Something fishy at planning meeting

I just returned from the Whitefish Planning Board meeting where I witnessed absolute disregard for public concern about Ryan Zinke’s Planned Unit Development request, which amounts to a major zone change that will impact an entire neighborhood.

Immediately after public comment, without any discussion of the pros and cons of a radical zone change, Rick Blake makes a motion to accept the Zinke proposal and Diane Smith nearly jumped out of her seat to second it.

Mind you, this snap approval came after the planning staff’s recommendation to put this PUD on hold until a corridor study could be done, and after a half-dozen people who would be directly affected spoke about their concerns and how it would impact their lives and property.

Mary Vail was the only member wise enough to understand that concerns about the project had not been adequately addressed and she declined to vote in favor of it.

Earlier, another landowner asked for a Conditional Use Permit for a project in the same neighborhood and the proposed development fit well within the current zoning and no one spoke against it. Every planning board member asked questions about this project, a project that did not require a major zone change.

But a project that would require the suspension of area zoning garners immediate approval without prior discussion. Unbelievable!

Something is fishy. Are some planning board members allowing their ideology or personal bias or politics to interfere with a fair and thoughtful dialogue? Whatever the case, it was an outrageous show of disrespect for people’s concerns. Is there no code of ethics for planning board members?

Whether or not the Zinke PUD was approved is not the issue. What I witnessed tonight was a disgusting display of indifference and arrogance by planning board members.  It shattered any illusion I had that planning decisions for our city are in capable hands.  

— Barbara Palmer