Commissioners vote 3-0 for neighborhood plan

More than four years of work culminated in less than seven minutes on Thursday morning when the Flathead County Commissioners made a brisk 3-0 vote to adopt a resolution of intent to make the Bigfork Neighborhood Plan part of the county growth policy.

"I thank the Bigfork community for this, and I think it's our obligation to adopt it," said Commissioner Joe Brenneman.

The vote opens a 30-day comment period in which written comment on the plan will be accepted. Should the commissioners deem wholesale changes necessary after the period, they can opt to send the plan back to the Flathead County Planning Board. The commissioners are also free to make amendments or alterations to the plan before it is officially adopted.

Commissioner Dale Lauman, who has worked on neighborhood plan committees on the West Shore of Flathead Lake, commended Bigfork residents' hard work.

"I really appreciate the effort to create a document the size of a Sears and Roebuck catalogue," he joked.

The plan came to the commissioners with a unanimous recommendation for approval from the planning board, which has held a pair of hearings on the plan as well as a workshop. The final hearing, held on March 25, yielded a raft of minor changes and alterations from the original text, and the commissioners' vote applies to that amended version.

Public comment was not taken during the commissioners' hearing, but residents of Bigfork did show up early to take advantage of the open comment period before the start of the day's business.

Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee Chairwoman Shelley Gonzales characterized the plan as a "Herculean effort" by the Bigfork community.

"Thank you Bigfork," she said before the commissioners, "for your unwavering support to the plan."

The lone dissenting comment came from Bigfork business owner Bill Myers, who noted that he has spoken out against the plan at public forums throughout the length of the process.

Myers called the plan the work of the "Bigfork Good Taste Society" and said that while he might be the only one left opposing the plan, there were many more through the years that became discouraged by the process and gave up.

Myers said portions of the plan that include suggested architectural standards and open space protections infringe on property owners.

"Many retirees and other people have nothing better to do than tell other people what they can and can't do with their property," he said.

Brenneman, giving comments just before the vote, said the plan was worthy of passage and that the efforts to gather input from wide swaths of the community was unprecedented in such a local effort.

"You're never going to have a document that makes everybody happy," Brenneman said. "It's the American way."