Smart Growth News

Montana

University of Montana Launches Sustainability Lecture Series

The University of Montana continues its efforts to model and teach sustainability with a new Sustainability Lecture Series premiering this fall on Wednesday nights from 7 to 9pm in UM's Gallagher Business Building (room 122). The lecture series is intended to introduce UM students and the local community to sustainability concepts and careers while providing a forum for discussion of some local sustainability efforts. The theme of the lecture series is Will Work For Sustainability-- Creating Jobs through Sustainable Development. The series features many UM alums who now work in green jobs or have started green businesses.

The series kicks off September 1 and continues through the fall with a panel on Missoula Mayor Engen's Best Place Development plan, panels of watershed coordinators and sustainability coordinators, and speakers on permaculture; local food; sustainable energy, transportation and shelter; achieving a sustainable human population; and shrinking baby's ecofootprint.

The lecture series is co-sponsored by UM Environmental Studies & the Sustainable Business Council.

tudents can take the lecture series for credit (EVST 195/395) but everyone is welcome.   9/1/2010

Resource(s): http://www.cas.umt.edu/

Obama Administration Discusses ''Great Outdoors' Initiative in Montana

The Obama Administration set the tone for the future of its new ''America's Great Outdoors Initiative'' at a recent meeting in Missoula, Montana. The initiative was developed to promote and support innovative community-level efforts to conserve outdoor spaces and to reconnect Americans to the outdoors. In Montana, conservation efforts have focused on voluntary land sales of 310,000 acres from a large timber company, deals to retire mining and oil projects and conservation agreements with ranchers, and land owners in developing plans for a ''working landscape'' in the heart of the Rocky Mountains.

The initiative was developed to promote and support innovative community-level efforts to conserve outdoor spaces and to reconnect Americans to the outdoors. The administration announced it will be holding a nationwide listening tour, which started in Missoula on June 2 and will continue around the country for several months.

The administration stressed that local ideas are needed to start the environmental effort from the ''bottom up.'' Among the priority goal of preserving natural space, there are other goals like improving local economies, sustainable planning, and instilling an outdoor ethic in the younger generation.

More than 325 people attended the Missoula meeting, which focused on four questions: What works in Montana when it comes to conservation, and can that model be replicated elsewhere? What are the obstacles and challenges facing conservation efforts? What role can the federal government play in conservation at the local level? What other tools could be used to foster better partnerships, as well as efforts to get more people invested in the outdoors?   6/3/2010

Resource(s): http://missoulian.com/ ; www.google.com/

Smart Growth Foe Randall O’Toole Leads Property Rights Forum in Bozeman

Angry at smart growth, Bozeman-based Property and Environmental Research Center (PERC) and Montana Policy Institute (MPI) officials and their guests, including the libertarian Cato Institute’s self-proclaimed ''antiplanner'' Randall O’Toole, rallied some 220 people at a day-long forum to counter government mandates as bad for local economies and lifestyles.

Calling themselves nonpartisan, reports Big Sky Weekly contributor Phil Drake, PERC and MPI hailed the turnout at the ''Your Land is My Land – Property Rights in Montana'' forum. ''People are becoming increasingly aware of government overstepping,'' opined PERC Executive Director Terry Anderson, with MPI President Carl Graham telling attendees in a welcome speech, ''We provide you the ammunition to go out and fight the fight.''

Others sounded no less combative. Missoula City Councilman Dick Haines told the audience he brought it greetings from ''the People’s Republic of Missoula,'' where public hearing participants who oppose changes in the law never get a chance to speak. ''The next best thing is revolution and that is coming,'' he said, invoking public unhappiness. ''Keep your powder dry.''

Antiplanner O’Toole, an outspoken rail and sprawl-restriction enemy, whose new blog ''promotes the repeal of federal and state planning laws and the closure of state and local planning departments,'' blamed smart growth for the housing crisis. ''A dozen states have passed laws requiring growth management. Those states had (housing market) bubbles,'' he said, equally assured that a federal push for greater urban compactness to reduce car dependency wouldn’t work in Montana. ''Are people moving to Montana to live in high-density condos?'' he asked. ''I don’t think so.'' At a panel, he also urged listeners to prepare good plans for fighting smart growth, but his subsequent take on such plans seems somewhat disjointed even if tenacious. ''If we’re going to win that’s not enough. To be right we have to be successful. Don’t talk about conspiracies, you lose once start talking about conspiracies,'' he said, raising this battle cry: ''I don’t want to be right, I want to win.''   2/26/2010

Resource(s): www.thebigskyweekly.com/

Super Energy-Efficient Model Home Unveiled in Missoula, Mont.

Developer Glen Moyer, owner of housing development company Kingdom Ventures, has unveiled the new ''I-Pad,'' a super-energy-efficient home he says is likely the most efficient house ever built in Missoula, according to the Missoulian. The home, located off Mullan Road, is so efficient it costs a mere $25 to heat, on average. And the home’s primary heat source is not a furnace, but rather a small, 5,000-Btu electric-coil heater that looks like a gas fireplace. In comparison, the average home’s furnace is rated at 60,000 Btus.

The home includes a number of energy-efficiency features that make this small heating system possible, including high insulation levels, high-efficiency windows and doors, and high-level air sealing techniques. Mark Noon, owner of the separate company Kingdom Builders and a partner in the project, says the home cost about $18,000 more to build compared to traditional construction. But, he said, not having to install a furnace or dig gas lines reduces those costs by about $12,000.   10/22/2009

Resource(s): http://www.missoulian.com/

Smart Growth Efforts Gradually Bringing Results in Montana

Ten years of hard work by the Helena-based Sonoran Institute Montana Smart Growth Coalition to prevent sprawl, protect open space and maintain the state's quality of life have gradually paid off, writes Sonoran Institute Executive Director Luther Propst from its Tucson, Arizona headquarters in a NewWest online guest column, appreciating Montana's steps toward sustainability and citing its Smart Growth Coalition Director Tim Davis, who sees the recently concluded legislative session as one of the most successful yet for the change of direction.

He is especially encouraged by approval of the Omnibus Land Use Modernization Act, calling it the ''flagship'' among the seven new smart growth measures.

''The Omnibus Act will make smart growth in Montana dramatically easier for counties and communities by modernizing the state's zoning laws,'' he said. ''Updating the 1930s-era statutes will allow for more flexible zoning, which will lead to innovation in community and neighborhood development.''

With a four-member Senate Republican majority and the House evenly split, though led by a Democratic Speaker, the result was far from certain.

''How we achieved passage of the Act was almost as important as the laws it will change,'' Director Davis noted. ''It was a hard fight and at times things got a little ugly, particularly toward the end of the session. But we were successful in reaching across party lines to build a strong political consensus in favor of the Act. Remarkably, we were able to win a 70 percent favorable vote margin in both the Montana Senate and House of Representatives. Montanans of all political stripes have come to realize that if we are going to protect those things that make Montana special, we have to work together.''

This legislative success, comments Sonoran Institute Executive Director Propst, is the more gratifying since the Montana Smart Growth Coalition is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

''The Montana Legislature's wide-ranging actions on smart growth laws reinforce the purpose and the effectiveness of the Coalition,'' he writes. ''I am hopeful that others will follow Montana's lead.''

See also www.sonoraninstitute.org and http://leg.net.gov. -- NewWest   5/20/2009

Resource(s): www.newwest.net/

Post-Recession Prosperity in Mountain West Depends on Smart Growth

Density, redevelopment and public-private partnerships will be crucial to post-recession prosperity in Mountain West cities, points out Missoula New West writer Greg Lemon, commenting on the contradiction between the demand for such benefits as mass transit, walkable neighborhoods and ''less square footage for living'' in urban cores like Missoula and Bozeman, and the resistance to change that Missoula City/County Office of Planning and Grants Director Roger Millar faces from other quarters.

''I deal with a lot of naysayers,'' he said at the area's recent Designing New West forum. ''They tell me density and mixed-use development is ugly.''

They obviously ignore the decline in households with children, the writer observes, a trend that makes sprawling development patterns -- not sustainable anyway -- ''unnecessary and unwanted.''

Bozeman-based Comma-Q Architecture founder and principal Ben Lloyd and Idaho Smart Growth (ISG) Executive Director Rachel Winer agreed, stressing the need for well-designed and neighborhood-matched infill.

''We have to change people's perception about what infill is,'' said the architect, while the ISG director advised extensive publicity for the best projects, with two of her group's nine 2008 Smart Growth Awards honoring two downtown Boise infills -- the mixed-use Aspen Lofts high-rise and the Grand Avenue townhomes.

Director Millar hopes to begin with overhaul of outdated building and zoning codes.

''What we've got,'' he said, ''is 40 years of how to say 'no' to bad ideas instead of how to say 'yes' to good things.''

Click here for information about the SGI awards or click here for information about Comma-Q projects. -- New West   4/17/2009

Resource(s): www.newwest.net/

Missoula Planners Updating City Parking Regulations

Since too much or too little parking can have adverse environmental or business effects, city regulations must balance all related needs, reports Missoulian writer Keila Szpaller ahead of a Missoula Planning Board public hearing on the city's zoning ordinance update process, quoting Denver-based Rocky Mountain Land Institute Executive Director James van Hemert, who said, ''It's unappreciated for the power that it has to make or break our urban environments, in many ways.''

Explaining the specifics, Chicago-based Duncan Associates zoning rewrite consultant Kirk Bishop gave the current city ordinance a lot of credit for its short-term and long-term bicycle parking requirements, but observed that large vehicle lots produce polluted stormwater runoff and that extreme car-space-per-unit minimums undercut the profitability of affordable-housing projects.

On the other hand, he noted that insufficient parking space per unit means cars spill onto side streets, which often creates problems for neighbors, and agreed with City Engineering construction manager Doug Harby on the importance of adequate parking for some businesses to make them easily accessible by customers.

Still, he pointed out that the proposed ordinance changes would eliminate parking requirements for some small shops up to 1,000 square feet, saying, ''I think it's going to be a great thing, particularly in pedestrian-oriented areas.''

Although proposals to reduce parking requirements for employers with off-peak work schedules and to offer financial incentives for bus riders and participants in car-pools or van-pools didn't make the latest draft, a zoning officer may eventually be able to grant a slight parking reduction for shops within 500 feet of a bus stop, the writer adds, asking readers to get involved in the zoning rewrite and see its latest draft at www.zoningmissoula.com. -- Missoulian   2/17/2009

Resource(s): www.missoulian.com/

Voters Overturn Ravalli County Smart Growth Policy

In contrast to most jurisdictions nationwide, a record turnout in Ravalli County helped Republican candidates and undercut the momentum toward smart growth, with some 53.6 percent of votes (9,674) cast to repeal the county's growth policy --adopted in 2002 and reaffirmed by a two-thirds majority in 2004 -- as detrimental to property rights, reports Ravalli Republic writer John Cramer, quoting Citizens for Ravalli County's Future member Sonny LaSalle, who said about the result, ''It's sad that so many people are so susceptible to lies and deception.''

A non-regulatory document, required by the state before adoption of zoning and other land-use measures, the writer explains, the growth policy has for over a year guided the advisory Stream Setback Committee (SSC) and two Community Planning Committees (CPCs) in their work on riparian buffer zones and on zoning regulations and maps.

The SSC has just turned in its final plan draft; the CPCS were to do so next year.

Citizens Coalition for Repealing the Growth Policy leader Dan Cox thinks the work is now moot, but others are hopeful at least part of it can be saved.

Voicing regret over the repeal, County Commission Chairwoman Carlotta Grandstaff pointed out that hundreds of volunteers have spent more than 10,000 hours to craft the policy, with Commissioner Kathleen Driscoll, who feels equally ''bad for all the citizens who worked so hard on this,'' adding, ''It's so strange that they guided us through this whole process and now it could all be wiped out.''

The county's only zoning regulation, the writer observes, an interim density measure that limits subdivisions to one house per two acres, expires this month, while state law sets a two-year waiting period for adoption of another growth policy.

Private property rights activists argued that the now-repealed policy was ''rammed through'' by planning advocates oblivious to other views.

''Hopefully, the commission has learned a lesson about arrogance,'' commented Higher Ground treasurer Dan Floyd, saying a new policy should be more balanced, allowing some minor zoning, stream setbacks and other land-use without infringing on property rights and requiring more bureaucracy.

On the other side, Bitterrooters for Planning President Steward Brandborg warned against accelerated sprawl ''chaos,'' preferred by landowners and special interests.

Attributing the growth policy repeal to ''a campaign of misinformation'' by wealthy opponents, he said he didn't and others should not ''underestimate the sinister consequences of this libelous campaign of intimidating attacks on a good planning process.'' -- Ravalli Republic   11/4/2008

Resource(s): www.ravallirepublic.com/ ; www.missoulian.com/

Bonner Milltown Community Council Withdraws Support for Smart Growth Grant

In anticipation of heavy development pressures on its two small neighborhoods some 6 miles east of central Missoula, the Bonner Milltown Community Council contacted Missoula County about related planning in February and county staff moved to apply for a competitive Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) smart-growth grant, writes Missoulian reporter Chelsi Moy, but two days before the EPA deadline the council withdrew its support, claiming it needs more time to find out what smart growth means, while denying the attendees their right to speak -- a denial which prompted the resignation of the only member who backed the smart-growth grant application, Gary Matson.

''These high-handed actions by the council define it as a body willing to exclude the public and bend the rules for the sake of its own prejudices,'' Gary Matson wrote in his resignation letter. ''It is no longer a valid voice for the Bonner Milltown area community.''

Missoula Board of County Commissioners Chairwoman Jean Curtiss called the council ''totally out of line'' for refusing to let attendees speak.

''The community council should want to hear what the public has to say,'' she stressed, acknowledging the county's responsibility for familiarizing the local body -- one of the newest among the seven countywide -- with open meeting laws.

In contrast, Council Chairman Toby Dumont, absent at the meeting, wrote in an e-mail that the Bonner community ''is very frustrated that things are being pushed on them asking for support at the last minute without any opportunity to really look into the matter,'' adding that if it reviews the matter ''and wishes to pursue the grant,'' county officials can file the application with its full support next year.

Had the application gone forward and county been selected as one of the four or five EPA smart-growth annual winners, the reporter notes, it would have matched the grant's roughly $75,000 worth of expert planning services for the Bonner Milltown area, possibly allocating the money to its planning effort anyway.

Now, the council's decision makes it doubtful, said Office of Planning and Grants Director Roger Millar.

''It sends a message that the community is divided and that's a terrible atmosphere to work in,'' he commented, ironic about the council's need for time to research smart growth.

''It commits people to good planning,'' he pointed out. ''I mean, who's for dumb growth?'' -- Missoulian   5/9/2008

Resource(s): www.missoulian.com/

Neighborhoods Will Get First Chance to Work With Helena Valley Zoning Rules

Drawn up by Lewis and Clark County's broad-based Development Standards Working Group, new zoning and development rules for Helena Valley will be initially tested as options for communities ready for change, before the county introduces a map of 10 prospective zoning designations, reports Helena Independent Record writer Larry Kline, quoting Montana Smart Growth Coalition Director Tom Davis, who said, ''This gives the public a chance to feel like something's not going to be rushed through, but that we're really going to take our time.''

County Administrator Ron Alles intends to present the proposed rules to the Consolidated Planning Board in April and to the County Commission in May.

''The growth projections are still there, and we need to move sooner rather than later,'' he said about the two-part process. ''It's up to the community to decide how it wants to grow.''

The optional zoning designations for residential and commercial densities, the writer notes, will help communities steer dense development to selected areas and keep others rural.

They will also specify in what areas communities can allow one-acre lots, with individual septic systems or wells -- illegal under the county's current interim zoning regulations.

The proposed development standards, he adds, include streamside setbacks, local septic limits, and conditions for construction in areas with elevated risk of wildfires. -- Independent Record   3/30/2008

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/

Helena Completes Massive Revision of City Zoning Ordinance

It took more than two years of intense scrutiny and teamwork, but Helena's city staff and its volunteer zoning commission have completed a massive revision of the city's three-inch-thick zoning ordinance without much criticism from or discord among residents, developers and smart-growth advocates, observes Helena Independent Record reporter Larry Kline, with city commissioners making slight changes and suggesting two more substantial ones, largely dependent on final public comments online and at a decisive public hearing March 24.

The city staff and zoning commission, the reporter notes, basically trimmed the ordinance, clarified the applicability of special and by-right permits for projects in various zones, eliminated the 7,000 and 12,500-square-foot lot size minimums in R-1 and R-2 zones, merging them into one district, and reduced the front-yard setbacks in residential areas from 20 to 15 feet.

Nevertheless, Commissioners Paul Cartwright and Alan Peura are backing further changes to encourage greater densities and affordable housing.

They hope to expand the lot coverage maximums from 30 to 35 percent for two-story homes and to 40 percent for single-story homes in the combined R-1/ R-2 district, and from 40 to 45 and 50 percent, respectively, in R-3 districts, with an extra 5 percent of home footprints allowed for porches.

The advantages are clear, explained Commissioner Cartwright, pointing out that the 30 percent lot coverage maximum for the new R-1/R-2 district requires a builder of a 2,100-square-foot-footprint home and garage to have a 7,000-square-foot lot, but if such a home could cover another 5 percent of its lot, the builder would need only 6,000 square feet.

''You cut your land cost by a seventh,'' the commissioner stressed. ''And if you're in favor of affordable housing, you have to allow the possibility of people using less land.''

Helena Building Industry Association President Mike Hughes agreed the change could lower home prices.

''Every little bit will help toward affordable housing,'' he noted. ''A lot of people that are first-time homebuyers are being forced to build outside the city.''

Along with Commissioners Cartwright and Peura, he also favors raising maximum building heights in R-1/R-2 and R-3 districts from 24 to 28 and 32 feet, respectively.

Neither the expansion of the lot-coverage maximum nor the higher building cap proposals secured enough votes in the zoning commission to be included among its report's official recommendations, but they are being submitted for public input in an alternative chapter and on the county's web site.

Some officials and residents worry, the reporter adds, that higher buildings could obstruct neighbors' views, especially on slopes, and that the elimination of lot size minimums combined with increased lot-coverage maximums could facilitate construction of oversized homes in older neighborhoods. -- Independent Record   3/9/2008

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/ ; www.ci.helena.mt.us/

Missoula Seeks Input from Residents for Downtown Master Plan

Preparing the city for its valley's growth from 89,000 to some 123,000 residents in the next two decades, Missoula leaders entrusted the work on their first-ever Downtown Master Plan to Portland, Oregon-based Crandall Arambula design and architecture firm, as the most focused in the 35-applicant pool on community involvement, with Missoula Downtown Association Director Linda McCarthy saying the firm's experts made it clear that ''the public is really who should be deciding what Missoula should look like 20 years down the road.''

The firm, reports New West magazine writer Dillon Tabish, is already doing preliminary research in the city to get a ''general feel'' ahead of a community workshop March 5, when its team, led by project manager Jason Graf, will present a rough plan outline and participants will fill out response sheets and cast ballots.

''We look to get as much input as we can from the general public,'' said Jason Graf, noting that the initial oral feedback is usually mixed and dominated by dissenters, but the response sheets reflect public views better and show planners the right direction.

''Those multiple levels of interaction make for a successful plan and really show you what the pulse is,'' he explained. ''We're not just saying, 'Here's the 10 elements for a good downtown and we're going to apply them here.' We're going to set people up to understand what makes a great downtown, what are the top things that make any downtown successful, because there are really elements that create great cities.''

Such common and widely-accepted elements, the writer reports, include ground floor retail on both sides of street, high-quality pedestrian amenities, attractive buildings, garage and street parking, and a central public space.

''Creating that central gathering space is really critical. That's one of the questions we're going to be asking Missoula; we're not sure that Missoula has that yet,'' Jason Graf added, stressing, ''We'll figure it out the Missoula way.'' -- New West   2/20/2008

Resource(s): www.newwest.net/index.php/city/main/C8/L8/

New Missoula City Council Could Bring Progress on Growth, Infill Issues

The 12-member and now ''highly polarized'' Missoula City Council will have ''a progressive majority'' next year, with incumbent Stacy Rye keeping her seat and challengers Pam Walzer and Jason Wiener ousting conservative incumbents Don Nicholson and Justin Armintrout in the past election, reports Mountain Press writer Matthew Frank, quoting reelected Councilman Bob Jaffe, who described seven members of the new council as being ''pretty open about not being against infill -- all for smart growth.''

The shift on the council will certainly affect the city's current zoning revision, said Councilman-elect Wiener, ready to join the push for a ''forward-looking development code'' and hopeful that ''decisions do not come down to a 7 to 5 vote,'' but reflect ''a broader consensus.''

Missoula Planning Board member Don MacArthur thinks such a hope may be premature, because Missoula residents are ''clearly divided'' on development issues, with some decisions by the council's 8-4 progressive majority from a few years ago responsible for still-lingering voter backlash and with unanswered questions about the exact stance of two newly elected and rather conservative members, Lyn Hellegard and Renee Mitchell.

The election drew 46 percent of voters, a record since 1981, the writer notes, attributing the number partly to mail-in ballots and partly to outreach efforts by the nonprofit Forward Montana political action group.

Forward Montana Director Matt Singer said his group registered more than 1,000 first-time voters, especially in subsequently defeated Councilman Nicholson's ward, whose population ''is traditionally younger, lower income and more progressive.'' -- Mountain Press   11/8/2007

Resource(s): www.newwest.net/index.php/city/main/C8/L8/

Court Decision Upholds Interim Zoning Rules for Lewis and Clark County

Confident of their prerogative to rein in and guide the ''free-for-all'' residential expansion across the Helena Valley, Lewis and Clark County commissioners won a legal round against valley landowners Mike Fasbender and John Errin, who planned development and sued the county in December 2006 for its interim zoning rules designed to protect the area from increases in nitrogen and other water contaminants, with District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock finding the enactment proper under state law and not dependent on a 30-day window for public protest.

''To require (officials) to create a protest period would create a ridiculous situation where there would be absolutely no reason to have a specific statutory requirement on emergency interim zoning,'' the judge wrote, setting a jury trial for October 2008.

The commissioners, recalls Helena Independent Record writer Larry Kline, first set permanent zoning rules for the valley in November 2006, voiding them a few weeks later upon notification they had missed a public-notice provision, and approving initial interim zoning, almost immediately challenged by the two plaintiffs in court.

Judge Sherlock throw out that zoning on procedural grounds last March, upholding the next interim zoning, enacted in May for at least a year, with a possible one-year extension.

Officials hail the decision.

''It reaffirms what we're trying to do,'' said County Commission Chairman Mike Murray.

''To me, we shouldn't be having debate over interim zoning,'' stressed County Administrator Ron Alles. ''We should be talking about land use and comprehensive zoning for Lewis and Clark County. -- Independent Record   10/26/2007

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/

Minimum Lot Sizes Eliminated in Helena to Allow Smart Growth Infill Homes

Rewritten over two years, Helena's new zoning ordinance would eliminate minimum lot sizes to allow homes on smaller lots ''as smart growth infill in the city,'' stressed zoning board member Dan Casey at the City Commission's first public meeting focused on the proposed changes, with Mayor Jim Smith saying they are ''a big deal to people,'' because the ordinance is going ''to govern the way things are done around here for a long time in the future.''

The elimination of the lot size minimum, combined with the planned increase of building heights in all zones from 24 to 28 feet, reports Helena Independent Record writer John Harrington, would encourage greater density both for single-family homes and for multi-family housing.

Zoning Commissioner Carolyn Adams has persuaded her colleagues to scale down the increased building-height cap from the originally proposed 36 to 28 feet as more agreeable to neighborhoods where one-story homes are common.

Nevertheless, the writer notes, not everyone was happy.

Resident George Ochenski felt 28-feet-high buildings would hurt current home values, by obstructing homeowners' views.

''I'm not some right-wing radical,'' he told commissioners, ''but this strikes me as being on the verge of diminishing people's property values.''

Mayor Smith disagreed with this approach.

''We get down into this question of, is there any right to our view?'' he explained. ''I've thought about it and I've come down that there isn't right now, an explicit right to the view we all enjoy.'' -- Independent Record   8/28/2007

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/front

New State Law Streamlines Montana Subdivision Reviews

They often disagree, but this time Montana Smart Growth Coalition Executive Director Tim Davis and Montana Association of Realtors Government Affairs Director Glenn Oppel have joined forces on a new state law that allows cities and counties that already manage growth and protect the environment to expedite reviews for subdivisions in residential zones near city limits, with public input taken just before the final votes on these projects.

''The idea is to create a more predictable planning and development process,'' said Director Davis, detailing the new option at a joint meeting of the Bozeman Planning Board and Gallatin County Planning Board.

''We're shifting the process from the subdivision regulations over to planning and zoning,'' said Director Oppel, pointing out that landowners have much more influence over the latter, including the ability to prevent creation of an unwanted zoning district.

The law, reports Bozeman Daily Chronicle writer Walt Williams, also allows local governments to charge developers up to $50 for each new residential lot or unit and up to $250 for any other ones, with the revenue earmarked for long-range planning.

Given the area's currently proposed residential development, Director Davis thinks Gallatin County could raise about $400,000 with these planning-devoted fees. -- Bozeman Daily   8/2/2007

Resource(s): http://bozemandailychronicle.com/

Development Standards Working Group Optimistic It Can Offer Better Zoning Options for Lewis and Clark County

Passed by Lewis and Clark County commissioners last month and already challenged in court as ''imposed,'' the county's interim zoning rules could last through May 2008, but officials, Realtors, smart-growth advocates and others in the Development Standards Working Group want to take advantage of ongoing public input and propose ''a menu of zoning options'' much sooner.

The group, notes Helena Independent Record writer Larry Kline, has already held four public meetings in the past few weeks and expects further answers to its questions about land uses, lot sizes, building heights, setbacks and other development aspects, all posted on www.co.lewis-clark.mt.us.

''I refuse to admit that we can't do this on our own,'' said Helena Association of Realtors attorney and group member Michael Kakuk. ''I sense a sea change. People, their ears are up. The notion that they have to decide their own destiny is resonating.''

At the group's most recent listening session, the writer reports, attendees talked about the need to preserve the Helena area's small-town feel, its clean air and water, farmland and open spaces, ridges and mountainsides.

Some saw cluster-style development as an alternative to sprawl, with its five-acre or 10-acre lots; some regretted voters' unwillingness to raise taxes for road improvements; others called for expansion of the property tax base since the county lacks large industries to boost revenue and services.

Many stressed the importance of diverse and affordable housing, especially worried about pricing out young workers from the area's market, with builders calling for a streamlined and predictable permit process to help stabilize housing costs and recommending construction of high-rise condos and apartments in the city.

Several residents also said the county needs to think about growth planning regionally, involving Jefferson and Broadwater counties to its south and southeast.

Otherwise, the writer observes, its regulations could make newcomers settle beyond county lines and ''drive into Helena for work and play -- on roads they don't support with property taxes.'' -- Independent Record   6/9/2007

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/

Developers Focus on Green Lifestyle in Billings Mixed-Use Subdivision

Greg McCall and his siblings Brad and Carolee from the family-owned McCall Development team have introduced New Urbanism in Billings with their mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly Josephine Crossing subdivision on 60 acres near the Yellowstone River, and have now reinforced their ''green'' credentials as first builders to hire the local Earth First Aid recycling firm for curbside pickup of paper, cardboard, plastic, metal cans and other small items at the project once residents move into the first of its 300 planned homes, many of them affordable to lower-income buyers.

''We decided to make the neighborhood a pilot program for the city to look at,'' said Greg, ''to see how we (all) can benefit from recycling.''

He told The Billings Gazette that every ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water, and each aluminum can spares ''enough electricity to operate a TV for three hours,'' but noted, ''There will probably be a lot of hurdles until people are educated to all the benefits of recycling.''

With Earth First Aid customers largely scattered throughout the area, firm owner Scott Berens said the McCalls' example might spark ''a trend'' among construction companies, adding, ''I hope everybody wants to be as progressive as the McCalls.''

In their e-mail comments on the day the Gazette story appeared, all 11 readers were enthusiastic about McCalls' anti-sprawl subdivision and their recycling initiative.

Reader ''Terry'' wrote: ''Mr. McCall is ahead of the curve on this development, and hopefully, he sets the standards for other green projects. In the past, a green label identified one with environmental activism, today it means being responsible and forward thinking.'' -- The Billings Gazette   4/21/2007

Resource(s): www.billingsgazette.net/

Missoula's New Planning Director Spells Out Action Points for Smart Growth

To preserve the high quality of life that drew him to his city job in January, Missoula should revise the zoning ordinance, implement a long-range transportation plan, and expand affordable housing, said Office of Planning and Grants Director Roger Millar in an interview with Missoula-based NewWest online magazine writer Stefanie Kilts, also urging close city-county cooperation in the face of development pressures.

Previewing the themes of his presentation at a City Club Forum the next day, Director Millar cited the lessons he learned at his earlier posts in Portland, Oregon and McCall, Idaho, stressing, ''Until we make changes, it (the city's 1972 ordinance) will be a boat anchor, holding us back from progress.''

In the new transportation plan, scheduled for drafting in the summer of 2008, the city needs to address land use patterns, he said, without ignoring workforce-housing needs.

Pointing to the city's median home price of $210,000 and the average Missoula family's ability to buy only a $150,000-$180,000 home, he said the influx of more affluent newcomers buying vacation residences -- usually single-family homes with two-car garages, on five-acre lots -- increases prices beyond the reach of many others, forced to seek housing elsewhere.

''Are we going to put our workers on the outside looking in or are we going to build a city with the workers inside?'' he asked, hopeful the city can build affordable apartments and high-rise condos.

''Some people come to the West for reasons other than mowing a lawn,'' he observed, explaining his own five-prong test for smart growth.

The ''popsicle,'' ''smooth,'' ''children,'' ''senior'' and ''commons'' tests ask the following questions: ''Can you walk home before the popsicle melts?'' ''Would you feel safe enough to walk through the city with your date?'' ''Is a place big enough to allow children to see the world around them?'' ''Are seniors engaged and active participants in the community?'' and ''Will natural resources sufficiently replenish for future generations' use?''

Calling himself ''an optimist,'' Director Millar hopes to facilitate the Missoula city-county conversation about smart growth to make them ready for more and more newcomers. -- NewWest   3/15/2007

Resource(s): www.newwest.net/index.php/city/main/C8/L8

Bill Would Bar Montana Counties from Resubmitting Zoning Amendments for Five Years

If a Montana county moves to establish or amend zoning but most residents in even one locality protest the move, as Canyon Creek ranchers and timber landowners in Lewis and Clark County did last September, state law bars implementation of the new rules for a year, a period state Republican Senator Dave Lewis would extend to five years in his proposed bill (SB 325), to protect zoning protesters from repeated governmental ''harassment'' every year.

Rancher and former legislator Ed Grady, organizer of the Canyon Creek protest last year, reports Helena Independent Record writer Larry Kline, told the Senate Local Government Committee at a hearing on the bill that many landowners see zoning as an affront to private property rights.

With the bill backed by Helena and state Realtors associations, but strongly opposed by Lewis and Clark County, the Montana Association of Counties and the Montana Smart Growth Coalition, Senator Lewis said he welcomes suggestions to keep the one-year implementation ban only for county zoning amendments, while extending it to three years for first-time area zoning.

Lewis and Clark County Commission Chairman Mike Murray and Commissioner Ed Tinsley consider any extension of the zoning-implementation moratorium to five or three years detrimental to local governments' ability to plan and manage growth.

''They're both arbitrary,'' stressed Chairman Murray, while Commissioner Tinsley characterized the legislation as a ''revenge bill,'' without criticizing Senator Lewis for its sponsorship.

Former Lewis and Clark Commissioner, Montana Association of Planners lobbyist Linda Stoll, cautioned against a state law change over an inflated issue of repetitious county zoning efforts, pointing out that Lewis and Clark County tried to implement zoning only once before, in 1977.

The Senate committee, the writer adds, took no action on the bill. -- Independent Record   2/16/2007

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/

Montana Lawmakers Drafting Legislation to Address Water and Zoning Issues

Uneasy about rapid residential development outside city limits and about Montana's ''perennial'' water problem, state lawmakers have proposed dozens of pertinent laws, but only a few have sufficiently broad support, with Helena-based Montana Smart Growth Coalition Director Tim Davis telling legislative journalist Jennifer McKee, ''Nothing that is not bipartisan is going to survive.''

Among those likely to pass is Senate Bill 201, sponsored by Republican Senator Rick Laible and drafted with help both from the Montana Smart Growth Coalition and the Montana Association of Realtors.

The bill proposes a voluntary planning process, under which local governments could adopt or expand zoning and assess fees of $50 and $250 for residential and commercial lots, respectively, while developers who abide by zoning would benefit from streamlined permitting.

Calling his Ravalli County ''the poster-child of non-planning,'' Senator Laible noted that many localities are trying to manage growth by ''using subdivisions as a zoning process,'' a goal subdivision regulations were never intended to accomplish.

''At least with zoning, we have some predictability about what the future is going to look like,'' the senator observed. ''There are more advantages to zoning than disadvantages.''

The Montana Association of Realtors feels the same, reports New West correspondent Dan Testa, quoting its official Glenn Oppel.

''Why are Realtors in favor of zoning?'' he asked at a Senate Local Government Committee hearing. ''We believe it will create a more predictable and certain environment for the development community.''

Among the more controversial proposals is House Bill 104, sponsored by Democratic Representative Kevin Furey.

With the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) routinely exempting wells outside city limits from its regulations and letting owners pump 10 acre-feet of water a year, an equivalent of one foot of water over 10 acres, the bill would cut that to 1 acre-foot and limit the acreage an exempted well can irrigate.

DNRC Director Mary Sexton supports the bill, pointing out that the combined impact of thousands of exempt wells threatens groundwater and surface-water rights of farmers and ranchers. -- New West   2/8/2007

Resource(s): www.montanaforum.com/index.php ; www.newwest.net/

''Big Sky or Big Sprawl'' Speaker Says Outdated Septic Rules, Water-Right Exemptions for Residential Wells Encourage Growth Outside Montana's Urban Areas

The state perpetuates its inefficient development by having just a one-acre lot minimum for septic systems, allowing a water-right exemption for residential wells that draw up to 35 gallons per minute, and lacking access management in highway corridors, said Montana Smart Growth Coalition Director Tim Davis, urging changes in regulations and reversal of the outdated trend.

Speaking at the fifth ''Big Sky or Big Sprawl'' conference in Helena and using computerized growth projection by the Tucson, Arizona-headquartered Sonoran Institute, reports the Associated Press, director Davis pointed out that the septic and well regulations encourage growth outside urban areas, which takes more open land for residential development, endangers groundwater quality, and creates problems for water-rights holders.

Without decisive remedies, he warned, development will continue to spread through mountain valleys away from Helena, Bozeman, Kalispell, Billings and other urban centers.

In a later keynote speech, Denver author and growth-management expert Chris Duerksen outlined the history and prospects of zoning regulations nationwide. He told the audience, focused on joint city-county planning, conservation, economics, affordable housing, water supply and wildfire protection, how other communities have been crafting and implementing new regulations related to public health, energy, climate change, food security and other key issues of future growth.

Advising a shift toward greater use of solar and wind energy in residential neighborhoods and incentives for pedestrian-friendly development, he observed, ''It's not going to solve the global warming problem, but it's got something to contribute.'' -- Helena Independent Record   11/16/2006

Resource(s): www.helenair.com

Flathead County Growth Policy Draft Draws Criticism from Property Rights, Smart Growth Groups

Required under state law by October 1, the Flathead County Growth Policy draft troubles both the American Dream Montana property rights camp and the Citizens for Better Flathead smart-growth group, the former hostile to land-use regulations in general, and the latter concerned over the insufficient policy detail.

Noting that the county has been growing exponentially, reports Missoula Independent magazine writer Paul Peters, Citizens Director Mayre Flowers wished the policy dealt with the need for parks, recreation, farmland and open space preservation, development near urban services and other quality of life issues.

Appreciative of all comments, County Planning and Zoning Office assistant director B.J. Grieve explained that the County Planning Board, preoccupied with new subdivision applications, ceded the policy task to his staff only nine months ago and that he had to heed ''political realities'' to produce a workable draft. ''You don't want to sell out and write a crappy document just to have it approved, but you don't want to create a document that has no chance of getting approved,'' he stressed. ''It was a tightrope walk.''

Consequently, the staff envisaged the draft as a ''foundation,'' leaving specifics for later, especially since any contentious issue such as open space protection could derail the whole policy.

The problem is that in the time between adoption of the policy and fleshing out its parts, the county would be approving projects without firm standards in place, said director Flowers, pointing out that although the current 1987 growth plan is outmoded, some its provisions could help if finally implemented. One provision calls for new development near present infrastructure, she noted, adding, ''That's a fairly strong, forward statement, and yet it's not being carried forward.''

In short, the writer observes, she expects ''the teeth and spine'' from the 1987 plan to be transplanted into the new policy, at least until the public agrees on more specifics. -- Missoula Independent   8/10/2006

Resource(s): www.missoulanews.com/

Newspapers Say Montana Land-Use Ballot Initiative is Anti-Smart Growth; Reporters Seek Source of Funds for Campaign

Modeled after Oregon's notorious Measure 37, which ''gutted that state's progressive zoning and land-use planning laws,'' Initiative 154 in Montana goes on the November ballot with 36,604 voter signatures, some 14,000 more than needed, but the Helena Independent Record wonders ''how many of those signers knew what it said,'' hitting the measure as ''anti-government and anti-smart growth,'' and being funded ''almost entirely by rich, out-of-state libertarian extremists,'' who are also bankrolling similar campaigns in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada and Washington.

With Missoula Independent magazine writer Alyssa Work naming Chicago-based Americans for Limited Government (ALG), chaired by New York libertarian Howard Rich, as a key source of the outside money, the Helena daily points out that in each of the six states, the outsiders ''are using a well-publicized eminent domain case in New London, Conn., last year as a smokescreen.''

In reality, they attack government regulatory prerogatives. ''Under I-154, any new regulation that impaired a land owner's 'right to use, divide, possess, sell or improve real property' -- in other words, do any darn thing he wants -- must either be waived or the owner must be compensated for the money he figures he would have made.'' Since governments have no spare money for such payments, they would have to waive the rules, the daily concludes, warning, ''So much for land-use planning, environmental concerns, conservation measures, habitat protection, you name it.''

But many care and perceive the power of outside money, reported the Missoula writer last month, quoting Helena attorney Jon Motl and his partner, consultant C.B. Pearson. The attorney has filed complaints with Montana's Commissioner for Political Practices against Montanans in Action (MIA) and its three ballot measures, including I-154. The consultant views the MIA's repeated refusal to reveal the source of more than $1 million in contributions as inadmissible. ''They're resisting both the spirit of the law and its technical aspects,'' he stressed. ''Disclosure allows us to understand what interests are involved in a campaign.'' -- Independent Record, Missoula Independent   8/6/2006

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/ ; www.missoulanews.com/

Temporary Zoning Restrictions Proposed for Helena's Rural Corridors to Keep Growth Closer to Services, Limit Groundwater Pollution

With Helena's population of some 30,000 projected to double by 2030 and with development likely to move northeast and northwest along Lewis and Clark County roads, the City-County Planning Board proposed temporary zoning restrictions for those rural corridors to keep growth closer to services and limit possible groundwater pollution until more localities devise their own standards for more or less dense construction areas.

Sent to the county commission for approval, reports Helena Independent Record writer Eve Byron, the proposal caps building heights at 50 feet, details setbacks, and allows new individual septic tanks on at least five-acre lots, with owners of tanks that are now deteriorated having to find hook-ups to community septic systems or city services.

In setting the five-acre lot minimum for new septic tanks, the planning board took a middle ground like the one in a recent plan hammered out by the Helena Association of Realtors, the Helena Building Industries Association, the Montana Smart Growth Coalition and Plan Helena. Initially, the first two groups sought one-acre and 2.5-acre lot minima for new septic tanks, respectively, while the other two wanted ''a graduated approach,'' beginning with 2.5-acre lots in low-density residential areas and reaching a 40-acre minimum elsewhere.

Although the graduated approach wasn't included in the board's proposal, the writer thinks its members and County Administrator Ron Alles seem to favor it for the future. ''We still have a considerable amount of work to do,'' the administrator said. ''We need to get into each community, neighborhood and district and get into individual areas' zoning.'' -- Independent Record   7/19/2006

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/

Walking, Biking Half of Short Daily Car Trips Would Save 24 Billion Gallons of Gas Annually, Says Adventure Cycling Director

With 50 percent of their daily car trips no longer than three miles, Americans could easily make half of them on foot or on bikes, which would save the nation 24 billion gallons of gas a year, proportionally cut tailpipe emissions, and reduce overweight and obesity rates, especially among kids, said Missoula-based Adventure Cycling director Jim Sayer at his slide show called ''How Bicycling Can Help Save the World (and Missoula),'' an early part of the group's campaign for a coast-to-coast bike network.

Presented under the 2006 Bike Walk Bus Week program, writes Missoulian reporter Mea Andrews, the show offered a pictorial history of biking, with a focused on its revival prospects in the context of rapid urbanization, resource consumption and modern environmental and health risks.

Initially, director Sayer said, bicycles brought affordable transportation to the masses, letting more people seek jobs and products outside their neighborhoods, and even helping emancipate women; now they can contribute to overall economic security, sustainability and quality of life, given the political will to promote changes.

Record gas prices this summer, in many places already over $3 a gallon, are likely to put more people on bikes, but a long-range solution is needed. ''The more dependent we are on oil, the more mired in the Middle East we'll be,'' he observed. ''I don't think that's what people want.''

He pointed out that other countries are well ahead in reducing their oil and car dependency. Japan has huge fuel taxes, France just appointed a ''National Bike Czar,'' and the United Kingdom, Germany and Denmark are creating bike-path connections throughout the countryside, the latter also using high auto registration fees to encourage bike travel.

And that's what Adventure Cycling and similar advocacy groups are aiming for, reports New West online magazine Missoula editor Dana Green, quoting director Sayer as saying, ''We think it's time there was an interstate bike system.'' -- Missoulian, New West   4/28/2006

Resource(s): www.missoulian.com/ ; www.newwest.net/index.php/

McCall Development Outlines Plan for South Billings Smart Growth Project, With Emphasis on Affordability

The McCall Development, created by businessman Jim McCall in 1993 and run mostly by his children Greg, Brad, and Carolee, is moving away from standard construction toward smart growth and New Urbanism, with Greg, 30, and Brad, 27, expecting to break ground this summer for a traditional-style, small-lot, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood of 300 housing units and a mixed-use business component on some 60 acres near the Yellowstone River in south Billings.

''We're not trying to just sell a house,'' says Brad. ''We're trying to sell a whole lifestyle.''

A lifestyle different from what the area allowed in the past five decades, observes Greg, noting that Billings' population grew by 47 percent between 1974 and 2004, but city limits expanded by 123 percent.

''Everything that's happened in Billings post-World War II is basically sprawl development,'' which strains services and requires impact fees that drive up housing costs, he says. ''We zoned Costco into existence, and Wal-Mart into existence,'' which makes us ''use a 2,00-pound car to buy a 1-pound loaf of bread.''

Called Josephine Crossing, reports Billings Gazette writer Ed Kemmick, their riverside subdivision will include mostly two-bedroom and three-bedroom homes and one-bedroom cottages, but also a number of ''mansion houses'' looking like big West End homes but containing four separate units.

Their garages in the back alleys, the houses will sit along narrow tree-lined streets with safe sidewalks, the smallest ''garden lot'' units sharing the green space between two or three and priced as close to $100,000 as the brothers can manage.

The mixed-use segment will likely feature a grocery, cafes, retail stores, professional offices and perhaps some ''live-work'' units with street-level businesses and apartments above, but bars, casinos and sex-oriented businesses will be prohibited. The brothers will offer eight to 12 floor plans for each unit, a choice of three or four elevations, and a variety of exterior paints and features, along with different interior elements, including carpets, cupboards, sound systems, furnaces, drapes and other details.

Carolee McCall and her sister-in-law Erin, both certified interior designers, will advise buyers on making the best choices, while the other sister-in-law, Kelsey, will help with marketing. The brothers hope to complete the project in five to eight years, with Greg stressing, ''It's not a cookie-cutter neighborhood at all.'' -- Billings Gazette   3/7/2006

Resource(s): www.billingsgazette.net/

Helena-Area Interest Groups Cast Aside Differences to Work on Countywide Zoning Rules

Not often on the same side, several Lewis and Clark County groups -- including the Helena Building Industry Association, Helena Realtors Association, Plan Helena and Smart Growth Coalition -- are once again trying to bridge their differences and this time agree on countywide zoning rules, reports Helena Independent Record writer Jason Mohr, quoting County Administrator Ron Alles who expects to have a joint service-focused draft plan ready for public review and input next month.

''We're just struggling to deliver county services because of the kind of growth that is happening,'' the administrator said, backed by Montana Smart Growth Coalition leader Tom Davis. ''If we don't get ahead of the services, we're going to get snarled,'' he warned, stressing the need to protect local quality of life and encourage growth where it makes most sense -- within reach of urban services -- while setting more effective standards for rural areas.

An industry committee, the writer notes, has conceptually agreed that Helena Valley minimum lots should have from three to five acres, and that smaller-lot subdivisions should be built within service areas whenever possible.

Currently, he adds, county officials use its Growth Policy and Subdivision Regulations in the project approval process, but the first isn't legally binding, and the other -- specifying road, setback, fire protection and other design standards -- must be revised to fit newly passed state legislation, some of its aspects challenged by builders. -- Independent Record   12/11/2005

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/

New Impact Fee Law Designed to Help Montana Towns Cover Costs of Development

To help Montana communities shoulder development costs, state lawmakers asked local officials, planners, builders and smart-growth leaders to join them in crafting an impact fee bill at the last session, but the resulting law isn't clear enough for many jurisdictions to start implementation, reports Ravalli Republic writer Dana Green, quoting Montana Smart Growth Coalition leader Tim Davis, who said that although the bill (SB 185) is ''not perfect,'' it offers an additional tool for handling growth problems, including the affordable housing deficit.

Augmenting a municipal growth policy, which ''is really a starting point -- a policy statement,'' he told some 80 city officials, county commissioners and planners at a recent Montana Association of Counties informational forum in Helena, ''Impact fees are a way to not just say 'We want to protect agriculture,' but instead to say, 'Here's how we want to guide growth most efficiently.''

Many developers support impact fees, considering them more equitable in spreading new infrastructure costs, noted TischlerBise principal Paul Tischler, whose firm conducted impact fee studies for Missoula and Gallatin counties. In contrast to subdivision fees, which make the first builder along a rural road pay its paving costs and often give other developers ''a free ride,'' he pointed out, development impact fees place the burden on all projects whenever they come under construction.

Montana Building Industry Association official Byron Roberts agreed. ''The law is going to get (municipalities) back into the development business,'' he observed. ''It should be the right of local governments to equitably calculate the cost of growth.''

Since the law requires any impact fees to be passed by local government resolution, after a full public hearing process, said Bozeman planner Chris Sauders, in charge of his city's impact fee program since 1996, they ''should start a real community conversation about how to grow most efficiently.'' -- Ravalli Republic   11/21/2005

Resource(s): www.ravallinews.com/

Flathead County Planning Task Force Criticized for Employing Smart Growth Consultants

As Flathead County works on its land-use master plan, required under state law by October 2006, the ''rhetoric is already heating up,'' reports Missoula Independent magazine writer Paul Peters, quoting former county planning board member and American Dream Montana property rights group founder Russ Crowder, who thinks the county's Long Range Planning Task Force includes too many smart-growth advocates.

He says he doesn't want to kill the planning process, concerned that missing the state deadline would put all zone and plan changes on hold and benefit growth-control advocacy groups such as Citizens for a Better Flathead; he simply wants the work to be left in the hands of the county planning board, without involvement of the Colorado-based Collins Group's consultants.

Planning Board President Don Hines dismissed the notion of ceding any authority to the task force or the Collins Group, pointing out that the board had long needed consultants to analyze the voluminous data for the master plan.

Although both sides expect a fight, the writer observes, the situation is much less combustible then it was during the 1994 master planning process, when staff received death threats, underwent bomb alarm training and considered buying bulletproof vests. Now both sides are preparing the same strategy: to publicize their arguments in the media and to gather maximum public support.

''We're going to get out and engage the public,'' said the county's new planning director, Jeff Harris. ''They'll have an active role.'' -- Independent   6/30/2005

Resource(s): www.missoulanews.com/

Legislator Wants Property-Value Compensation Bill on Montana Ballot for 2006

Taking a page from the controversial property-value compensation law passed by Oregon voters last year, state Republican Representative Roger Koopman wants lawmakers to present a similar measure to Montana voters next year, saying his bill makes clear that land-use regulation is as much a form of unconstitutional taking as a property seizure.

Should the bill pass, notes Bozeman Daily Chronicle writer Walt Williams, no county or municipality could enforce a land-use regulation without raising money to pay property devaluation claims.

Opponents, including county and municipal officials, the state Attorney General staff and conservationists, warn this would undercut local governments' ability to protect residents from their neighbors' bad land-use decisions. ''There are a lot of laws this would affect, and we all live downstream and downwind from someone and this will be a detriment to neighbors and taxpayers,'' argued Montana Audubon representative at a House Local Government Committee hearing.

Montana Smart Growth Coalition spokesman Tim Davis said, ''Unfortunately, this bill will harm more property rights and values than it will protect them.''

The writer doesn't expect the bill's passage, since similar proposals were turned down twice when Republicans controlled the legislature. -- Bozeman Daily Chronicle   2/17/2005

Resource(s): www.bozemandailychronicle.com/

Montana Bill Would Use Tax on Big-Box Stores to Offset Welfare Expenses Paid to Low-Wage, Part-Time Employees

Montana taxpayers are tired of subsidies for big-box stores, whose low prices and big profits depend on their low wages and public assistance for their workers, says state Democratic Senator Ken Toole, sponsor of a bill that would offset these welfare costs by charging Wal-Mart, Target, Costco and similar stores a 1 percent tax on more than $20 million in sales, 1.5 percent on more than $30 million and 2 percent on more than $40 million.

The tax, reports Reuters from Montana, would apply to stores more than 25 percent of whose employees work part time and whose full-time employees make less than $22,000 a year. Citing research that found state taxpayers spend about $421,000 a year for every Wal-Mart store with 200 employees, Senator Toole estimates that the tax would affect 160 stores -- about half of Montana retail -- and raise some $20 million annually.

Big store companies consider the proposal unfair. Costco postponed plans for a store in Kalispell, with company northern division head Doug Schutt saying, ''We're waiting to see how the legislation shakes out.'' Wal-Mart spokesman Nate Hurst thinks it's ''not the government's job to pick winners or losers in a competitive marketplace,'' noting that his company bought more than $39 million in goods and services from local suppliers last year.

But University of Montana economist Thomas Power dismisses retailers' claims that the tax would make them reduce business or raise prices. ''Big-box stores,'' he says, ''are fighting to get into these markets.''   2/16/2005

Resource(s): http://money.cnn.com/

Flathead Valley Citizens Group Hopes to Inspire Public Involvement in Local Decisions Throughout Valley

Seeking candidates for its Executive Director post, with the application deadline on March 1, the Kalispell-based Citizens For A Better Flathead (CFBF) nonprofit organization expects the winner's qualifications to include ''experience with/knowledge of land-use, planning, and smart growth issues.''

CFBF considers this expertise crucial for its primary goal of inspiring broad public involvement in local decisions throughout the Flathead Valley and highlighting the possible choices to secure its core assets and keep it as ''an attractive, friendly and affordable place to live and work.''

Wedged between Montana's northwestern ranges and mountains covered by state and national preserves and forests, and open to the Flathead Lake in the south, the 50-mile-long Flathead Valley must preserve its character and environmental quality as ''the two key forces that will shape our economic prosperity today and in the future,'' says CFBF on its web page.

Founded in 1992, CFBF believes that all in the valley ''can work together and find common ground from which to protect the values central to our basic freedoms and way of life.'' -- Citizens For A Better Flathead   2/4/2005

Resource(s): www.flatheadcitizens.org

Rapid Development in Montana Leads to Call for Rural Zoning Rules

Historically accustomed to homestead fights over water and land, many in the West long stood by their absolute property-rights and ''denied the very constitutionality of a such thing as 'zoning','' says a Helena Independent Record editorial, encouraged that at last attitudes have changed and that ''smart-growth folks and members of the real estate/contractor industry alike are discussing zoning rules'' for Lewis and Clark County.

Still, it took about 30 years to happen. Although rural area residents worried about residential expansion, aquifer fragility, new service costs and farmland losses as early as the 1970s, most of them saw land-use controls as ''taking'' private property and ''wanted no part of it.''

But with ever faster development, spurred by the ''high-flying'' economy of the 1990s and ''the low-interest housing boom of the last few years,'' rural zoning is finally ''beginning to sound a lot more like common sense.''

While developers already are building or planning large subdivisions near the city limits, northern valley residents are increasingly concerned that a further residential push towards farms and ranches would threaten their water sources.

''Land disputes surely will continue throughout the West into the foreseeable future,'' the editorial concludes. ''But with agreed-upon land use regulations in place, at least everybody will know the rules of engagement.'' -- Independent Record   1/12/2005

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/

Plan for the Future Now, Gov.-Elect Schweittzer Tells Big Sky/Big Sprawl Conference

''If we don't plan for the future, the future will come without a plan,'' said Democratic Governor-elect Brian Schweittzer at the annual Big Sky or Big Sprawl Conference, held by the Montana Smart Growth Coalition and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition in Helena, telling attendees to stop electing ''the wrong people'' in their communities and start sending him legislators ''looking to the future instead of the past.''

The governor-elect, writes Hamilton Ravalli Republic reporter Dana Green, echoed the conference's keynote speaker, Smart Growth Leadership Institute President and former two-term Maryland Democratic Governor Parris N. Glendening, who addressed fiscal advantages of planning growth, curbing sprawl and reinvesting in older areas.

Instead of subsidizing new projects on urban fringes, governors can use state economic development funds to prioritize and encourage growth where infrastructure is already in place, he said, adding, ''If a business says it will bring in 50 new jobs, ask them to put that company in an existing community.''

Other speakers also stressed that planning, especially in fast-growing counties, is necessary for sustained economic growth. Noting that a shift from extractive economy reduced the mining, agriculture and wood industries to eight percent of the rural Western economy, Sonoran Institute associate director Ben Alexander urged communities to focus on high-paying ''producer services'' and ''knowledge economy,'' but also on securing affordable housing and high quality of life for all residents.

He pointed out that marketing, idea-creation, design, research and similar type businesses generate wealth without hurting the environment. ''We used to think, 'Create jobs and people will come','' he said. ''Instead, people are deciding where to live and bringing jobs with them.'' -- Ravalli Republic   11/22/2004

Resource(s): www.ravallinews.com/

Helena's Mixed-Use Project Puts Smart Growth Principles Into Practice

With development pressures certain to increase around Helena, The Independent Record expresses relief that both the City Commission and the Plan Helena smart-growth advocacy group like the proposed mixed-use Nob Hill subdivision southeast of the city, where project engineer Robert Peccia also works on another such subdivision plan.

Both projects will surely upset some southeast side residents worried about traffic increase, but overall, the daily opines, ''the new construction meets important criteria: providing needed housing without creating more urban sprawl.''

Located near city water and sewer lines, the 153-lot Nob Hill subdivision won't require long commutes and, once built, will provide an attractive southern approach to Helena, replacing ''the current 'wild west' playground for off-road vehicles.''

Agreeing with its preliminary approval of the subdivision, Plan Helena representative Mark Kelly told the City Commission the project will protect ''visually sensitive'' areas by leaving the hilltop untouched, and its back alleys for parking will make streets safer for pedestrians.

Since Helena is a growing community, it will still face demand for outlying housing, the daily notes, concluding, ''But it's good to see developments like Nob Hill putting smart growth principles into practice.'' -- The Independent Record   8/22/2004

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/front

Bozeman's 2020 Community Plan Emphasizes More Local Stores, Less Auto Use

As Bozeman officials prepare for strong growth pressures, they rely on their 2020 Community Plan, seen by Bozeman Daily Chronicle writer Walt Williams as ''an experiment in the philosophy of New Urbanism,'' which is ''a rebellion against the automobile and strip-mall commercialism.''

To give small local stores a chance, the plan envisions a three-tier system of concentric business development -- first, about a dozen of ''neighborhood commercial centers'' throughout the city; the second, four community centers within a short drive from adjacent neighborhoods; and a few regional centers along the city's main entryways, the last, the writer reports, because officials ''couldn't ignore Bozeman's historic role as a shopping center for southwest Montana.''

City Planning Director Andy Epple tells the writer that the first-tier businesses ''were spaced around the community in a kind of a satellite configuration, so as the community grows and develops, these neighborhood centers will be within walking distance.'' The second-tier community centers will offer ''a larger range of employment and shopping opportunities,'' and the regional ones may host big-box stores, hotels and chain restaurants.

New Urbanism advocates acknowledge that creating more desirable communities could inadvertently drive up housing prices, but point out that the solution lies in mixing housing types, with single-family homes, townhouses and apartments attracting varied-income residents.

''It's the notion that you get a rich diversity in a neighborhood, and that is counter to the trends that have dominated (urban planning) for the last 50 years,'' says City Commissioner Steve Kirchhoff. Also, the writer adds, housing density is vital for the first-tier stores' success, with city staff aiming for a minimum of six units per acre in surrounding neighborhoods. -- Bozeman Daily Chronicle   3/14/2004

Resource(s): www.bozemandailychronicle.com/

Water Quality Concerns Result in Rare Rejection of Lewis and Clark County Building Project

For the first time in almost five years, the Lewis and Clark County Commission found local concerns over Northern Hills water quantity and quality heightened enough to vote 2-1 against a 36-lot residential-commercial project proposed for 40 acres of unirrigated farmland some seven miles north of Helena, with Commission Chairman Mike Murray saying, ''I can't vote for a subdivision any longer in the North Hills until water can be proven available,'' and Commissioner Ed Tinsley backing him, but Commissioner Anita Varone telling developer Kim Smith the issue ''could and should be litigated successfully against the county.''

The steady growth in the 52-square-mile North Hills, reports Helena Independent Record writer Jason Mohr, made sprawl-wary residents not only petition the state to create the North Hills Controlled Groundwater Study Area, but also seek control measures through the county Northeast Valley Planning study. These public efforts complemented a 2001 legal opinion by State Attorney General Mike McGrath, who concluded in a Granite County case that water issues must be solved before preliminary subdivision approval.

Still, Lewis and Clark County continued the other way around, although the Attorney General opinion ''carries the weight of law across the state unless overturned,'' the writer notes, quoting Plan Helena secretary, former Department of Environmental Quality attorney Dick Thweatt, who sees the county's problem in its ''piecemeal'' approach to growth, but adds, ''This time they (the commissioners) gave the benefit of the doubt to the public. I think there was kind of a sea change today.'' -- Independent Record   2/18/2004

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/front

Bozeman Investing in Smart Growth as the Best Choice for Preserving Quality of Life

Within several miles of Helena National Forest to the north and Gallatin National Forest to the south, Bozeman -- Gallatin County's largest city, with a population of about 32,000, but still with a small-town feel and a web-site motto ''The most livable place'' -- has fully embraced smart growth for the next few decades, reports Bozeman Daily Chronicle writer Nick Gevock, quoting City Commissioner Steve Kirchhoff, who told the senior citizens' Wonderlust group, ''Smart growth is about choice. If you don't want to get into your car, you don't have to.''

Noting that he entered politics five years ago alarmed by the area's rapid uncontrolled growth, the commissioner pointed out that Bozeman must seek inspiration from its oldest neighborhoods, all of which offer sidewalks, trees, safe routes to schools and other quality-of-life elements. For this reason, stressed Bozeman Planning Director Andy Epple, the city will reject cookie-cutter subdivision projects that lack mixed uses and make residents totally dependent on cars. ''Every major development that comes in now,'' he said, ''is going to have a central area -- some kind of commercial core or a park.'' He noted that although developers are slowly seeing their benefits in well-planned growth, the reversal of development patterns will take time. ''Standard, post-World War II subdivisions and strip malls have made people a lot of money,'' he added. ''It's hard to get some people to break out of that.'' -- Bozeman Daily Chronicle   1/10/2004

Resource(s): www.bozemandailychronicle.com/

Long-Term Growth Policy Only a First Step in Lewis and Clark County

Nearly completed after a six-year effort, Lewis and Clark County's new long-term growth policy ''basically, sets the stage for still more planning,'' a Helena Independent Record editorial cautions those who may expect something fast or definite instead of a ''nonregulatory document'' that differentiates between ''urban growth areas'' and ''transition areas,'' and calls for future traffic solutions and environmental protections, but only provides ''the framework for more specific regulations, such as subdivision rules.'' And ''just like the U.S. Constitution, all will depend on interpretation,'' the editorial observes, pointing out that in the Helena area ''general land-use rules with teeth outside the city limits have not been able to find a consensus, and lines drawn on planning maps had little relevance to growth on the ground.'' Advising all concerned about the document's ''fuzziness'' to attend two pubic hearings on December 18 or send the county their comments until December 19, the editorial concludes, ''As the community grapples with regulations in the coming months and years, whether to streamline cumbersome procedures or impose tougher 'smart growth' rules, the growth policy will matter.'' -- Helena Independent Record   11/19/2003

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/front

Missoula Redevelopment Agency Looks Ahead to Next Long-Term Renewal Project

Having sparked and helped downtown restoration through mixed uses and new buildings, parks and amenities in the past two decades, Missoula Redevelopment Agency (MRA) director Geoff Badenoch will step down in January and leave the next long-term task to a successor, expected by the City Council to ensure similar transformation in the Urban Renewal District newly created for the distressed Brook Street shopping corridor and the perpendicular eastern spur of an old railroad. Local smart-growth advocate Judy Smith calls the area the ''gray and asphalt fields.'' The council created the renewal district at the request of business owners looking to benefit from the MRA's ''magic,'' reports Missoula Independent writer Jed Gottlieb, quoting Mayor Mike Kadas, who says the corridor wasn't built well in the first place, much of it is already or almost obsolete, and ''it's not cost effective to keep putting Band-Aids on it'' to bring out its potential. Although director Badenoch believes the lack of a ''traditional'' street grid in this city section poses special challenges for construction and traffic flow, the mayor notes the pluses, saying, ''You look at those odd-shaped parcels, and they really create a lot of opportunity for buildings with a lot of character.'' Smart growth activist Smith emphasizes the need for affordable housing in the district, also hoping that redevelopment will stem the city's expansion westward. All three, the writer adds, agree that the Brooks Street corridor is perfect for infill and that a housing component is crucial for area revitalization. -- Independent   9/18/2003

Resource(s): www.missoulanews.com/

Economist Criticizes Growth-Management Policies in Montana Address

Invited by Kalispell businessman and city council candidate Bob Herron to address the new conservative Treasure State Coalition -- opposing Kalispell and Whitefish growth-management policies for the Flathead Valley -- Oregon free-market economist Randal O'Toole presented his vintage assault on smart growth as coercive planning for high density and less car use, blaming it for the Portland area's sky-high home prices and heavy traffic congestion. The coalition itself issued a leaflet criticizing both towns' policy calls for ''a complete pedestrian-bicycle transportation system,'' utmost preservation of ''lakes, rivers, streams and their banks ... in their natural condition'' and similar smart-growth steps, reports Kalispell Daily Inter Lake Newspaper writer William L. Spence, and its guest supplied it with a slew of arguments. Linking smart growth philosophy to radical environmentalism, Soviet-style bureaucracy and Southern racism, he called the city's Streetscape beautification project a misguided effort to make people leave cars and walk more, and lauded the automobile as ''one of the most important sources of wealth'' in the nation. ''In 1920, the United States had the most extensive network of urban rail in the world,'' he said. ''But the average American still only traveled a thousand miles per year. Today, they travel 14 times as much by automobile; cars have given us 14 times the mobility of mass transit,'' opening greater job opportunities. He also argued that zoning, first created ''to protect neighborhoods from unwanted intrusions'' and now ''being used to force unwanted intrusions'' such as higher density, should by replaced ''with protective covenants.'' -- Daily Inter Lake Newspaper   5/9/2003

Resource(s): www.dailyinterlake.com/

Growth Control Bills Face Uphill Battle in Montana

Spurred by Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath's decision last fall that counties may change their zoning to facilitate development only after they craft growth policies required by a 1999 law, a hot public and legislative debate focuses on whether and how to direct growth, with the strongest of about 20 bills recently drafted or already introduced facing ''long odds before the GOP-controlled Legislature'' and three rather lenient Republican- sponsored bills raising concerns among many planners, officials and activists, including Montana Smart Growth Coalition director Tim Davis. Property rights lobbyists, developers and rural area officials, reports Helena Independent Record writer Jason Mohr, consider growth policies too restrictive and useful only for anti-development lawsuits. Consequently, Republican Senator Dan McGee proposed a bill to give localities more time for shaping growth policies -- or to let them use their old master or comprehensive plans instead -- and to bar such policies from guiding subdivision regulations or leading to legal actions. ''When it comes to planning, the more local control the better,'' argued Senator McGee at a committee hearing. ''Planning and land use regulation need to start from the bottom up.'' He was backed by Flathead County planner Forrest Sanders, who complained the county planning process is blocked by ''lawsuits stacked up this tall on my desk,'' adding, ''We didn't believe we would have our hands tied firmly behind our back.'' Two other Republican bills also seem ambiguous. Senator Rick Laible promised to protect agriculture in his district from newcomers who view productive land as pleasant open space, but his bill would raise the bar for creation of zoning districts by requiring petitions signed by all local landowners rather than the 60 percent currently needed, a move smart growth advocates consider tantamount to giving any owner veto power. Senator John Bohlinger will offer a builder-backed bill to let local governments levy impact fees for street and water and sewer system improvements, but not for new schools and safety services. Elected last November, Lewis and Clark County Democratic Commissioner Ed Tinsley told the writer the county's growth policy, currently on hold, won't benefit from Republican bills. Opposing any softening of language against ''unchecked growth,'' he said ''residents of this county have a right to know what this county will look like in 20 years. (A growth policy) is a blueprint that allows us to plan for the future.'' -- Helena Independent Record   2/17/2003

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/

Gov. Martz to Focus on Health of Forests and Communities as Montana Transforms Traditional Industries

In the process of transforming its ''traditional industries to a new economic model,'' Montana will not forget that logging, mining, farming and ranching has ''built this state,'' said Republican Governor Judy Martz in her State of the State address, announcing that the state is ''working closely with President Bush to bring common sense back to forest management'' and that she, as chair of the Western Governors Association, is convening the group's Healthy Forest Summit in June, with a focus on ways ''to improve the health of our forests and the health of our communities.'' Montana must also take part in the nation's ''energy solutions,'' the governor said, expressing support for ''environmentally responsible'' development of coal and natural gas sources, along with power plants, which will create jobs and provide more energy to the state and the country. She also expressed satisfaction over stopping the 2000 plan ''to ban all snowmobiles from Yellowstone National Park'' and instead allowing back ''cleaner, quieter'' models, and noted that care for people must involve care for land, but the ''ways to address our environmental challenges need not be difficult.'' Stressing that the health of Montana families, communities, environment and wildlife ''must come first,'' the governor placed the full support of her office behind ''removal of the Milltown Dam at Bonner'' and pledged continued pressure on Arco, Northwestern and the U.S. EPA ''to ensure that the needs of the local community are met.''   1/21/2003

Resource(s): www.discoveringmontana.com/gov2/css/speeches.asp?ID=51

Yellowstone Brings Back Tour Buses in Effort to Curtail Traffic

With Yellowstone National Park visited by 3 million tourists a year -- its roads often clogged and air fouled by thousands of cars, minivans and SUVs -- officials recently bought back a number of the park's famous yellow tour buses, disposed off in the 1950s, to refurbish them and shuttle between the most popular sites, offering visitors more mobility and time for enjoying scenic views. ''This park is just being loved to death,'' says Yellowstone management assistant Jim Evanoff, envisaging the planned bus service as part of a parkwide transit system that would greatly reduce visitors' dependence on their cars. Park chief of planning John Sacklin sees the old yellow tour buses as the most likely means to ''entice people out of their vehicles to see the park in a different way.'' Conservationists praise the move, reports Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer, quoting Greater Yellowstone Coalition spokesman Jon Catton, who says, ''We're adding several million people to our country's population each year, and we're not making any more Yellowstones.'' The writer notes that Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado has been offering free bus shuttle service since 1978, with about 264,000 visitors using it last year. At Montana's Glacier National Park, he adds, its red 1930s buses retired for safety reasons in 1999, were overhauled and return to service, sparking a 20 percent increase in park guided tours. -- Environmental News Network   9/27/2002

Resource(s): www.enn.com/news/

Missoula Fundraiser Focuses on Growth Solutions, Citizen Participation in Planning Process

Listing agriculture, planning and livability as the main topics at a joint annual fund-raiser by the Montana Smart Growth Coalition and the Citizens Advocates for Livable Missoula (CALM), the coalition's leader, Tim Davis, said, ''If we don't plan and take control over the way our towns develop, we won't get the future we want. We'll get the future someone gives us.'' CALM board member Betsy Hands stressed the goal is ''for citizens to play a role in the decision-making process other than just standing up at City Council meetings. And the third scheduled speaker, local farmer and former U.S. Senate candidate Brian Schweitzer, added, ''We can bury our heads in the sand and assume everything will turn out fine, or we can come up with planning that will be good in five years, 10 years and 50 years.'' Both groups, reports Missoulian writer Michael Moore, envision area communities integrating development and agriculture, making life easier for pedestrians, offering affordable housing and caring for clean water. They held the fund-raiser at the 21-acre Rattlesnake Valley Farm, flanked on three sides by Missoula suburbs, with Lolo National Forest to its north. Its owners, Andy Sponseller and Connie Poten, told the writer that the farm's openness and its integration into suburbia helps the area maintain its quality. -- Missoulian   9/19/2002

Resource(s): www.missoulian.com/

Helena Explores Ideas to Blend Town Center Project with Downtown Neighborhood

The Great Northern Town Center, built on a former railroad yard north of Helena's downtown and fully opened last year, has earned the accolades of the Sierra Club and The New York Times, but depressed small business and the office market in the historic neighborhood, making enthusiasts emphasize that time and public- private help is needed for the new and old to integrate and flourish together. Calling the modern, ''theme-park-like,'' six- building business and retail ''in-fill'' center -- envisioned by prominent area developer Alan Nicholson and young architect Michael W. Dowling -- another invention of the city's core, after the creation of its Romanesque architecture in the 1880s and the urban renewal of the 1970s, Helena Independent Record business writer Christina Quinn quotes Montana State University urban design professor Ralph Johnson, who says the Helena area's 12-percent population growth rate promises to fill the new and old business and office space within eight years. Downtown property owners could speed it up by upgrading buildings and lowering rents or freezing them as suburban rents escalate, he advises, while the city could improve services, parking and landscaping, revise zoning to expand downtown housing and use Tax Increment Financing and other incentives to spur downtown investment. Along those lines, the writer reports, the Downtown Helena Business Improvement District is readying an ordinance proposal to unify all five zoning codes for the whole area, advocating its coordinated and pedestrian- friendly development, and backing local requests to make it more convenient with another parking garage. Meantime, says district executive director Paul Reichert, his group is purchasing an old- fashioned, 27-seat gas-powered trolley, which will loop through downtown and the Great Northern next summer. -- Independent Record   7/30/2002

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/

New Partnership Will Help Ranchers, Land Owners Protect Montana's Rural Land

Reaching out to Montana ranchers in the Lewis-Clark 1804-06 expedition corridor, many of whom have always felt obliged to protect its natural and historic assets, a new public-private partnership led by the Montana Stockgrowers Association created an Undaunted Stewardship program, which will boost these efforts with financial aid and technical expertise on conservation and ranch management, while gradually expanding them statewide and helping landowners set up ranch-based businesses. With more than 57.6 million acres under private ownership across the state, reports Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer, the partnership, including Montana State University, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and such environmental groups as American Rivers, will show ranchers more effective ways of protecting historic sites and riparian areas, keeping rivers and streams clean and preventing overgrazing. ''Our goal,'' says university spokesman Jim Peterson, ''is to keep Montana's rural landscapes beautiful and productive long into the future.'' BLM chief of resources John Moorhouse explains that the stewardship program will offer ranchers 10-year ''preservation contracts,'' similar to conservation easements. Stockgrowers spokeswoman Beth Emter sees the upcoming Lewis-Clark expedition bicentennial as an opportunity to familiarize the public with the role of ranching and land management in historic preservation.   7/7/2002

Resource(s): www.spokesmanreview.com/

Bozeman Developer Impact Fee Ordinance Ruled Invalid

Having imposed developer impact fees in 1996 and won voter approval to more than double them in 1998, the city of Bozeman in Gallatin County was sued by the Southwest Montana Building Industry Association in 1999, with District Judge Ted Mizner invalidating first the increase initiative last summer, and now the ordinance itself. ''If the fees could be raised by the initiative process, they could also be reduced by the initiative process, thereby critically impacting the city finances,'' wrote the judge last June, ordering the city to refund the additional money and drawing a sharp response from Mayor Marcia Youngman, appalled that ''the building industry and the judge can tell the people of Bozeman they can't tell the city it can charge full impact fees.'' In his second ruling for the builders' suit, the judge rejected Bozeman's comparison of its 1996 impact fee ordinance to one passed by the city of Billings in Yellowstone County and upheld by the state Supreme Court, noting that Billings could enact any measure not expressly forbidden by state laws under its ''self-governing powers,'' while Bozeman had only general governing powers at the time and needed state legislation to pass ordinances before becoming a self-governing jurisdiction in July 2001. City Attorney Paul Luwe promised an appeal in the state Supreme Court. Builders's attorney Art Wittich said the city should start refunding all impact fee money ''with interest during the appeals.'' Bozeman Daily Chronicle writer Erin Everett reports that the city spent only $600,000 in impact fees before the 1999 suit, with almost $11 million remaining in escrow.   4/12/2002

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/

Logging Injunction Dividing Montana's Governor and Environmentalists

Montana environmentalists, who won a U.S. District Court injunction against the Forest Service's plan for salvage logging on 44,000 acres of the Bitterroot National Forest, burned out by summer wildfires in 2000, are dismayed that Governor Judy Martz called them ''obstructionists'' and sent her a letter asking for a meeting. They warned that she will foster hatred ''unless you immediately correct your words and actions directed toward Montana citizens that hold a different view from your own.'' According to Associated Press writer Susan Gallagher, at a Hamilton meeting with loggers concerned about the injunction as hurting their ability to earn a living, the governor expressed her sympathy and asked any environmentalists present to step forward, saying, ''No one will hurt you if you want to talk, too. We'd like to understand you.'' In the letter signed by eight groups -- Native Forest Network, Friends of the Bitterroot, American Wildlands, Big Wild Advocates, Cold Mountain Cold Rivers, the Ecology Center, National Forest Protection Alliance and Wilderness Watch -- they explained that they decided against attending the Hamilton meeting because ''your comments over the past few weeks ... have made clear to us that you are not open to having a useful and civil dialogue about the Bitterroot logging plan.'' The governor's communication director, Mary Schwarz, said the governor has nothing to correct, but wants to meet with environmentalists if her schedule permits.   2/5/2002

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/

Development Fee Approved for Helena Sewer Hookups

Asking newcomers to pay their fair share of wastewater treatment and sewer hookup costs, estimated at $1,500 per household, the Helena City Commission approved by 3-2 a new $750 system development fee (SDF) for each sewer hookup, with Mayor Ken Morrison arguing for a smaller and phased-in fee and Commissioner Steve Netschert seeking a $75 fee as most conducive to city affordable housing needs. Builder representatives acknowledged the need for a sewer hookup fee, but also questioned the amount. Helena Builders Association executive director Bridget Holland cited affordable housing paragraphs from the city's new growth plan, insisting that ''the homebuyers should not pay the entire cost.'' Developer Joe Mueller shared the view. Independent Record reporter John Harrington notes that hookup fees charged by most Montana cities range from $1,581 in Kalispell and $1,200 in Missoula to $245 in Great Falls and $192 in Bozeman.   12/19/2001

Resource(s): www.helenair.com/helena/

Missouri River Citizens and several others will drop their appeals of the state air-quality permit for a 240-megawatt Montana First Megawatts plant

Under an agreement seen as "historic" for climate change control efforts, the Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC), Missouri River Citizens and several others will drop their appeals of the state air-quality permit for a 240-megawatt Montana First Megawatts plant proposed by NorthWestern Corp. of South Dakota, in exchange for the company's pledge to accelerate introduction of emission reduction technology, fund an energy conservation education and aid program for the state's low-income families, and plant 100,000 trees statewide to offset the plant's carbon dioxide emissions. MEIC energy policy director Patrick Judge said the company's "head-on commitment to addressing the global climate change is precedent-setting." The company, he continued, will make its project "Montana's first coal- or gas-fired power plant with a full offset of its carbon-dioxide emissions," becoming "a good neighbor and responsible steward of our natural resources." Northwestern Services Group president and CEO Mike Hansen said, "As good corporate stewards, we chose to work with groups and individuals to address their concerns and create programs that will further promote conservation and a cleaner environment."   10/18/2001

Resource(s): www.helenair.com

Visiting Great Falls, U.S. Housing and Urban ...

Visiting Great Falls, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo said his department is "working closely with lenders, the housing industry and non-profit groups to boost homeownership" in Montana and strengthen its economy. On the first of this year, the department increased loan amounts insured by the Federal Housing Administration nationwide. It raised their limit in Montana from $86,300 to $115,200, and their number from 3,180 to more than 4,900. The department is also raising the Affordable Housing Goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from 42 percent of their mortgage purchases to 48 percent in 2000, and 50 percent in 2001. It expects the companies to increase their Montana low- and moderate-income mortgage pool to $5.5 billion over the next ten years, which will ensure affordable housing for 63,000 families. In addition, three Montana human resource agencies are getting $35,600 for counseling first-time home buyers and others with housing problems.   8/10/1999

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