Study details subdivision hurdles

By WILLIAM L. SPENCE

The Daily Inter Lake

A new study indicates that the Flathead County Planning Board is twice as likely as the county commissioners to recommend denial of new subdivision proposals.

Planning Director Jeff Harris presented the results to the commissioners on Thursday.

The study was conducted by the planning office. It examined all 76 major subdivision plats that went to the commissioners for action in fiscal 2006, which ended June 30.

The planning staff and Planning Board recommendations for each project were compared to what the commissioners actually decided to do.

"The planning staff recommended approval 83 percent of the time," Harris noted. "We recommended denial 8 percent of the time [six projects] and offered no recommendation 9 percent of the time [seven projects]."

The Planning Board, however, only recommended approval 78 percent of the time. It recommended denial 14 times - an 18 percent rejection rate - whereas the commissioners only vetoed seven projects.

The commissioners approved 69 subdivisions, or 91 percent, but vetoed almost one in 10 applications.

In 10 instances, they voted to approve subdivisions that had negative recommendations from the Planning Board.

They also voted to deny one project that the Planning Board wanted to approve.

The board was more skeptical than the planning office as well, turning thumbs down eight projects for which the staff had recommended approval.

The results suggest that the Planning Board presents a greater barrier to developers than some people give it credit for - and that the commissioners are less opposed to growth and property rights than some have claimed.

Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com

pproval rate for major subdivision applications, fiscal 2006:

Approve Deny No

recommendation

Planning office 63 6 7

Planning board 59 14 3

County comm. 69 7 0

Source: Flathead County Planning Office