SWLC, Graduate of University of Montana. Housing advocate and co-founder of Shelter WF
In recent weeks there are folks in Whitefish that are concerned about the impact of Montana's SB 382. This is a revamping of landuse and planning in Montana that will front load the participation on preparing for growth in our communities. Before the passage of SB 382 each time a development needed to go through the public process it meant that depending on who showed up to public meetings and sent in letters would impact either the passage or denial of a development. In places like Whitefish this meant that wealthier, housing stable, residents were the people most likely to have the loudest voices in opposition to new housing. This was not a representative process and has helped exacerbate our housing crisis. SB 382 will help communities determine where and how they want growth through the roughly 2 year growth policy. This means the city engages with people THROUGHOUT the community and is a much more representative process then the case by case basis in which development is approved right now. People in the Flathead Valley who have lived in Whitefish, work in Whitefish, and live in Whitefish please sign up for Engage Whitefish, fill out the surveys, tell your friends and show up to events when you can! Engage Whitefish is the City of Whitefish way of keeping the public informed on what is coming up for the growth policy updates. Now is the time to engaged on what we want to see happen in our community. Other MT communities: you will be going through your own growth policy updates soon if you are not already doing so, as a requirement in SB 382! https://lnkd.in/g3U7UeGg
