Planning board member Steve Lorch steps down
Last fall, Kalispell Planning Board Member Steve Lorch and his wife, Suzie, piled up all their things. They realized it wasn’t that big, and opportunity was knocking.
Together, they decided to leave their careers to become self-described vagabonds.
Lorch is leaving his post on the Planning Board after nearly two two-year terms and is resigning from his job with the state at the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, where he oversees development projects on state trust land, including the Spring Prairie Complex in North Kalispell and the nearby ball fields.
“My wife and I recently kind of took stock of our situation and found out that we could actually become hobos and get away with it,” Lorch said. “We’ve got a few things planned over the next couple years, and some broader plans that we’ll see as time goes by. There are just so many things that we want to do, so we’ll see which ones we get to first.”
He said they plan on crossing the country to visit family and friends, first heading toward Michigan to spend time with his mother-in-law before heading on to the east coast and traveling south toward Florida. He said the would spend some time in Texas then Colorado before coming back up to Montana for his daughter’s high school graduation.
After that, they planned on heading to Europe to spend a month in Ireland and a few weeks in England, Scotland and Wales. They would spend a little over a month hiking the Camino de Santiago in Spain, then fly back to the states to see his son graduate from the University of Montana in December. After that, they would probably embark on another similar domestic road trip.
Lorch was on his second term with the Planning Board, which was set to expire April 30, 2019.
He said he was proud of his planning work with the state and the municipal board, particularly on the Spring Prairie Complex, managing state trust land that is helping fuel a strong Kalispell economy while funneling money toward K-12 education in the Flathead. He also helped facilitate the sale of easements to the Montana Department of Transportation for the creation of the U.S. 93 bypass.
His legacy also includes helping conserve trust lands near Whitefish that area residents had deemed important for outdoor recreation.
Lorch got his start in planning when Kalispell Planning Director Tom Jentz hired him to work with the Kalispell Planning Department. He was later hired with the state DNRC.
His posting on the Kalispell Planning Board allowed him to again work with Jentz, and he said the planning director’s expertise made board member’s jobs easier.
“I know I’m not alone, but I am grateful for the support that our planning board members have in the planning staff and the director,” Lorch said. “It makes our job pretty easy. There is not a lot of gray-area decisions that we have to really wrestle with. That makes being on the planning board a lot more rewarding. I credit a lot of the good things that happened to Tom and his staff, essentially bringing the community’s voice together.”
Lorch said the growth policies and plans the city has adopted in recent years make him confident the city is poised to capitalize on the improving economy.
“When we’re in a growth mode with the economy being really strong, I guess the thing we have to be concerned with is kind of staying true to our plan, just to make sure that as development occurs it is anchored by the growth policy and the plan and the standards that are in place and we’ll weather it well,” he said.
The city will advertise for a replacement for Lorch in the coming weeks. Applicants need to be city residents, and the City Council will decide who is appointed.
Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at (406) 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.