Planning should reflect citizens' will

This coming week has two meetings in the valley that involve the North Fork.

The first is the Interlocal Agreement meeting which will be held on Feb. 9 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Fish, Wildlife and Parks building on Meridian Road in Kalispell.

Originally intended as a way for private residents and all agencies to exchange information and concerns, the Interlocal now involves so many groups that there is no time for anything more than for each group to make approximately a 10-minute presentation. As a result there is no time for questions or discussion and, I think, everyone is dissatisfied with the result.

How to fix it? I’m not sure. Maybe return to the original format. At the summer meeting, private citizens voice their concerns and agencies do the same only at the winter meeting.

Perhaps both citizen groups and the agencies need to communicate their concerns to each other in writing ahead of time so that time is better spent in addressing real concerns.

Certainly the meetings have value, it just seems to me they could be more useful if they were somewhat organized instead of quite so informal.

The other meeting that involves the North Fork is on Feb. 14 at 9 a.m. in the County Commissioners Office.

Original land use regulations adopted for the North Fork included a provision banning all buildings within 150 feet on the North Fork Road and 100 feet from other public roads.

After adoption, the County changed the definition of building — in order to be a building it has to have a foundation. If it is on skids it is a “temporary structure” and the setback does not apply.

This problem came to light when the setback was applied to a resident who placed several “temporary structures” on his property and Flathead County said they were allowed.

Now, the land use advisory committee has proposed a text change, which will reinstate the original intent of the regulations. Current “temporary structures” could remain and would be grandfathered under the new definition.

Form where I sit, the Flathead County Planning Department, by changing definitions, has the power to wipe out or drastically change the intent of any regulations drafted by a citizen group. As long as the county has that power, citizen groups have no real power. If we have no real power, why should we support county planning efforts? More to the point, why should we even attempt to plan if our efforts are so easily wiped out by the county? What do you think?