regulation is just asking for a lawsuit”, why would our county commissioners end their vote in “hear no evil,” “speak no evil” and “see no evil” fashion: Decker for getting rid of it, Brower for keeping it and Barron on the fence? How do you administer (notice I didn’t say “run”) a county when three commissioners come up with three different votes?

The only reason for retaining the Density Plan, as voiced by citizens in attendance, was “but there was so much effort put into creating it.” Apparently discerning whether or not it was actually legal was not involved in all that effort and 16 years later, it is discovered that all the limitations and restrictions buried in it were based on assumptions that haven’t borne fruit.

Ludicrous? You bet. —Michael Gale, Ronan