From the Thursday, December 20, 2007 online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .

Limit subdivision scope and size. Preserve open space. Control commercial development on both land and water.

Those are just a few of the facets of the North Fork Neighborhood Plan — a revised draft that’s slated to go before the Flathead County Planning Board next month.

The plan has been in the works for about three years, though in recent months has gone through at least one draft. But the document also does a big dance around whether or not to pave the North Fork Road. It calls for dust abatement, but doesn’t say one way or the other whether the road should be paved.

That was intentional, county planner Andrew Hagemeier said.

Residents decided the North Fork paving issue “should be addressed outside the scope of this plan,” he noted.

Whether to pave or not pave the dirty, rutted, dusty road has been a divisive issue for decades for North Forkers. The road aside, the plan touches on several key aspects of the North Fork community, but primarily acts as a watchdog for a way life.

Read the entire article . . .