Citizens for a Better Flathead

11/18/2022

On Monday Nov. 21st the Whitefish City Council will make a very important decision on zoning property for development along Hwy 93 past the Hwy 40 intersection. Please take a minute to read more about this issue and sign our petition to stop this zoning change along this corridor.

Ask the City Council of Whitefish to deny proposed strip commercial WB-T zoning for Hwy 93

11/07/2022

TONIGHT! Monday November 7th at 7:10 pm.

The Whitefish City Council has a very important public hearing on how Whitefish should zone property for development along Hwy 93 past the Hwy 40 intersection.

Join us asking the Whitefish City Council to:

Please table action on proposed new WB-T (Whitefish Business Transitional) zoning for highway properties at & south of the Hwy 93 and Hwy 40 intersection until this zoning can be revised. At this prime entrance to the City of Whitefish the proposed WB-T zone:
1. Does not include zoning standards (form-based code) to ensure that traffic congestion and failed or failing intersections in this highway entrance corridor will not be made worse if the city annexes property south of Hwy 93 & 40 into the city.

2. Fails to first define, in a base layer zoning, the site specific transportation infrastructure that must be built--what right of way is needed, what limits to Hwy access are needed, and who will pay for these improvements upon annexation. Identifying the transportation infrastructure that must be built first so congestion doesn’t become even a greater nightmare is a must.

3. Does not adequately incentivize and prioritize housing and neighborhood quality over commercial uses in this corridor.

4. Does not require adequate setbacks and landscaped berms to support housing and create attractive neighborhoods. It does not include necessary standards to prevent highway oriented strip commercial sprawl.

5. Includes too many uses in the new WB-T zoning that are not defined in the Whitefish Zoning Code. This invites conflict as to what is and what clearly isn't really allowed in the corridor.

6. Fails to support and incentivize infill development for commercial and other uses consistent with the Whitefish Growth Policy.

7. Has arbitrary, one size fits all building setbacks, which undermine efforts to limit the scale of buildings and the overall visual appeal of a development with generous landscaping and other features particular to the site.

8. Should be coupled with revised annexation standards that require a site plan and annexation as a PUD (planned unit development) that provides better insurance that development in this visual gateway to the city is consistent with the city's and public's vision and goals.

So once again, it is really important for you to speak up .

Please make it a huge priority to send comment now! email [email protected] to send comments.

Visit the City of Whitefish website for meeting agenda and proposed agenda items at www.cityofwhitefish.org.

09/28/2022

Join Citizens for a Better Flathead this Sunday at the Flathead Trails Fair. There will be plenty of fun things to do and see as well as plenty of good policy information we'd like to share with about transportation plans across the Flathead Valley.

Come say hello when you are there and learn more about the roads and trail policies that impact you!

08/26/2022

Join us and celebrate another great summer in the Flathead Valley and our birthday with great music, some pie and ice cream and a live raffle for 30 Great Prizes!! See the events tab at our website, www.flatheadcitizens.org/events, to learn more about how to buy tickets and what you could win!

Your support continues the work we do to enhance civic engagement in all the proposed changes to the Flathead Valley. You have demonstrated that informed citizens can make a difference in how our communities grow and we are grateful for all your hard work to make a difference.

Come and celebrate with us tomorrow, Friday August 26th!

08/24/2022

Only 3 days left to purchase tickets for a chance to win 30 great prizes and support Citizens for a Better Flathead! Visit www.flatheadcitizens.org today!

See you Friday for our Party!

08/22/2022

Get Ready to Celebrate this Friday August 26th! And don't forget to buy your raffle tickets for a chance at 30 Great Prizes. Visit our website www.flatheadcitizens.org to view our prizes and purchase tickets today.

08/18/2022

Thank you Subset Media! We appreciate your support.

Check out Citizens for a Better Flathead . Citizens for a Better Flathead is a local non-profit working for clean water, intelligent development, and waste reduction. Right here, in the Flathead Valley.

Nonprofits are essential to the communities they serve. Subset is committed to advancing their efforts, and each week we pick a favorite of ours to highlight.

08/17/2022

Have you tried the amazing products from Kettle Care Organics? Did you know that they are made right here in the Flathead Valley? Buy your raffle tickets for the Great Place Raffle for your chance to win this great gift basket of locally made skin care products.

Click the blue button on our website, www.flatheadcitizens.org, and get your tickets today!

Raffle ends August 26th! Join us for our 30th Birthday Celebration! Live music, fresh pies and ice cream!

08/16/2022

On Aug.18th at 6pm there will be a public hearing before the Whitefish Planning Board on the City's recently revised new Transportation Plan. This revised plan was just posted by the city on Aug 15th for public review so there is almost no time to really dive into the plan and develop comments for us or the public at large. But this plan is super important to taming growth in Whitefish and so we urge you to look at this plan and at the very least attend the planning board hearing to learn more about this plan so you can provide informed comments at the September 6th hearing on this plan before the Whitefish City Council.

See the City's website for the agenda and view the proposed new transportation plan for Whitefish.

The lack of clear policies in this transportation plan to insure concurrency is a guiding factor in the consideration of new development has been one of our biggest complaints in reviewing drafts of this plan over the past year. According to the Whitefish Growth Policy, that requires the city to require concurrency for all urban services, "concurrency simply means that any upgrades to facilities or services necessitated by development, such as streets, parks, schools, emergency services, pedestrian/ bikeways, etc., should be in place before the impact of the new development." It goes on to say, "Communities that require concurrency tend to be more livable and more sustainable because facilities and services keep pace with population growth." Our next major concern with this plan is that earlier drafts proposed solutions based on the building of needed new road networks and extensions, but no strategies to pay for these roads to be built. Again without funding to build roads needed to address the traffic gridlock Whitefish is currently experiencing, the city needs more than ever to beef up its concurrency standards and say no to growth until the city and/or developers have realistic strategies in place to ensure that infrastructure is in place to address current gridlock and to support the needs of future growth.

08/15/2022

Help us celebrate our 30th Birthday! The Great Place Raffle is on and it's time to buy your tickets to win one of 30 great raffle prizes before our raffle on August 26th! Check out our website, www.flatheadcitizens.org, for a list of all the great prizes and click the blue prize button to get your raffle tickets today!

08/03/2022

Help us celebrate our 30th Birthday! The Great Place Raffle is on and it's time to buy your tickets to win one of 30 great raffle prizes. Click the blue donate button on our website (flatheadcitizens.org) to get yours today!

07/20/2022

Update on the Parker Zone Change!

On July 12th the Flathead County Commissioners, with little to no discussion, approved what is known as the Parker Zone Change, despite significant and thoughtful public comment from over 100 residents many of whom spoke of their experience with neighborhood plans and the need to protect integrity of these plans.

This zone change precedent would allow essentially any property owner within the many thousand of acres currently covered by neighborhood plans, to simply ask the county commissioners to allow them to also create their own zoning district where they no longer had to comply with their neighborhood plan.

In the face of the rapid growth that Flathead County is experiencing currently, neighborhood plans are one of the most important ways to guide this growth. Neighborhood plans should be respected by our county commissioners and relied on to guide how the Flathead grows.

The Flathead County Commissioners at their July 12 meeting approved the creation of a new zoning district in West Glacier to allow an eight-acre property to be developed outside of limitations put in place by the Canyon Area Land Use Regulatory System (CALURS). The creation of the Parker Zoning Dist...