After two years of legal wrangling, officials from Flathead County and the city of Whitefish are forming a committee to see if they can resolve a jurisdictional dispute over the “planning doughnut” without a judge.
At a meeting in Kalispell on March 23, Whitefish City Councilors Bill Kahle and Chris Hyatt met with Flathead County Commissioner Jim Dupont to plan a series of meetings aimed at discussing a solution to the doughnut dispute. The doughnut is a roughly two-mile area surrounding Whitefish’s city limits.
Future meetings will involve a committee consisting of Kahle and Hyatt, City Manager Chuck Stearns, Dupont and three or four representatives from the doughnut selected by Dupont. The first meeting was mostly a brainstorming session to figure out the committee’s goals and schedule.
It was decided that meetings will occur on the second and fourth Mondays of every month at 5:30 p.m., alternating locations between Whitefish and Kalispell. The next meeting is scheduled on April 12 at Whitefish City Hall. The April 26 meeting is expected to be held at the Flathead County Commissioners’ Meeting Room in Kalispell.
“How are we going to come up with a solution that’s meaningful, that’s long term and that we can be happy about at the end of the day?” Kahle said.
He added: “The most important thing we can come away with today is the voice of the doughnut residents.”
The meeting came on the heels of a Whitefish City Council decision on March 1 to request that District Court Judge Katherine Curtis delay her final decision between the county and city by 90 days. Curtis is deciding whether Whitefish can maintain planning jurisdiction over the doughnut area or whether the county can lawfully take over.
Though it’s unknown when exactly Curtis’ decision will come, Whitefish City Attorney John Phelps said it could be soon. The delay would give the two sides time to discuss an alternative, non-courtroom solution.
In an interview on March 24, Phelps said he was trying to get a document requesting the delay as quick as possible to Alan McCormick, a Missoula attorney representing the county, and Sean Frampton, an attorney representing a third-party intervener.
When approved by the parties, it will be given to Curtis. Pointing out that judges are busy and often receptive to having more time for a decision, Phelps figured Curtis would accept the 90-day delay.
Assuming the delay goes into effect, or at least in the meantime until Curtis makes a decision, the committee will hold the twice-monthly meetings to discuss non-litigious alternatives. The public is welcome and many doughnut residents are expected to attend.
Among the small crowd at the March 23 meeting were Frampton, Flathead Business and Industry Association’s Denise Smith, Citizens for a Better Flathead’s Mayre Flowers and an assortment of doughnut and city residents.
Frampton was granted third-party intervener status on behalf of a group of property owners to raise new points in the litigation. Dupont and a doughnut resident also applied for intervener status last year, with attorney and now Kalispell Mayor Tammi Fisher representing them. They were denied.
Nobody at the meeting was ready to proclaim that a solution can be achieved, but they did agree that efforts need to be made. Dupont reiterated that the interlocal agreement isn’t satisfactory for the county and must be amended. Hyatt emphasized the importance of dialogue between the city and county.
“We need to build a relationship here,” Hyatt said, “because the relationship has been damaged.”