County growth policy review winding down

Revision and rewriting of the Flathead County Growth Policy should wrap up in January, according to county planning director BJ Grieve. The text work is mostly done, he said, and map work should be finished in January.

Grieve recently briefed the county commissioners on the work. A periodic review of the planning document is required by state law. County planning department staff and members of the Flathead County Planning Board have worked on the review over the past four months.

The planning board will hold a public "checkpoint" workshop of the review work in the Earl Bennett Building, 1035 First Avenue West, in Kalispell, on Wednesday, Dec. 14, at 6 p.m.

The revised document will be presented to the public for comment next year. After more revisions are made based on public input, the document should go to the commissioners for approval sometime in March, Grieve said.

Next on the planning department's agenda is clearing up about 68 pending complaint files and addressing "housekeeping" issues in the county subdivision regulations that were adopted last fall, such as inconsistent fees and county regulations that don't comply with state law.

For more information, visit online at http://flathead.mt.gov/planning_zoning and following the "Growth Policy" link. For more information re draft documents, call Allison Mouch at 751-8200.

Locally, the Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board will begin reviewing the city's growth policy starting in January. The policy covers land inside the city and inside the city's two-mile planning and zoning "doughnut" jurisdiction.