Developers are oblivious to community's true needs

In a nutshell, this is my read on what is going on with the Critical Areas Ordinance: The city of Whitefish is preparing for growth.

The city is expected to double in size within 15 years. The infrastructure needs to be overhauled. It is just part of growing a city. They all have to upgrade the way that water is managed, sewage is contained, travel is encouraged and commerce is allowed to flourish.

The city has known they needed to start this process for 10 years, but they didn't have the resources to do so. My neighborhood is now used as an example of "poor building" because the precautions that are contained in this ordinance were not in place at the time of building (and some corruption, in my opinion).

To me, this ordinance has never been about individual property rights, like the secretive guys who sent that brochure have said. To me, this ordinance has to deal with the timing of growing a city, and to be able to limit unfair impact on those who, in fact, live here, raise their children here, take care of their elderly parents here and work here.

I am very worried when I hear that the Whitefish Mountain Resort could in fact "engineer" something that could ruin our water supply.

I am worried that "habitat protection," the space wild animals need to survive, was not included in this ordinance because the development community "probably wouldn't buy into those setbacks."

I am worried that ground-water levels will increase, and most of us will have unwanted water in our basements (this is called "adjacent property damage") with no recourse, and that the flood plain can be changed with every development but the maps are only updated every 5-6 years.

And I worry that whatever we do here goes on to the Flathead, then on to the Columbia River, and everywhere along there it will be changed.

I sat in on many of the CAO meetings and can tell you, it was a thoughtful, deliberate process. The science is defensible.

So, please, stop yourselves from being reactionary and think on this: If you will be here in 15 years, don't you want clean water, wildlife part of our landscape, dry basements and the peace that caring for this beautiful place brings to us?

If so, rethink what you are being sold by people who care about their own profits, possibly more than what they leave behind.

I asked one of the developers who built too close to the river in my neighborhood, "Why did you guys do that? This is a community." His reply? "This is America." I thought for a moment, and said to myself, "Hmmm, I thought that this was God's country."

It would be nice if we all acted accordingly. We are only stewards and here for a moment. Be mindful of that as you educate yourselves about what is really going on here.

Rebecca Norton lives in Whitefish.