Web site is critical of changes to lake regs
A Web site posted by Whitefish resident Rick Blake is soliciting comments about efforts by the Whitefish Lake and Lakeshore Committee to revise regulations for Whitefish Lake.
We Love Our Lake’s home page says committee chairman Jim Stack “is pushing the Whitefish City Council” to revise the regulations in the next three weeks.
“These are major changes,” the Web site says. “There is no reason to rush to change the existing regulations, which have been in effect for years, particularly when most affected lakeshore owners are not in the Flathead Valley right now.”
Blake told the Pilot he established the Web site “so that people could easily find and read documents concerning the lake and other issues, have a readily available list of e-mail addresses to make their comments or ask questions, and to share ideas.”
He said it was his impression that locals were concerned about the changes to the lakeshore regulations and felt uninformed. Lakeshore property owners didn’t know how to voice their opinions and to whom to direct their questions, he explained.
“Based on very little response so far, it seems the public is thrilled to have such a tool for community input about our lake,” he said.
Blake also sent a letter to city planners dated Feb. 11 asking dozens of questions about the proposed changes to the lakeshore regulations.
“Why the hurry?” Blake began his letter. “Why not wait until Whitefish Lake property owners are in town in July and August? This just stinks. Appears to be an agenda driven by Mr. Stack. I thought he resigned last year. Why is he still calling the shots?”
Blake’s Web site is critical of the proposed amendments, noting that “these proposed regulations propose to fine you up to $500 and put you in jail for 30 days if there are any changes (caused by anything) to the 20-foot lakeshore protection area.”
The Web site includes three sample letters people could use to protest the proposed amendments.
The first sample letter asks, “Why any changes? What seems to be the burr Mr. Stack has?”
The second sample letter claims that “these regulations have not been sent to us, the affected parties, nor have they been posted online by Jim Stack.”
And the third sample letter claims that “it has frequently been the strategic modus operandi to push these type changes through during the October to April season when the absent owner list is the highest.”
The Web site is registered through Direct Privacy Ltd., a web-hosting company based in the Cayman Islands. Blake responded to the Pilot’s request for someone to identify the people behind what began as an anonymous Web site.
Comments to the Web site are automatically forwarded to some government officials, including Whitefish planner Nikki Bond, Flathead County Commissioner Joe Brenneman and Flathead County planner George Smith.
The lakeshore committee met Feb. 11 to discuss the proposed changes, but the draft amendments were removed “indefinitely” from the agenda for the Feb. 19 meeting of the Whitefish City-County Planning Board.