Contentious zoning
Residential, commercial and industrial development in Bigfork is guided by the 1993 Bigfork Neighborhood Plan, a legal document, which is utilized by the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee (BLUAC) when considering applications for development in our community. The residents of Bigfork donated $20,000 to fund the development of the new Neighborhood Plan, and hundreds of citizens volunteered thousands of hours to create a new plan that will guide the growth of Bigfork for the next 20 years. It is anticipated that the new Neighborhood Plan soon will be adopted by the County.
Since December 2004, when minutes were again recorded, BLUAC has taken action on 50 requests ranging from zone changes, conditional use permits and preliminary plat approvals. Thirty-nine items were recommended for approval, nine recommended for denial and two had no recommendation. Of the two no recommendations, both were approved by the Planning Board and the Commissioners. Of the nine recommended denials, only two were reversed by the Commissioners. The items approved since December 2004, have created approximately 600 residential lots and 25 commercial lots available for development. There are now approximately 30 new commercial building units for sale or lease in commercial or in light industrial zoned areas. Since June 1, 2006, the Bigfork community has felt it had developed an excellent working relationship with the County that respected the Bigfork Neighborhood Plan and the decisions of BLUAC.
So what is wrong with this picture?
A recent zone change application for light industrial development adjacent to Carlysle Johnson Park was overwhelmingly denied by BLUAC and the County Planning Board. At the County Commissioners' meeting Jeff Harris, of the County Planning and Zoning Department, voiced concern that approval of this application would violate the law on spot zoning and the legal status of the Bigfork Neighborhood Plan and the County Growth Plan and could result in lawsuits against the County which would foolishly spend your tax dollars. Two of the three Commissioners are ignoring established regulations in Bigfork by pressing to approve a zone change to protect one businessman who simply made a poor business decision by building on property and expecting a zone change to make it legal. When Commissioners Hall and Lauman choose to single out an issue against sound advice, it asks for speculation as to motives, especially, in an election year.
Bigfork is not anti-business or anti-growth as demonstrated by the above-stated BLUAC voting record. Based upon extensive community input, Bigfork has provided for growth in its Neighborhood Plan by creating designated land use areas for urban residential, suburban residential, commercial and industrial growth for the next 20 years. Flathead County has experienced far too many law suits over zoning issues. The cost is born by taxpayers. This is not an isolated incident. Planning Advisory Committees across the County have experienced their advice being ignored. Elected and Commissioner appointed advisory committees, the appointed nine-member Planning Board and the five-member Board of Adjustment members spend hours of their volunteer time studying each application. Where is the logic in ignoring those who have been elected or appointed to advise you?
There will be a public workshop addressing the above stated zone change application on Feb. 14, at 9:45 a.m. in the County Commissioner's Office. Please attend this meeting and support Bigfork and affirm the laws that guide growth in our community.
Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee
Coal bed thoughts
As a British Columbian (who enjoys frequent visits to Montana for both business and pleasure) I have to say I was somewhat disturbed by the news coming from south of the border last week. The news was about Montana looking to follow Alberta's approach to extracting coalbed methane (CBM).
While I admit Alberta has made some improvements to the generally destructive path the CBM industry has followed in Wyoming and elsewhere; there are still many problems with CBM development in Alberta. Impacts to water quality, public safety, destruction of sensitive grasslands and harm to the quality of life from the constant roar of industrial compressors are well documented in Alberta's CBM fields.
In reality, the pattern of CBM development in Alberta is not that different from other jurisdictions. There remains a simple fact: no matter what company is involved or which jurisdiction is permitting the activity — CBM is an extremely high impact industry that involves the industrialization of a landscape and frequently causes serious impacts to surface and subsurface water quality
That said I recognize that as a society we are very dependent on fossil fuels and gas is the cleanest option of our fossil energy sources. We cannot eliminate this dependence overnight but we should be doing everything we can to steer away from fossil fuels in order to reduce dangerous pollution to our air, land and water. In some instances decisions must be made to protect environmental and quality of life values in order to stop destructive drilling and extraction schemes.
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and the British Columbian Flathead form the core of the Crown of the Continent ecosystem—which is one of the greatest treasures we share as Canadians and Americans. This globally significant wilderness is under threat from a CBM scheme. BP of Canada is seeking drilling and extraction rights to more than 125,000 acres in British Columbia's portion of the Crown of the Continent. A sprawling network of well pads, roads and pipelines would industrialize the pristine headwaters of the Flathead. This simply cannot be allowed to happen.
It is important to remember the words of the Alberta industry representative who was in Helena last week from four years ago regarding CBM in the Flathead: "These kinds of projects in such environmentally sensitive areas are going to take a lot of time to even make the decision to develop."
In the meantime we need to encourage B.C. and Montana to find a conservation based solution to this problem that ensures that our children and future generations of all the creatures we share this spectacular landscape with are able to enjoy the natural heritage of this special place.
Casey Brennan
Fernie B.C.
Wildsight's Southern Rockies Program Manager