City acknowledges robust public participation vital in updating growth policy

A work session was held prior to last week’s Whitefish Planning Board meeting to discuss ways to attract public participation in the process of updating the city’s growth policy, known as Vision Whitefish 2045.

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 and wants to get the community involved.

City staff, Whitefish City Council and the planning board agreed during two previous work sessions that to update the growth policy properly, the process would require robust public engagement.

Tasked with the best ways to achieve that, Whitefish City Planner Alan Tiefenbach and the planning staff designed a Public Engagement Plan (PEP), researched a digital engagement platform and presented possible artwork for marketing purposes.

Staff researched the best strategies for public participation and presented a draft engagement plan. Prior to its preparation, staff reviewed PEPs from 10 different city, county and state governments, and they reviewed guides on how to develop a PEP.

“Before we even start the growth policy we want to make sure we have a very clear road map of how the public would be involved,” Tiefenbach said, referring to the PEP as the “plan for the plan.”

The public engagement plan details the purpose of a growth policy, the roles of decision-makers and staff, opportunities for public participation, tools for outreach and it outlines the phases of the updating process.

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 can post public notices, issue press releases, send mass mailings and write a city newsletter in order to share information with the community.

Since work sessions are more casual than regular meetings, the board and community were encouraged to make comments at any time.

“I didn’t see anything left out. It seems like you are reaching out in as many ways as possible, including social media,” said Planning Board Chair Steve Qunell.

Bob Horn, former Whitefish City Planning Director, was very involved during the process of drafting the 2007 Growth Policy for Whitefish and has had extensive experience working with growth policies for other towns. He said he had reviewed the plan and was in contact with Tiefenbach.

“I just think they did a really good job of putting this together and looking at different ways to engage people,” Horn said. “I found out a long time ago that every community is different and you need to engage the public in a way that fits the culture and values of that community.”

One tool in the outreach toolbox is a website that would serve as an all-in-one resource for information and participation. Information would be shared and participation made possible through message boards that allow for discussions and online map ‘widgets' that let users pinpoint specific locations and offer suggestions about them.

“The website is called Engagement HQ,” said Tiefenbach. “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. 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. Staff anticipates having this website available in early summer.

Though the engagement website is a big tool, it is not the only tool for reaching the public. Whitefish resident Carolyn Pitman said she thinks the website is a wonderful idea and that it is important to connect with everyone in the community. She then reminded the board that there is a segment of the community that doesn’t use the internet.

Nathan Dugan of Shelter WF added that collecting demographic information on the website would be important and Qunell agreed. The board gave Tiefenbach a round of nods, indicating he should move forward with development of the website.

At an earlier work session, staff considered having an art contest to secure a logo for Vision Whitefish 2045. Later, they had an interest in hiring a local artist to provide images that can be used for marketing materials.

The board members were hesitant to pay money for artwork for this purpose and they suggested involving high school art students.

“Let’s try to avoid the cost (of retaining an artist) and maybe make it a contest,” said Board Member Scott Freudenberger.