Lakeshore protection regulations for Whitefish and Lost Coon lakes are the focus of a public hearing before the Flathead County Planning Board on Nov. 12.

After hearing public comments, the board may make a recommendation on how to proceed with regulatory oversight for the two lakes. The county commissioners will make the final decision about lakeshore regulations.

When a Montana Supreme Court ruling in July switched planning control around Whitefish from the city to the county, the court action suspended the Whitefish Lake and Lakeshore Protection Committee, a joint city-county group that has dealt with lakeshore issues for nearly three decades. 

Currently any lakeshore permit applications for Whitefish and Lost Coon lakes that involve county property are being processed by the county, with the commissioners giving final approval for lakeshore permits. Previously the city of Whitefish handled all lakeshore permits on the two lakes.

The Planning Board held a work session in September to consider six options for the transition outlined by the Flathead County Planning Office.

Those options include:

• Amend the Flathead County lake and lakeshore protection regulations to include Whitefish and Lost Coon lakes.

• Include the two lakes in the county lakeshore regulations but review, revise and update the regulations within the next year.

• Continue using Flathead County’s Whitefish area lake and lakeshore protection regulations that were used prior to the interlocal agreement that created a 2-mile planning “doughnut” around Whitefish.

• Adopt Whitefish lakeshore regulations used by the city of Whitefish when the interlocal agreement was in place.

• Work with the public and Whitefish to create new Whitefish and Lost Coon lakeshore regulations agreeable to and adopted by both governing bodies.

• Discuss with the city of Whitefish a mutually agreeable arrangement to give the city lakeshore jurisdiction for the two lakes.

Several members of the now-defunct Whitefish lakeshore committee have asked the county commissioners to keep the joint committee intact.

Jim Stack, who served on the lakeshore committee for more than 20 years — as chairman most of those years — said the committee always strived to maintain neutrality in spite of numerous jurisdictional disagreements going back to the former Flathead Regional Development Office.

“In so doing, the Whitefish Lake Protection Committee earned the continuous trust and support from both governing bodies,” Stack said following a September public-comment session with the commissioners.

He pointed out that none of the county’s other lakes experience the degree of seasonal water fluctuation that Whitefish Lake does, so it behooves the governing bodies to have rules specific to that lake.

About a quarter of Whitefish Lake’s shoreline falls within city limits.

Whitefish Mayor John Muhlfeld recently wrote a letter to the commissioners, noting the lakeshore committee has been essential in helping protect the water quality of Whitefish Lake.

Because Whitefish Lake was annexed by the city to the low water mark, one area of confusion is that any docks and buoys associated with county property on Whitefish Lake would actually be in city limits, Muhlfeld said. A joint cooperative agreement enforcing one set of regulations would be a reasonable solution, he added.

The Planning Board meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building, 1035 First Ave. W. in Kalispell.

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