City launches new Growth Policy engagement website
A website intended to keep the public engaged in the process of updating the Whitefish Growth Policy launched last week. The site is educational as well as interactive and just one way the city hopes to secure robust public input. A town hall meeting is also slated for next month.
Growth policies are required for cities to be able to adopt or amend zoning and they guide decisions about the future of a town, specifically with regard to land use. The City of Whitefish is preparing to update its growth policy, now known as Vision Whitefish 2045.
Over the past several months, Whitefish City Planner Alan Tiefenbach presented the plan for public engagement to the Whitefish Planning Board and to the Whitefish City Council during work sessions and public hearings. He listened to the feedback and polished the plan.
Some of the ways the city hopes to involve the public in the Vision Whitefish 2045 update are visioning workshops, open houses, work sessions, public meetings and presentations to civic groups. The city staff may post public notices, issue press releases, send mass mailings and write a city newsletter in order to share information with the community.
One tool in the outreach toolbox is a website that would serve as an all-in-one resource for information and participation. The Engage Whitefish Public Engagement Site is now live.
“It’s a little more than just a typical website. It’s an online public participation platform… and it’s specifically intended for public engagement,” said Tiefenbach. “It lets the community directly engage.”
Tiefenbach said this particular online platform has been successful and well-received in cities such as Bozeman, Missoula and Boise, Idaho.
Information will be provided on the website through regular updates, newsletters, a calendar of upcoming events and postings of text, documents and video recordings of meetings.
Public participation on the site is possible through message boards that allow discussion and response to Growth Policy topics or feedback, online map “widgets” where users can place markers in geographic locations and offer suggestions, and survey and comment input boxes embedded within content on the website.
According to the city, users can subscribe to the site to receive alerts. At first, the website will be mostly educational, but the site will ramp up to full capacity as the process moves forward.
A town-hall-style meeting to kick off Whitefish’s Vision Whitefish 2045 is scheduled for Aug. 24 at the City Hall Council Chambers from 5:30-7:00 p.m.
At that meeting, staff will give a general overview of the project, present the existing conditions of the city and give the public ways they can stay involved in the process. Staff will also explain how to use the new website.
Additionally, to obtain a logo for Vision Whitefish 2045, the city will take submissions from artists of any age. Artworks need to be submitted by Oct. 2 and the winning submission will receive a $250 gift card along with other forms of recognition.
To see the Vision Whitefish 2045 Growth Policy Update Page, visit:
https://engagewhitefish.com/vision-whitefish-2045