County declines to participate in 93 South study

Flathead County won’t participate in a study for the U.S. 93 South corridor that runs through the two-mile planning “doughnut” outside Whitefish, the county commissioners said Monday.

Several property owners along the highway who want more zoning flexibility recently hired a consultant to approach the county and city of Whitefish about jointly doing a corridor study.

Even though a lawsuit over planning control for the doughnut area still is unresolved, the Whitefish City Council two weeks ago decided it’s time to get moving on a corridor study. Council members directed City Manager Chuck Stearns to send a letter to the commissioners, asking them to get involved.

“We feel that there is renewed interest in developing in this area and we do not feel that proper development should be stymied by the lack of a corridor plan for this area,” Stearns wrote.

He acknowledged the lawsuit between the city and county over planning control of the doughnut, but said the council believes proper planning needs to “precede and enable future development.” 

A joint corridor study could lead to an amendment to either the Whitefish or Flathead County growth policies, or both, Stearns pointed out.

“To wait until after the lawsuit is completed to do a corridor plan will just delay future development,” he said.

Dave DeGrandpre of Land Solutions, who was hired by a group of corridor property owners, also believes the timing is right for a study now because it would take at least a year to complete, plus several more months to wind through the planning process. By doing it now, it would be ready once the doughnut litigation is settled.

But the county commissioners say no thanks. With no discussion about the letter from Whitefish, all three commissioners declined the offer for the county to participate.

“I think it is important that we do have it on the record just to say we did look at it,” Commissioner Pam Holmquist said. “I believe that at this time it would be appropriate for our legal counsel to send them a letter stating our position on that.”

The doughnut litigation has left property owners in limbo. A key concern is that the current SAG-5 zoning — suburban agriculture with a five-acre minimum lot size — along the southern highway isn’t a city zone, though the city still at this point administers zoning in that area. SAG-5 limits commercial development, and the county doesn’t have business service district zoning, an option for that area.

There are several businesses along the highway beyond Whitefish’s southern city limit, but most are nonconforming or conditional uses. Whitefish growth policies historically have discouraged commercial growth along highway corridors, largely to retain a strong downtown city core.

DeGrandpre said he plans to set up a neighborhood meeting with property owners sometime this spring.

“It’s good to see the city of Whitefish is interested in partnering with others on planning for the future of the corridor,” he said.