My name is Brad Bulkley. I have been a property owner in Whitefish for more than 30 years.
I represent Flathead Families for Responsible Growth, which was formed earlier this year for the purpose of opposing what our community felt was a poorly conceived development at a critical intersection in town. Among other issues, the project was out of scale to the site and presented enormous egress issues in the event of a wildfire. We organized the community in defeating that project and have now turned our focus to helping the city revise its long-term growth plan, while keeping the community abreast of their progress and potential new development projects in the area.
Our strong feeling is that communities such as ours should maintain the ability to plan their growth according to its residents’ long-term vision. We clearly understand the desperate need for workforce and lower-income housing. However, we believe even that urgent need should be met through a long-term lens that helps maintain the vital character of our community and not the whim of eager developers.
These are not mutually exclusive goals. A pendulum swing in the direction of solving the workforce housing problem will not produce satisfactory results. While we understand the urgency, we don’t believe it would be wise to take a short-term view. We believe doing so has the potential for creating long-term damage that cannot be reversed.
Thank you.