By Marilyn Wolff, Stevensville
I live on the east side of Stevensville and as a concerned citizen I want people in the city and surrounding areas to know about an oversized development of approximately 130 housing units proposed on 57 acres along Logan Lane and Middle Burnt Fork Road. California developers recently purchased the land and hope to begin a buildout lasting a decade. It’s a mixed housing and commercial proposal.
I believe there is reasonable and unreasonable development. This project is unreasonable because of its density and the fact two developments already exist in the area, Twin Creeks and Creekside Meadows.
Questions abound, such as the capacity of city services being adequate to support the size of the new development. There are so many issues but here’s a sampling: water pressure adequacy, surface and high groundwater coupled with silty soils that have little absorption, city wells that fail due to clogged filters causing extended water restrictions such as last summer.
Traffic along Logan Lane and Middle Burnt Fork Road will rocket. If you commute to work forget about these roads as a shortcut around the city. Speeding vehicles coming off the Eastside Highway onto Logan Lane, with added accesses approved by the county and the Montana Department of Transportation into the new development, will create serious public safety hazards. Make no mistake, people will be injured in vehicle accidents, or worse.
Think of the small town aesthetics we enjoy in and around Stevensville. We will lose the quality of life enjoyed in our quiet landscape with deer, migrating birds, and enviable mountain views. We don’t need to allow unreasonable large developments into our community that don’t make sense. A public process must be followed to approve this development. Once the developers submit an application to the city, it is reviewed by town staff, presented to the city Planning & Zoning Board which votes on it and subsequently the Town Council approves or denies the application. Public notices on these meetings must be posted in the legal section of the Bitterroot Star. Be involved, talk to your neighbors, talk to your city council person, the Mayor, attend meetings of the Planning & Zoning Board and Town Council. Do you want to preserve our small town feeling or become a crowded Missoula suburb?