The Whitefish City Council is taking steps to make the city's critical-areas ordinance more flexible as it relates to existing lots and subdivisions.

Following a work session on Monday with some members of the Whitefish City-County Planning Board, the council agreed to consider amending the ordinance and lightening the law for already-approved lots and subdivisions.

The critical-areas ordinance, which has been criticized by Realtors and property owners, specifies that all existing lots are subject to the ordinance that scrutinizes construction in drainage-challenged areas.

But as city planners began dealing with approved subdivisions where there are no other locations to build a home except where it was approved, it became counterproductive and time-consuming for the staff to go through the critical-areas paperwork when reasonable-use exemptions would be issued anyway, Planning Director David Taylor said.

If the city were to make the law applicable only to new subdivisions and exempt all other existing lots, the critical-areas ordinance would have to be rewritten completely. Instead, the council directed the planning staff to draft amendments on two levels.

The first change would allow construction to proceed with a critical-areas compliance permit if a subdivision builds according to the plat or planned-unit development it was approved for, within the 40-foot by 40-foot building pad and according to approved setbacks.

A second amendment would develop a "CAO light" for existing lots, still requiring erosion control plans for lots with a certain distance of a lake, river or other critical area.

"If they're going to get the RUE [reasonable-use exemption] anyway, I agree we don't need more workload," council member Nancy Woodruff said. "But we do need a mechanism to cover issues on some lots."

Council member Nick Palmer wanted to add language to the ordinance that would allow property owners to directly provide plans for an engineering drainage system instead or going through the entire critical-areas process.

"It may cut down on the complexity" of the critical-areas ordinance, Palmer said.

The council agreed to have the planning staff incorporate Palmer's ideas into the forthcoming amendments.

Among the subdivisions approved prior to the critical-areas ordinance are Grouse Mountain Estates and The Glades on Big Mountain. Iron Horse on Big Mountain and River's Edge near Mountain Mall are subdivisions approved with planned-unit development overlays.

The council also wants the planning staff to provide a complete accounting of the number of existing lots in the Whitefish area.

Planning-board member Ken Stein said, however, that the "number of lots should not determine the outcome of the decision.

"If lots are approved and platted, they should be exempt, period," Stein said. "They purchase lots with the assumption they could build. It's property rights."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at [email protected]