As current Chairman of the Flathead County Planning Board, I want to address recent letters related to Flathead County having a high litigation rate on planning issues. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Consider the following facts: 1). From 2019 thru 2022 to date Flathead County has processed a total of 843 land use applications including Minor Subdivisions, Major Subdivisions, Final Plats, Zones Changes, Conditional Use permits, Lakeshore variances and Lakeshore permits. 2). Detractors cherry picked two projects with lawsuits as their evidence as bad planning decisions. 3). Those two lawsuits constitute a total of 0.2% of the land use projects that Flathead County has successfully processed. 4). Put another way, Flathead County has successfully and legally completed 99.8% of its land use decisions. 5). Flathead County has successfully defended many land use lawsuits over the years.
I would place Flathead County’s litigation record on land use decisions against any jurisdiction in the United States. We should be proud of our Planning Office and our Flathead County Commissioners for having such a low rate of litigation on land use projects. This proves that the planning office and the Flathead County Commissioners have done an outstanding job.
Jeff Larsen
Lakeside