Time for the city to step up

Sixteen and a half years ago, I was appointed by the Whitefish City Council to serve on the Whitefish Lake and Lakeshore Committee. At the same time, a young man by the name of Jim Stack was appointed by the Flathead County Commissioners to serve on the same committee.

For 13 years, I was privileged to work with several bright, dedicated and long-serving other appointees. We worked diligently to process lakeshore permits, evaluate requests for variances, monitor all lakeshore project, report any possible violations and continually update the regulations to meet the needs of the residents.

Needless to say, we were all overworked and often not supported by the governing bodies. Then two more lakes were added to the mix.

I resigned from the committee three and a half years ago due to some medical issues as well as frustration at the lack of any help from the governing powers with ongoing major lakeshore violations while others of "less importance" were just ignored.

Only a few of the violations were due to ignorance of the regulations, the rest were obvious "it's my property and I'll do as I wish."

With no threat of any consequences, the numbers of violations increased. Some people complied when asked by a committee member, but others just ignored warnings or stop-work orders and continued their projects.

However, if their neighbor were to clear-cut his land and run a Bobcat down along the lakeshore, they would be the first in line to complain. Flagrantly breaking the rules is fine unless it impinges on their property, their view, their drinking water, their navigation and their lake.

The lakeshore regulations are there to protect the lake for all owners and users of the lake. The lake has become more degraded every year. When it reaches the polluted level that finally hit Lake Tahoe, our residents who contributed to this degradation will simply pick up their part-time suitcases and move to another lake. There, they will simply carry on with their same behaviors and foul that lake and that nest. They have no sense of ownership of a lake as belonging to all of the earth's people.

With the resignation of Jim Stack and John Muhlfeld (two fine and very knowledgeable gentlemen) from the committee, there are only two members left with institutional and historical knowledge. I'm sure they have both reached the peak of their frustration level also.

So what is left? Do we just do away with the committee and the regulations and let the landowners rule, no matter how their actions affect the whole community? Or does the city step up to the plate, enforce the regulations and require complete restoration of lakeshore properties, which are in violation? The ball is certainly in the city's court.

Jane Solberg lives in Whitefish.