Planning Board endorses rezoning requests
The Flathead County Planning Board on Wednesday forwarded positive recommendations to the county commissioners on two controversial rezoning requests that received public hearings in April.
One proposal would simplify the zoning classifications on a group of properties between Whitefish and Columbia Falls, while the other would pave the way for a manufactured home park in Evergreen.
The board held hearings on those two proposals last month but could not take action after board member Buck Breckenridge recused himself due to a conflict of interest; his father, Rick Breckenridge, was the surveyor representing the two applicants. Only five of the board's nine members were present to begin with, so when Buck Breckenridge stepped away, there was no voting quorum.
ON WEDNESDAY, six other members of the board voted to approve a request from Judy Togiai, the Rea Trust and the Bonnie Kent Trust to rezone nearly 36 acres on Conn Road, just south of Montana 40 between Whitefish and Columbia Falls. They want to change the zoning designation from suburban agricultural with 10-acre minimum lot sizes to rural residential with 2.5-acre minimum lot sizes.
While the applicants insisted they have no plans of selling or attempting to subdivide the property, neighbors objected to the potential for increased housing density along Conn Road, saying additional traffic would create a hazard where drivers turn onto Montana 40. One neighbor referred to that intersection as "profoundly dangerous," and others said there have been fatal wrecks in the area.
In April, Rick Breckenridge said the zoning change is needed to rectify a problem created from a dispute between the county and the city of Whitefish, which fought for years for the authority to zone the area just outside its borders, known as the "doughnut." The Montana Supreme Court gave that authority to the county in 2014, but Breckenridge said the fallout left three parcels split in half by two different zoning classifications, making them less valuable and harder to develop.
The Planning Board agreed, with member Greg Stevens saying before Wednesday's vote, "This is a split property. It has two different zoning classifications. And I think it's incumbent upon the Planning Board to rectify that problem. That's a situation that should not endure."
THE BOARD voted 4-2 to endorse the other request from Karyl Kim Struck to rezone 28.5 acres of farmland at 521 E. Cottonwood Drive in Evergreen, from suburban residential to two-family residential with 5-acre minimum lot sizes.
In April, Breckenridge said there are plans to use the land for a manufactured home park, and county planning staff reported that would be a good use for the property because it sits in a floodplain that's not suitable for permanent homes.
Several neighbors objected to the proposal over concerns about traffic, noise, crime, wildlife and the character of the area. Relatives also aired personal disputes about the wishes of the longtime owner of the property, Struck's husband, who died last fall.
The board on Wednesday also endorsed a proposal to add marinas as a conditional use under the "community business" zoning classification, as well as a request from Clifford and Karen Haven to rezone 1.37 acres at 436 Maple Drive in Kalispell, from suburban residential to one-family residential.
The county commissioners will have the final say on each proposal after additional public hearings.
Reporter Chad Sokol can be reached at 758-4439 or csokol@dailyinterlake.com