The Swan Valley Community Council approved its members for a planning committee that could solidify some regulations and zoning for the Condon area at its Nov. 21 meeting.
The Community Council is working to update the area’s community plan for the first time since 1996, and this time it could include more powerful rules like zoning limits for the first time ever.
Council member Grace Siloti asked the board to approve the list of nine people and a three person advisory committee.
The planning members will be Luke Lamar, Johnny Simons, Colleen Michaels, Gary Lazaroski, Bill Lombardi, Christian Stoker, Len Kobylenski, Joan McGuire and Grace Siloti. There will be a advisory committee with Tom Harper, Marsha Tapp and Christine Strobby
The Council approved the committee with a 3-1 vote, as council member Brian Praschak either voted no or voted as present. Praschak had some concerns about the committee, which was chosen by Silotti and in his opinion did not represent the business community enough.
“We know our community is a highly retirement community and highly vacation community and it could be persuaded into that,” Praschak said.
Siloti said she formed the committee because someone had to, and she said many people passed up on the opportunity to sit on the committee. Although a few people reached out to Siloti for a seat at the committee, she said she called dozens of people she thought could be good fits.
“When I didn’t have enough people I started making phone calls, and there were a lot of people that didn’t want to,” Siloti said. “I ended up with a very strong committee that is volunteering to work with the community for the community’s wants.”
With the approval, the board can now start working on potential zoning rules and other tools available to regulate land in the Condon area. Missoula County planner Andrew Hagemeier said the current goal is to get a public participation plan that will hopefully engage more folks around the area.
After the committee gets enough comments, the committee can sort through each comment to categorize it and try to find areas where residents are in agreement. Then the committee can decide whether a zoning tool can solve the problem.
Each meeting is required to be public by Montana open meeting law. After the committee has a final decision, the community council will approve the plan, followed by the county commissioners.
Local resident George Craig asked why the area can’t simply vote on implementing new zone laws. Hagemeier said hosting an election would likely cost Condon money, so the public meeting process would be the cheapest way to approve a plan.
At the end of the day, Hagemeier reminded the group that no final decisions have been made.
“Don’t worry about making a decision this early on, because there will be 30 decisions after that,” Hagemeier said. “So you are not committing to anything at this point.”
Siloti said there should be meetings at least every month before the Swan Valley Community Council and more special meetings should be open to the public.
In other news, the council heard an update from Missoula County Public Works Director Shane Stack on needed bridge updates in the area. Stack said both Glacier Creek Bridge and Cold Creek Bridge will need replacement soon, and the county has applied for federal aid to make it happen.
“We are limited with funding, at the end of the day each year when we are budgeting for bridges we have roughly $500,000 after operational costs,” Stack said.
Stack said the county hopes to replace five bridges from Potomac to Condon under one project, but bridges like the Boy Scout Road bridge in Seeley Lake might be a higher priority. There will be maintenance on the Glacier Creek Road bridge this spring to prep it for a partial replacement.
There was also a small update on the Holland Lake sewage lagoon from Flathead National Forest deputy superintendent Tami MacKenzie. She said the Forest Service is waiting for a contractor before rebuilding the lagoon system.
The lagoon was found to be leaking more than 140 times the legal limit earlier in the fall, the Pathfinder previously reported. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality threatened legal action if the site wasn’t fixed by next spring.
The council will meet next at the Swan Valley Community Hall on Dec. 19.
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