Citizens for a Better Flathead is suing the Flathead County commissioners over changes made to the 2007 growth policy.

The group wants the court to void the commissioners’ approval of the growth policy amendments.

The nonprofit group claims the commissioners — who at the time were Pam Holmquist, Cal Scott and Dale Lauman — made sweeping changes in 2012 without following mandatory procedures for making amendments and keeping the public involved in the changes.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Flathead District Court, specifically takes issue with language added to the growth policy that states when conflicts arise over land use, property rights take precedence over other rights.

The so-called property owners “bill of rights” was added at the request of Holmquist, who promised the property rights protection when she campaigned for the county job.

Citizens, a land-use watchdog group, claims the property rights provision violates the Montana Constitution and Growth Policy Act.

“Property rights exist on both sides of the fence, whether you are a developer, a farmer or a home owner,” said Mayre Flowers, director of Citizens for a Better Flathead. “Balancing these rights is the entire point of having a growth policy in the first place, and Montana law cannot support this unconstitutional attempt to override that necessary balance.”

The lawsuit says the commissioners added 30 pages’ worth of changes to the growth policy without providing a final draft that adequately highlighted the changes to be made.

It also asserts the county failed to produce minutes for Planning Board meetings as required by state law and that despite requests made to show what was being stricken and added to the growth policy, “the only way for the public to know what was being changed was to plow through hundred of pages of documents, word by word.”

During the Planning Board’s second public hearing over the proposed changes in June 2012, Planning Director BJ Grieve said keeping the public apprised of changes made to the growth policy during the update process was challenging because it’s such a large document.

“It’s been a challenge to communicate to the public what’s being considered and what’s no longer being considered,” Grieve said in 2012. “I do think this process has been open and has been thorough.”

Although the commissioners opted not to hold a public hearing on the final draft, they, too, considered a two-year-long update process thorough. Prior to adopting the updated growth policy, the commissioners lauded the Planning Board and planning staff for an exhaustive process that included 21 workshops and two public hearings.

The lawsuit alleges, however, that minutes and adequate recordings of the workshops were not kept.

The complaint further points out that although the 2007 growth policy required that any amendments be supported by findings of fact, the commissioners did not issue findings of fact “and therefore did not meet their general and specific obligation to consider comments and issues raised by the public and incorporate those comments and issues into the final decision-making processes...”

Citizens for a Better Flathead cited a state Supreme Court ruling in the North 93 Neighbors versus the Flathead County commissioners lawsuit that mandated the commissioners incorporate public comments into their decision-making processes.

The county received nearly 1,000 comments from individuals, agencies and organizations during the growth policy update process, but the lawsuit alleges the commissioners failed to consider those comments when they approved the revised growth policy.

Among the issues raised by the public that weren’t addressed were changes to policies on water quality. Citizens believes the reworking of water quality policies will harm water quality and actually encourage subdivisions in areas of high groundwater.

Other issues not adequately addressed were policies on transportation, traffic and highway commercial development.

The lawsuit also said removing official maps — and a designated land use map in particular — from the amended growth policy violated state law and the mandatory procedures for growth policies.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.