Don't delay master plan

In a recent article in the Daily Inter Lake, I was somewhat dismayed to see county commissioner Gary Hall suggesting the Flathead County may yet be 18 months away from a new Growth Policy.

Over the past two and one-half years, the Flathead County Planning Board has conducted scores of public hearings throughout the county on the proposed new growth policy. During that time, the board compiled extensive data to be used in it's preparation. We are now being told that the county doesn't have the hundreds of thousands of dollars that will be "necessary" to complete the document.

Last November, the county planning board voted on the following motion "… to recommend that the county hire a consultant to "assist" the planning board in the preparation of a new county growth policy."

At the time that motion was made, I was serving on the planning board and supported the motion. My understanding (and I believe it was the understanding of most of the members of the board) was that the board was simply requesting the necessary staff help to put the data and information we had collected in a cognizant and lawful form. This would then enable the public to review and comment on the proposed new Growth Policy.

What the planning board intended, is the simple solution: Hire a temporary planner to work with the planning board to put the information gathered and prepared by the board in the proper form for a new county Growth Policy. The proposed policy can then be brought before the people of Flathead County. No more than 90 days should be allocated for this process. When done, the taxpayers could expect change back from their $60,000 earmarked for this purpose. Delaying the new growth policy for 18 more months, and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire some out-of-state organization to re-invent the growth policy wheel, is ridiculous. The longer it takes to complete a new county growth policy, the less "planning" we will see in the finished product. Many competing special interests in Flathead County are determined to use this process to further their own interests, not necessarily to benefit the public. Time will only work to the advantage of these special interests.

Lets not play politics with the new county Growth Policy. Let's get the show on the road!

Russell Crowder

Marion