Draft growth policy is missing key items - it's time to update

Whitefish has been blessed with the wisdom and guidance of a comprehensive growth policy that has help to shape the rapid growth the city has faced since 1996.

It’s time for an update, but this update should build on the foundation of policies that have guided Whitefish well for the past decade. Let’s not make the mistake of “throwing the baby out with the bath water,” as the saying goes. Let’s keep the best of the current growth policy.

Like its predecessor the new draft growth policy is the result of an open and inviting public process, and planning issues identified a decade ago have been revisited and new issues identified.

Important new policies have been identified to address new issues, like a surplus of a 12-year supply of lots available for development within Whitefish that have not yet been built. A new policy proposes the development of 50 percent of these development entitlements before the conversion of more rural or sensitive lands are considered for development.

On the other hand, the new growth policy is troublesomely silent or vague on issues that remain current, and that the current growth policy provides clear direction on.

For example, the current Whitefish Growth Policy contains three pages of goals, policies and recommendations on waterfront development, a topic that is not directly addressed in the new growth policy.

The city of Whitefish has adopted by ordnance a set of lakeshore protection regulations, as well as other regulations, but the growth policy is the place where the policy basis for these regulations should be laid out and clear reference/relationship to the lakeshore regulations should be made.

In another example, the new growth policy does a good job of framing the issues of future commercial growth in the Whitefish area and of establishing the generous growth potential in the existing downtown area under the new downtown plan adopted by the city.

Unlike the current growth policy, however, it does not carry forward the policies in the current growth policies that define where future commercial growth should not occur, such as further south down U.S. Highway 93 or along Highway 40.

Neighborhood planning is another area where the new draft growth policy fails to provide new or similar guidance, despite the fact that numerous neighborhoods have been asked to wait on the approval of this new growth policy before proceeding with neighborhood planning.

Neighborhood planning can be an important tool for more clearly defining and retaining the character of Whitefish as called for in the vision statement of the new draft growth policy.

We encourage the public to attend Thursday’s public hearing on the Whitefish draft growth policy, tonight at 7 p.m. at City Hall. Take time to sit down with a copy of the current growth policy and the new draft and see if you don’t agree that we need the best of both.

This is particularly true given the potential conflicts that can arise when policies are vague and growth is fast paced — the greater the clarity, the greater the likelihood for compliance and reduced conflict.

There is much good work in the new draft Whitefish Growth Policy, and the committee and staff deserve the community’s appreciation for their hard work to date. Now it is time for the planning board and the city council to blend the best of both documents.

Mayre Flowers is the executive director of Citizens for a Better Flathead.