The Flathead County Planning Board has postponed action on a proposed rewrite of zoning regulations for the North Fork area, with several board members voicing concerns about vague language and potential property-rights violations that could invite legal challenges.

The North Fork Land Use Advisory Committee endorsed the proposal in April after committee members interviewed more than 90 residents of the area, including "newcomers," "oldtimers," businesspeople, and owners of both small and large tracts of land, according to Polebridge attorney Kevin Halsey, who presented the proposal to the Planning Board on June 9.

"The goal of our effort from the beginning was wanting to make the regulations more in line with our neighborhood plan," and "to ensure the proposed changes reflected the values, the concerns and the needs of the North Fork community," Halsey said.

The effort to amend the zoning regulations comes after entrepreneurs proposed several controversial projects in the North Fork last summer, including a commercial campground and a yoga retreat. The county Board of Adjustment denied permits for those projects after neighbors turned out en masse to voice concerns.

"The summer of 2020 was an interesting summer for us," Halsey said. "The Forest Service proposed an additional number of special-use permits that would have increased commercial activities in the North Fork. We had a lot of overflow traffic coming out of [Glacier National Park]. And we had a lot of new activities being proposed; a website came up talking about a series of festival events for over 2,000 people at a time."

Halsey — and many other North Fork residents who spoke at the Planning Board meeting — said they want to preserve the remote and peaceful nature of the area by clarifying what can and can't be developed there. For example, the amendment would replace references to rental "cabins" with "accommodations," and combine definitions for "convenience store" and "gift/souvenir shop."

Halsey said the proposed regulations wouldn't place additional enforcement responsibilities on the county, but they would facilitate "friendly peer pressure" to keep landowners in line with the North Fork Neighborhood Plan last updated in 2008.

MEMBERS OF the Planning Board said they understand the need to put more "teeth" in the North Fork zoning regulations and commended the work that went into drafting the amendment. But they raised a litany of concerns about ambiguous language in the proposal, as well as restrictions they said are too broad and even unconstitutional.

"I see words in here that are arbitrary and are going to be very difficult to interpret," board member Jeff Larsen said. "You've got 'substantial.' You've got 'significant.' And somebody has to decide what that means."

Larsen pointed to one clause in the proposed regulations that seeks to prohibit "megachurches" in the North Fork but does not include a definition to distinguish those from regular churches.

"What I think is a megachurch may be different than what you think is a megachurch," Larsen said.

Board member Elliott Adams criticized the same section of the proposed regulations, saying it seeks to restrict who may attend churches in the area.

"The Planning Board is not here to restrict your First Amendment rights," Adams said. "And if you try to put in a regulation controlling not only the size of the church but who can come to the church, I would be very amused to see that in the Supreme Court. That would be a disaster."

Adams ran through a long list of other concerns, echoing a small number of North Fork residents who said the proposed regulations are unenforceable and would infringe on property rights. One clause, for example, would require livestock owners to have "working" and "properly installed" electric fences around animal enclosures to deter predators like bears and wolves.

"You can't be telling people what kind of fence they've got to have around their chicken coop," Adams said.

He also took issue with a clause stating convenience stores and souvenir shops can't be located within 6,500 feet of "properties that are or could be used as private residence."

"That's over a mile away," Adams said. "You just said there's no convenience stores allowed anywhere in the North Fork."

The board voted 7-1 to table the proposal indefinitely, rather than forward a negative recommendation to the county commissioners, so North Fork residents can revise the proposal and submit it again at a later date.

SEPARATELY ON June 9, the board unanimously approved:

• A request from Mark Owens to rezone about 20 acres at 420 Haugen Heights Road near Whitefish from suburban agricultural with 10-acre minimum lot sizes to rural residential with 2.5-acre minimum lot sizes.
• A request from Willow Holdings LLC for preliminary plat approval for the Griffin Subdivision, which would create seven residential lots served by individual wells and septic systems on about 162 acres in the Marion area.
• A request from Twin Peaks Storage LLC for preliminary plat approval for the Hodgson Court Subdivision, which would create four residential lots served by individual septic systems and a shared well on about 2.4 acres at 555 Hodgson Road near Kalispell.
• A request from John Kinsella for preliminary plat approval for a portion of the Walchli Miller Estates Subdivision, which would add two residential lots served by individual wells and septic systems on about 8.2 acres at 407 Montford Road near Kalispell.
• A request from Skyview Mobile Home Park LLC for preliminary plat approval for 12 manufactured home lots along West Cottonwood Drive and Smith Street in Evergreen.

Assistant editor Chad Sokol may be reached at 406-758-4439 or csokol@dailyinterlake.com.