Will County Commissioners take the blame?

It is the duty of any elected or appointed official, be it county commissioners, municipal judges or city planners, to consider the input on the community at large before rendering any final opinion or approval of the matter at hand. When one person or a small group of people propose a zoning expansion, or commercial development that will adversely affect and disrupt an entire community, the burden of the final decision of the arbitration is entirely on the elected or appointed officials.

The people of Whitefish do NOT wish to see U.S. 93 south of their city to be turned into a commercial nightmare. Yes, it will bring jobs in one sector while at the same time add to the destruction of Whitefish as a tourist community. The ambiance of “Stump Town” is long gone; this commercialization will be the final blow.

Likewise, the recent signature-gathering campaign for the expansion of the Egan Slough zoning area generated over 12,600 Flathead County registered voter signatures. Add to that list the over 6,000 Lake County residents who will be adversely affected if the Flathead County commissioners further ignore the input of their constituents. The Creston area, Bigfork and the entire Highway 35 corridor to Polson will be affected if the Flathead County commissioners, by their actions, allow the Egan Slough area to be commercialized. Over 18,000 local residents said NO to a bottling plant in Creston. As many or more say NO to further commercialization of the Whitefish U.S. 93 corridor.

If you took Glacier National Park out of the picture, what would attract the tourist to the area when it becomes no more than a traffic-burdened, commercial nightmare?

Bill McGunagle, Kalispell