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Council narrows growth‑plan language after hearing, strikes several prescriptive items and delays final adoption
Summary
After a lengthy public hearing and staff presentations, the City Council reviewed public comments and a late letter from a state senator, voted to remove specific form‑and‑massing downtown provisions and other prescriptive sentences, added wildfire and fire‑station objectives and moved the final adoption of the Vision Whitefish 2025–2045 community plan to April 20, 2026 for a clean packet and mayoral presence.
The Whitefish City Council on April 6 held the last public hearing on the Vision Whitefish 2025–2045 community plan, heard more than a dozen public commentators on topics from wildfire mapping to septic regulations and housing, and then spent several hours debating and editing the draft plan.
Alan Tiefenbach, the city’s long‑range planner, opened clerk‑filed clarifications to the draft and explained that much of the red text in the packet marked sections staff judged controversial. He said the draft integrated a separate land‑use element into the full plan and that most changes since the last meeting were editorial or responsive to council red lines; staff flagged a few policy‑sensitive items as recommended for discussion.
Public commenters raised a range of issues. Richard Hilter urged clearer wildfire and evacuation mapping for the Wildland‑Urban Interface and noted missing evacuation routes from several hillside neighborhoods. Mary Flowers of Citizens for a Better Flathead…
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