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Flathead County planning director outlines steps for citizen‑initiated zoning and neighborhood plans
Summary
Eric Mack, Flathead County planning director, told a group that citizen‑initiated zoning typically starts with a neighborhood plan developed via public workshops and local committees; plans are folded into the county’s growth policy and then guide subsequent zoning over a multi‑year review.
Eric Mack, Flathead County’s planning director, told attendees that citizen‑initiated zoning usually begins with a neighborhood plan crafted through public workshops and local committees. “So the first part of the process would be to go through and … have workshops with the public,” Mack said, adding that a future‑land‑use map and clear goals form the basis for later zoning.
Mack said neighborhood plans — for places such as Lakeside, Bigfork and the Canyon (West Glacier) area — are often community driven and then folded into the county’s growth policy as addenda. Once a community has a working draft it is submitted to county staff for review, which includes adjacent‑property notification and a staff report; the county typically schedules a planning‑board hearing about two months after submission. “After it goes to the planning board, the planning board adopts a resolution … and that gets sent to the commissioners,” he said.
Why it matters: Mack emphasized that when a proposed zoning does not align with an existing neighborhood plan the planning board is likely to reject it, which can prevent a proposal from advancing to the commissioners. He described a recent Lakeside‑area proposal that “didn’t quite jive with the neighborhood plan and it died an ugly death” after planning‑board review.
Mack also described alternate regulatory areas inside the county: a single part‑1 district (Egan Slough) with its own commission, and the Canyon Area land‑use regulatory system for West Glacier/Essex with distinct rules. For most of the county, however, neighborhood plans and the growth policy set expectations the planning board and commissioners use to evaluate citizen proposals.
The next step for a community that wants new zoning is to form a working committee, hold public engagement meetings with county staff participation, prepare a draft plan, submit that draft to the planning office, and follow the planning‑board review and resolution process before commissioners consider adoption. Mack said the entire cycle — plan development plus zoning adoption — can take a year to two years for the plan and another year for zoning work.
The session closed without any formal land‑use decisions; attendees were invited to contact county commissioners or staff with follow‑up questions.
