A new zone classification was added to Flathead County's zone options in late July after commissioners approved a highway greenbelt designation.

Commissioners voted unanimously to add the zone classification, following May action when they passed a resolution of intent to adopt the new zone classification. That May 31 vote and subsequent public notice opened a 30-day protest period for the process.

Commissioners received hundreds of protests, but far short of the number specified in state law that would have prevented them from adding a new zone.

All three commissioners voiced some concern about the nature of some comments submitted on the issue, which they said were based on incorrect information.

Commissioner Pam Holmquist was bothered that so many of the protesters based their objection to the new zone on "inaccurate information and scare tactics."

Commissioner Dale Lauman agreed that some of the comments were based on information that is "not quite accurate."

The new zone classification doesn't "force anything on anyone," Lauman said. "It's just another option. I think it's positive and I support making the change."

Lauman also said it's doubtful the county planning office will be overrun with applicants seeking to have their property zoned highway greenbelt.

Adding the highway greenbelt zone to the county's zone classification list is just another zoning option, Holmquist said. It doesn't replace any existing zones or automatically change the zoning of any land.

"It doesn't change anything," she said.

Commissioner Jim Dupont shared the same position as his fellow commissioners.

"It's an option for property owners," he said of the new zone classification.

Using data in the county's geographic information system, county employees determined there are 28,000 parcels of land whose owners qualified to protest the creation of the new zone, Flathead County Planning Director BJ Grieve said.

Because some people own more than one parcel, county staffers used a divider of four to roughly calculate that 7,000 people would have been qualified to object, he said.

State law calls for protests from 40 percent of qualified property owners to trigger the rule by which county commissioners can't create a new zone.

The county received 881 protests and not all were from qualified property owners. Based on 7,000 parcels, protests would have had to have been filed by 2,800 people to make that rule take effect. So the 40 percent objection rule didn't apply.

The Flathead County Planning Board in March had voted to recommend to commissioners that the general business highway greenbelt zone not be implemented.

The Planning Board's vote was contrary to the county planning office staff's finding of facts on the greenbelt zone that supported the new zone designation.

Development in the greenbelt zone will require mitigation of visual impacts of commercial development along major roads, unlike other business zones in the county. Special attention must be paid to setbacks, landscaping and signs.

The new zone recognizes that highway corridors are attractive for business because of high visibility and accessibility, but often are in undeveloped areas of the county, the planning staff report stated.

Commercial development along a highway can result in a strip sandwiched between rural residential or agricultural uses, which may result in conflicting land uses, the staff report stated.

The greenbelt concept came before the Planning Board last year when Marilyn Noonan asked about a new zone for property she owns on U.S. 93 North near Kalispell.

In a June interview with the Daily Inter Lake, Noonan said she and some of her neighbors wanted to create a zone with bigger setbacks in Flathead County. They also wanted "some landscaping to keep the visual highway corridors a little nicer-looking than current zoning offers," she said.

Highway corridors aren't farm land any more, she said, yet aren't really suitable for residential development, "so we are looking for ways to create commercial opportunities and keep the highway corridors a little more attractive."

Noonan and some of her neighbors are willing "to accept further restrictions" on the property development, she said. "We're really trying to make something good here and I'm hoping it's something the community would like."

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.