Your voice, your rights
Everyone who is interested in deciding their land-use rights - raise your hand. Hmmm… I may be sitting in my office, but my guess is that most landowners (or landowners to be) would like to be a part of important and sweeping decisions that will greatly impact them.
Now, everyone who thinks that noon on Thursdays is an appropriate time for public comment on the new draft Bigfork Neighborhood Plan - raise your hand. Hmmm… not so many.
The Bigfork Steering Committee (BSC) compiled data from two years of surveys to put together the new Bigfork Neighborhood Plan (BNP). Committee members are currently pouring over the document in the hopes of ratifying the plan and sending it up to the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee for public comment. (If you would like to review the BNP, a copy is available at the Bigfork Library or online at www.bigforksteering.org.)
But last week at the BSC meeting, there were only 22 people eligible to vote on the ratification of the plan. According to the group's bylaws, any person who has come to three consecutive meetings in the past year is allowed to vote.
Twenty-two. That's not many people, and the voters were hardly representative of the area the BNP will affect.
Yes, a large percentage of the Bigfork-area population is made up of early retirees and wealthy residents, but a lot of landowners around here work during the day. How can anyone expect them to take off a couple hours during a weekday to attend a meeting?
According to the BNP, the population in Bigfork has swelled to 2,250 people. That means .0097 percent of the population was available to weigh in on the plan last week. This new plan will update and replace the BNP of 1993 and will affect everything from your business signage to your front lawn.
Whether the BSC or BLUAC is the group charged with holding meetings for public comment, here's hoping that some well-publicized evening meetings are frequently scheduled before any official vote concerning the plan.
Although BLUAC meets at 4 p.m. on the last Thursday of each month, it must hold later and more frequent meetings when it comes to the Neighborhood Plan.
Reaction to the plan so far has been mixed, as with any project this large. Some love the plan, others are incensed. One thing is for certain, though - a huge amount of effort has gone into the new plan, and a huge amount more is required. Dedicated citizens have pulled together the information, and now the population has the duty to adapt the plan to best fit the community.
People are already at work crafting revisions and addendums. Al Johnson and Brett Thuma presented a document that raised more than a few eyebrows at the BLUAC meeting last week, which followed the BSC meeting.
Where the BNP leaves a few nails sticking up in the plan's woodwork to allow for some residential zoning diversity, the Johnson/Thuma plan acts as the hammer.
This plan requires strict minimum standards about everything from density to floor area ratios to the amount of people living in a home. The plan also greatly restricts landowners' ability to develop their land, stating: "A minimum of 50 percent of the total area shall be designated as permanent open space, not to be further subdivided, and protected through a conservation easement or open space easement… All undivided open space shall be restricted from further subdivision through a permanent conservation or open space easement."
Everyone who thinks that plan is just peachy - raise your hand. I didn't think so.
The Bigfork Steering Committee meets each noon on Thursdays at Bethany Lutheran Church, and you need to be there if you can. The new BNP affects too many people for such small attendance.
A tiny minority should not be making decisions this big without a wealth of public comment. Encourage these groups to hold meetings when the public can actually attend. Then show up - and raise your hand.
Anyone wishing to submit written comments may do so by sending them to Sue Hanson, BLUAC secretary at:
220 Swan River Road
Bigfork, MT 59911
Please include your name and contact information with your comments.