Guest opinion

History and perspective

Like many of you, I am disappointed at the level of rancor and discontent being expressed in these pages and elsewhere over how this community will continue to flourish in the wake of unprecedented growth. I believe it is safe to say that nearly all of us either moved here or remain here because we enjoy the pastoral setting of Bigfork and the surrounding area as well as the character and style of the people that make up our community.

A little history will be helpful in order to put this in perspective, and hopefully lay a little common ground that we can all rally around. In early 1991, a group of local citizens got together and formed the Bigfork Steering Committee for the purpose of providing a compass for the growth we can compliment them for being prescient enough to anticipate. They invited and encouraged all citizens of what is now known as the Bigfork Planning District to participate. They conducted a community survey and held a number of public meetings seeking to determine some common ground as a means to chart the future of our community. The results were the 1993 Bigfork Neighborhood Plan and formation of the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee (BLUAC) to oversee its application and make appropriate land use recommendations to Flathead County.

This seemed to work well. Thanks to the plan and the BLUAC, Bigfork continued to flourish and maintain its special character. However, growth of the magnitude we have experienced in recent years brings new challenges. Over time the BLUAC granted an increasing number of developmental exceptions to the plan to the extent that it became apparent that either the plan was woefully out of date or the new members of the BLUAC approached their task from a significantly different perspective. More likely, both were true, but it matters little at this point.

As a result, the Bigfork Steering Committee (BSC) was reconstituted in 2004 by the remaining original members and any other members of the community willing to participate. The group first widened its scope to include inputs from residents of the planning district as well as residents of all Lake and Flathead County school districts from where children attended Bigfork schools. A community survey of all area land owners and registered voters was conducted as a means to reset the baseline of what people envisioned for Bigfork. It was not a perfect survey, but BSC members hammered it out with a spirit of compromise and mutual respect. In the end, professional advice on how to prepare a survey was used to put on the final touches.

Survey results were very illuminating and presented to civic organizations and at a number of public meetings. Space does not allow a detailed review of the results here, but the complete results can be found on the BSC Web site at http://www.bigforksteering.org/. Suffice it to say that area residents recognized the inevitability of growth, but wanted it channeled in a manner that preserved the special rural character of Bigfork and the surrounding area—a large, but not impossible task. They were also overwhelmingly in favor of using sound community planning and zoning as tools to meet this end. Further, they wished to see BLUAC members elected to their positions as opposed to being appointed by the Flathead County Commissioners. (Note: When originally constituted, BLUAC members were elected, but over time, not enough candidates stood for election and the FCC had to adopt a system of appointing members to these positions.)

In part, the BSC addressed community planning issues raised in the survey by drafting an amendment to the BLUAC bylaws that reestablished the requirement for BLUAC board members to be elected rather than appointed, widened the BLUAC eligibility requirement from "freeholder" to registered voter, and established three-year rotating terms of office with an initial formula designed to avoid changing out all of the members at once. The proposed amendment was approved by both the BLUAC and the Flathead County Commissioners and the first elections for three of the seven members of the BLUAC will be held this May 2 in conjunction with our school elections.

Also in response to the survey results, the BSC undertook the significant challenge of revising the Bigfork Neighborhood Plan as a means to provide the BLUAC a current, community based compass on which to base their land use decisions. Plan development is being spearheaded by BSC Executive Board member Shelley Gonzales. Shelley has formed seven committees charged with looking at all aspects of the plan: Population and Economics; Downtown and Commercial District; Housing; Land Use; Natural Resources; Public Facilities; Local and Social Services; Environmental. By the end of May of this year, the BSC is planning to meld the committee work into our revised Bigfork Neighborhood Plan that we will in turn submit to the BLUAC for review/comment and the Flathead County Commissioners for their support and approval. It is a daunting task and we are seeking the support of all of our citizens to get it done, and get it done right. We again solicit your active participation. For those interested, please call Shelley (837-5346) to get a committee assignment, or attend one of our regularly scheduled BSC meetings held at the Bethany Lutheran Church each Thursday at noon.

Lastly, a word or two about the style and class for which Bigfork is known. Land use planning issues and charting the course for a community faced with our current growth challenges are controversial subjects that naturally bring forth strong emotions. Private property ownership and the rights that go with it are rightly essential elements of our society, government and economy. So too are the compelling needs of a community to live and work together in a manner that provides everyone their opportunity for "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." It is a balancing act that can best be achieved by mutual respect, compassion, and consideration for the views of everyone. Democracy is a powerful tool and the BSC members have been able to reach consensus on many important issues confronting our community.

Nonetheless, a very small number of our community have chosen to not participate with the BSC, but instead resort to expressions of personal animus and name calling on the margins of the effort. While there is plenty of room for dissent and disagreement, the character of Bigfork does not invite this type of behavior. Let us work together—all of us—to solve these important challenges. The future of the Bigfork we all know and love depends upon it.

Bigfork Steering Committee Executive Board

Don Loranger—Chairman

Buz Meyer—Vice-Chairman

Sue Hanson—Secretary

Shelley Gonzales—Treasurer

Doug Averill—Member-at-large

Elna Darrow—Member-at-large