Split board hands off stormwater ordinance

By RICHARD HANNERS - Whitefish Pilot

Two and a half hours after they began their Feb. 15 public hearing — with opponents concerned about over-regulation and loss of property rights, and supporters concerned about impacts to water quality and natural resources, and a lot more people in the packed city council chambers confused and unsure about what to do next — the Whitefish City-County Planning Board agreed one more time to delay a decision on an ordinance to protect critical areas.

The board split 5-4 on a motion to hand off the job of turning the ordinance's latest manifestation, Draft 3A, into an interim ordinance with a 15-month sunset clause to a committee appointed by the city council.

Opponents on the board expressed concern about the public process, citing unadvertised meetings between city planner Bob Horne and a group representing the development community that resulted in new language for the section on stormwater conveyances in Draft 3A.

Opponents also said it was the planning board's responsibility to finish the work they began on Dec. 21. Three work sessions have been held since then, and the public has generally applauded the informal and open process.

The board recommended the city council extend current urgency ordinance, which expires April 3, for another six months and appoint a committee to finish work on the ordinance.

What began as a stormwater urgency ordinance in 2005 should rightly now be called a critical areas ordinance now that regulations have been added aimed at regulating development on steep slopes and along streams.

Twenty-seven people spoke to the board on the proposed ordinance. Many asked the board to consider additional tweaking to the ordinance's language.

Greg Carter, a Realtor and engineer who is an outspoken critic of earlier drafts, presented documentation claiming about $8.2 million worth of property on Grouse and Lion mountains would be negatively affected by the ordinance's slope provisions.

"Buyers don't know what they're getting," he said. "These are lots of record."

Carter was also sharply critical of Horne, claiming "the man who wrote the ordinance" admitted in an e-mail to councilor John Muhlfeld that he had no idea what a "non-soil substrate" was.

Carter wanted specific criteria to be included in the ordinance to avoid arbitrariness in how Horne would issue reasonable-use exemptions.

A number of speakers said they support protecting natural resources but thought the regulations were unfair. Property owners downstream of Whitefish wanted to know why the rural streamside setbacks were so wide when most impacts to the Whitefish River occur in the urban area.

"I agree this is a step in the right direction, but it's an over-step," said attorney Sean Frampton, representing the development community.

Frampton said he still wasn't convinced development on steep slopes necessarily harms water quality, claiming good engineering can capture all stormwater runoff and disperse it slowly.

A number of speakers, however, questioned the effectiveness of engineers in protecting the environment, including Ben Cameron, a retired civil engineer who supports the slope provisions in Draft 3A.

"Thirty percent is a reasonable breaking point," Cameron said, adding that the exemption for man-made slopes should be changed, citing older road-cuts that erode and impact water quality.

Planning board chairman Martin McGrew immediately made a motion to hand the ordinance over to a committee appointed by the city council, saying Draft 3A was not a finished product.

"Where I grew up, you don't hand in your homework half done," he said.

Board member Frank Sweeney disagreed, however, saying he was concerned about how Horne met with the development community to rewrite the section on stormwater conveyances.

Sweeney was supported by board members Jack Quatman and Scott Sorensen, who said the ordinance is the board's problem.

McGrew noted difficulties in obtaining a quorum during the board's recent work sessions, adding that the critical areas ordinance for Longview, Wash., was more than 80 pages long.

Board member Lisa Horowitz agreed, reminding the board of its heavy agenda in coming months. Any committee created to write the ordinance must work through a public process, she said, and the board will see the ordinance again before it goes to the city council.