Neighborhood Plan meeting garners little comment

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

An evening meeting to gather public comment and provide Bigfork with one last look at the revised draft of the Bigfork Neighborhood Plan drew a large turnout but meager commentary last week.

About 40 people, many of them current or former members of the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee or the Bigfork Steering Committee, showed up at Bethany Lutheran Church on Feb. 7 for the meeting.

Flathead County Planning and Zoning Office Assistant Director BJ Grieve gave a short Powerpoint presentation about the plan and the history of Bigfork's original Neighborhood Plan and it's revision.

Bigfork first created a Neighborhood Plan in 1993, which in turn precipitated the creation of the Bigfork Zoning District. The current revision comes after three years of work, in which time Flathead County adopted a new growth plan that necessitated some changes in the neighborhood plan.

Grieve explained that a neighborhood plan is a non-regulatory document and that it is illegal to deny a subdivision or zoning request based solely on non-compliance with the plan. As a result, the county instituted zoning regulations in some areas to reflect the plan's directives and give it some teeth.

BLUAC vice-chairman Shelley Gonzales explained that $15,000 was given to the Bigfork Steering Committee for a community survey, maps and other materials needed for the plan three years ago and that "all of it has been spent."

Gonzales said that since the first public meeting for the plan in September 2004, 167 public meetings and workshops have been held by various committees seeking public input.

Most of the public input in last week's meeting came in the form of questions to Grieve, and included queries about the particulars of certain zoning regulations as well as questions about county infrastructure and recent confusion about floodplains.

Grieve explained that recent news about floodplain maps has been confusing, but would not affect the neighborhood plan because the data behind the maps has not changed. A modernization of the maps that included the overlay of aerial photos led to confusion but changed nothing.

Jill Mehall, who owns the Creative and Native gallery on Electric Avenue lamented the changes coming to Bigfork that she said she feels take away from the small-town charm.

Bill Myers, who operates Bayside Park downtown, said he has been coming to meetings for the duration of the three-year process and that he still strenuously objects to the plan.

Myers read from prepared remarks and contested that the survey was not conducted scientifically and that the BSC and BLUAC were referred to as the "Good Taste Society" in some circles. He called the plan "subjective, arbitrary and capricious."

A workshop meeting between BSC and BLUAC will be held today, Feb. 14 at noon at Bethany Lutheran Church to go over comments from last week's meeting. Once any changes are made, the plan will be submitted to the Flathead County Planning and Zoning Office and then come before BLUAC before going on to the Flathead County Planning Board and the County Commissioners for final approval.