Flathead County Planning and Zoning is responsible for enforcing the County's community decay ordinance, zoning, lakeshore, floodplain, buildings for lease or rent, and subdivision regulations. If your concern is regarding septic, wells, and/or sanitation, please contact Flathead City-County Environmental Health Department at (406) 751-8130 or email them at ehealth@flathead.mt.gov to file a violation complaint with their department.
How to Report a Violation
If you are not sure if a violation has occurred, contact our code compliance officer to discuss the potential violation. If you suspect a violation of any of the regulations or ordinances administered by the Planning and Zoning Office, fill out and sign a violation complaint form and submit it to our office. Once received our code compliance officer will investigate the complaint to determine if a violation has occurred.
Our office does complaint-based enforcement so a signed complaint form is typically required to open an investigation. If the suspected violation has the potential to impact water quality and flooding a signed complaint form may not be required to investigate.
What is Community Decay
Community decay is a public nuisance created by allowing rubble, debris, junk or refuse to accumulate resulting in conditions that are injurious to health, indecent, offensive to the senses, or obstruct the free use of property so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property; provided, however, that "community decay" may not be construed or defined to apply to normal farming, ranching, or other agricultural operations or to a farm, ranch, or another agricultural facility, and any appurtenances thereof, during the course of its normal operation. (For more information, please see brochure.)
Community decay must be “in public view” from a public road, which is defined as any area visible from a point up to six feet above the surface of the center of any public roadway according to Ordinance No. 6.