North Lake County zoning regulations discussed at follow-up meeting

Discussion on the draft of the proposed North Lake County Planning and Zoning Regulations continued last Wednesday during another community meeting held at Bethany Lutheran Church in Bigfork.

The meeting was a follow-up to a Sept. 28 gathering on the same topic.

According to Leslie Budewitz — who, along with several other north Lake County community members, has spent years researching and developing the draft — the purpose of the meetings was to make sure everyone understood the proposed regulations and had the opportunity to voice their comments and concerns.

“One of the great things about having people with so many interests is that they bring our attention to things we wouldn’t otherwise think about,” Budewitz said.

The document presents regulations — including lists of permitted, conditional and prohibited uses — for four different classifications of land zones: highway commercial, commercial crossroads, waterfront residential and residential/agricultural/forest.

Budewitz said the document was created with the intention of establishing a plan that would be “zoning light” — that is, it would contain the smallest possible number of regulations necessary to achieve the ultimate goal of preserving the quality and character of the community.

One of the overall themes of the night was a call for more specificity as to what would and would not be allowed under the proposed regulations, especially with regards to the sections dealing with outdoor lighting, signage and vegetative buffers.

“This is all good input,” Budewitz told the crowd during the meeting. “While we are proposing ‘zoning light,’ we do want things to be clear.”

One resident, for example, disagreed with the outdoor lighting policy, as it could prevent him from using large lights while working on his property after dark.

According to Budewitz, those regulations resulted from some residents’ complaints about light pollution from neighboring properties.

“Lighting is a huge issue of conflict, especially in more dense areas,” Budewitz said. “It’s about trying to find a balance. People don’t want light from another property shining in their window all night.”

Paul Rana — another one of zoning group’s lead volunteers — assured those in attendance that the group would revisit the lighting section and come up with a policy that would better suit the interests of all residents, whether they live on a half-acre lot or a 40-acre ranch.

“We’re going to go back and convene in committee,” Rana said.

Other community members worried that the vegetative buffer requirement on waterfront properties would prevent property owners from clearing brush to create defensible space and increase fire protection for their homes.

Those rules were borrowed from existing regulations in Lake County, Budewitz said. However, she and Rana agreed to look into changing the language of that section to allow for defensible space.

On the topic of signage, residents asked for more clarity on how signs are classified and suggested that speed limits be considered when determining size limitations.

Despite spending more than two hours discussing the draft, the group was unable to get through everything, so another meeting has been set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16 at Bethany Lutheran Church.