Flathead County Commissioners expressed support Tuesday for a proposal to form a land use advisory committee in the Evergreen area.
Alan Gilbertson, an Evergreen resident and president of the Evergreen business association, approached the commission Tuesday morning with a tentative plan to form a committee and its jurisdictional boundaries. Eventually, he said, the advisory committee could develop a neighborhood plan for the area.
“For whatever boundary we decide, we’d like to create a neighborhood plan that works with the fire department, the sewer department, the airport authority and the business and landowners in our area,” Gilbertson said.
Evergreen – the most populated unincorporated area in the state – is under the county’s jurisdiction. A joint city-county master plan provides some guidance for land use there, but it was created likely sometime in the early 1990s, Flathead County Planning Director Jeff Harris said. “It’s quite old,” he said. “It’s ready to be updated.”
Other communities throughout the county, such as Bigfork, Lakeside, Riverdale and Helena Flats, have formed land use advisory committees as a way to provide some input to the commissioners. If formed, the Evergreen Land Use Advisory Committee would have seven seats, including one representative each from the sewer district, fire district and airport. Business owner and community members would hold the other four positions.
Having worked on two like committees in the past, Commissioner Dale Lauman said he supported the idea. “It’d create better communication between that area and our county agencies,” he said.
Gilbertson said a group of Evergreen residents first approached the county a few years ago with interest in creating a neighborhood plan. At that time, however, the county was working on updating its growth policy and encouraged the group to wait until its completion, he said.
Originally, Gilbertson said he expected the advisory committee’s jurisdiction to follow the boundaries of the Evergreen fire department. After getting input from representatives from the sewer district and airport, however, the suggested boundaries were expanded to include the 100-year floodplain and property surrounding the airport.
As proposed, Conn Road would act as the planning area’s northern border, with Conrad Drive to the Old Steel Bridge acting as the line to the south. The 100-year floodplain would make up the eastern boundary and Whitefish Stage Road would act as the western edge. The Helena Flats land use area, located within the southeastern portion of this area, would be excluded since it already has its own advisory committee.
“This looks like a good tentative boundary,” Lauman said. “It’s your starting point. What evolves could be a little different than this.”
Lauman and Commissioner Joe Brenneman told the planning office to draw up an official proposal in order to begin the process and start advertising for potential board members. Commissioner Jim Dupont wasn’t at the meeting.