By Skip Kowalski, President, Bitterrooters for Planning
It has recently come to our attention that the Legacy Ranch Subdivision proposal is history. This proposal has been in the works for a long time stirring fear among residents, creating uncertain economic return for the developer and predicting probable adverse impacts to fish, wildlife and water resources next to the locally popular Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge.
Local residents were spared the creation of a 639 unit subdivision on 368 acres, essentially a new town dropped in their neighborhood – a subdivision that had practically no supporters, but drew hundreds in opposition. Abandonment of the Legacy Ranch proposal has at least brought partial closure to those who had major concerns about how the development would impact their health, safety, water supply and quality of life.
Unfortunately, instead of retaining the property as a working ranch or redesigning the proposal to accommodate citizen’s issues and environmental concerns, the ranch is now proposed to be sold as 10 acre residential lots that were originally subdivided as speculative orchard tracts in 1913. The result will be more of the same uniformly spaced cookie cutter approach to residential development so common in the Bitterroot. Legacy Ranch could have been a positive example of a wisely planned subdivision. It could have easily been designed as an economically viable cluster development that provided jobs and houses, limited agriculture and wildlife habitat while addressing the concerns of the local community. Instead, the developer attempted to maximize profit, but was denied preliminary plat approval as a result of litigation. He is now proposing to dispose of the ranch piece by piece. Although local residents can now rest easy that they will not have a new high density gated community next door, they will have to live with the less intrusive, but much less than ideal, legacy pattern of subdivision left by the Apple Boom speculators over a century ago.
I am anxious because this is not the last such proposal we will see in our valley. Since Ravalli County lacks a growth policy or any other comprehensive planning requirement and since county officials sidestep requiring adequate and effective mitigation for subdivision development, social, economic and environmental uncertainty will remain the standard. In the absence of planning, the county is ripe for speculators motivated by cashing in on the Bitterroot’s quality of life characteristics, turning a profit and moving on. It is only a matter of time until another proposal raises its head to distress and anger local citizens. Why does it have to be this way?
A “come what may, anything can go anywhere” approach to land use development is in no one’s best interest. The unwillingness to identify how and where the county should develop and how and where the county should focus on agriculture, wildlife habitat and open space will continue to keep everyone guessing. Developers will remain unable to effectively evaluate financial risk, folks in agriculture will continue to remain uncertain if a new subdivision will be compatible with their operations, local residents will continue to wonder what surprise might show up next door and how much it will cost them and conservation minded individuals will continue to question if adequate considerations are made for transportation, fish, wildlife, water, recreation or scenery. In the absence of planning, everyone is left in the lurch – never knowing where to invest, what to protect or where compromise solutions can be achieved. Comprehensive planning is a reasonable first step in resolving these problems. It is certainly an improvement over the random “first to walk through the door” priority setting for development that we have in the valley today.
I want to be optimistic that we have learned something from recent events. This proposed development has demonstrated that Ravalli County citizens do care about what happens in our county and has provided us with an example of how not to do things. Hopefully, as the Bitterroot continues to develop, we will benefit from this experience and take heed from the lessons of Legacy Ranch.