Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Opinion & Editorial

by Senator Rick Liable, Darby

In reviewing the Draft B zoning document it appears that the goals are not about land use, or land density, but about limiting the growth of development within our county and I oppose Draft B in its entirety.

The creation of zoning in Ravalli County, with less than 20% private land available to zone, should have been a simple process. Plan B, as drafted, has zoned for non use of the private lands, rather than planning for the best use of the land and protecting the rights of land owners. Why not just keep the 2 for 1 policy, and require that only half of the land can be developed (clustered), with the other half kept in open space, with the farmer still having title to the open space and able to manage the land. What Draft B does is sentence each farmer or rancher to life of maintaining their land without the opportunity to develop the land for the land’s highest and best use.

An issue that is not addressed is the fiscal impact to the County. By virtue of this Draft B you’ve added another layer of staff, including the Permit officer, and Board of Adjustment that will be funded out of the general fund. I realize that your intent is to add a fee schedule to every one of the applications and permits, but I believe that you will receive insufficient revenue to provide for the additional costs. Has county staff done an economic analysis of the additional costs to the taxpayers of this county and the revenue projections to cover the additional costs?

There is only one bright spot to this whole process and that is that zoning can be changed at any time in the future, including the ordinances that you have added to strangle the development of our County. It may take a few years for the County to realize the economic peril that Draft B has imposed upon this County, but changes will come to provide fairness to the many, imposed by the few.

I believe that what Draft B will accomplish is the economic demise of Ravalli County, in essence, economic death by a thousand cuts.

 Please, before implementing Plan B, take this to the voters for approval. It is the fair and Montana way to make sure that the people’s voice has been heard.

Re: zoning

Dear Editor,

To start with, I was born and raised in Hamilton. I moved away for 18 years to find work. While I was living in Kootenai County, Idaho the county took it upon themselves to Zone. One day we received a letter telling us what zone we had been put in. We were entered into “Rural Residential.” This wouldn’t have hurt us as we had ? of an acre. The real problem came when we were told that our small welding business would be ‘grandfathered’ in so we could keep our business as long as we worked it so many months of the year. We were not allowed to sell as a business because it would revert to rural residential. If we were to get sick and close the business for one year we wouldn’t be able to re-open it. We also couldn’t transfer it to one of our children. All the work we put into the business went right down the drain. On top of it all, our taxes went up a good amount. Before the Zoning we had been paying taxes on rural property. We were 10 miles out of one town and 25 miles from our county seat. Draft B shows the very same thing will happen here. We moved back to my home, the Bitterroot Valley, 25 years ago because it was not zoned and still a very nice place to live. Please don’t let them zone this valley.

Golda Hendzel
Stevensville

Protect Lost Horse Canyon

Dear Editor,

I am interested in protecting Lost Horse Canyon. Ravalli County Road Department along with the Forest Service plan a rock quarry near the cliffs. Activation of the quarry will destroy numerous climbs, threaten dozens more, disrupt wildlife, homeowners and negatively impact scenic and recreational assets of Lost Horse Canyon.

Lost Horse Canyon is important to me because it has world class climbing cracks, traditional climbing routes, camping near a river, bouldering, mountain biking, hiking and access to back-country.

The climbing resources at Lost Horse are valuable to climbers locally, and across the country. This is one of the best climbing areas in the state.

Activation of the quarry will negatively impact the scenic nature of the area, produce noise, disrupt wildlife such as migrating game animals, wolverine, and peregrine falcons, create a scar on the land and make the area too dangerous and/or impossible for climbing and many other recreational uses.

The Forest Service should consider the unique recreational asset of Lost Horse Canyon, recognize that climbers and many other recreational users enjoy Lost Horse Canyon every month of the year, and should consider safety and access issues.

Maurice E. Horn
Bozeman

Thoughts on planning and zoning

Dear Editor,

Property does not have rights. People have rights. With rights come responsibility. With a person's right to own property comes a person's responsibility to participate in the care of his or her community. That is to say, the responsibility which comes with property ownership is stewardship of community. Property owners are responsible to their community. A community is singularly dependent upon its property owners for health, wealth, and happiness.

When a community is small in number but large in space, the responsibility of the property owner with respect to community can be attended to via informal networks and neighborly conversations; a person's word is to be trusted, a handshake seals the deal.  When a community becomes larger in number and subsequently shorter on space, the responsibility of the property owner with respect to community becomes harder to manage informally – networks multiply while participation barriers, both intentional and unintentional, restrict access to neighborly conversation. The informal networks of property owners become unable to attend to the needs of the community.  Community decline, distrust, and discord result.

It is at this juncture of disharmony that property owners must investigate more formal means of attending to their responsibility to their community. This is the juncture at which Ravalli County now finds itself. Planning and zoning are the formal means by which property owners in other communities under similar demographic and geographic pressures have seen fit to attend to their responsibilities as property owners. Ravalli County property owners must not be remiss in their responsibility to their community. Participation in the planning and zoning process as well as a recognition that the present informal system of protecting community wellbeing is significantly compromised are the responsibilities which currently come with the individual's right to own property in Ravalli County.  

Let us unite in this new phase of responsibility, see the implementation of formal processes through to completion, and then remain committed to continued participation in the evolution of the formal processes to ensure that an acceptable balance between a property owner's responsibilities and rights is upheld in perpetuity.

Victoria Clark
Darby

Thanks from Stevi superintendent

Dear Editor,

Words in a letter to the editor cannot express my gratitude to the communities of Stevensville and Lone Rock. The passage of the Stevensville High School levy was a tremendous boost to our school. The added funds will be used wisely as the Board and I work hard to stretch each dollar and be good stewards of the funds provided.

The successful levy does much more then adds the needed money into our budget. It is a step in the direction of a true community school. A community school is one that builds relationships within the community to maximize all resources to ensure a quality education for each individual child. The school alone cannot prepare each child, it takes parents and community members to join together to ensure each child receives a well rounded education.

It is a privilege to educate the children of Stevensville and Lone Rock and is a responsibility that we do not take lightly. With the communities along our side, our students, your children, will accomplish great things.

Again, thank you for your support.

Kent Kultgen, Superintendent
Stevensville Schools

Rebuttal to Pollard letter

Dear Editor,

I would like to rebut, and correct, some of the statements made in Earl Pollard’s letter to the editor dated May 7, 2008. Just for the record, I have worked in Planning & Zoning for 22 years, and am also very familiar with Montana Statutes under Title 67, which regulate Airports. My previous letter to you, dated March 31, 2008, made reference to chapters 4, 5, & 6 of Title 67. These chapters regulate airport noise, building height, and land use. Earl wrote to you in disagreement with my previous letter.

 A few weeks ago, I met with County Commissioner Rokosch and we discussed these very issues. The Airport Influence Area (AIA) was adopted by Ravalli County on November 27, 2002. Under state law, this area may not extend more than 10,000 feet out, or exceed one mile in width, from the primary instrument approach runway, and its extended centerline. Height within the AIA is also restricted.

My concerns are for the protection of the lives and property of airport users, and for the same protection of occupants in the vicinity of the AIA. I’m sure Mr. Pollard will agree that it has been five years since the adoption of our AIA, and yet the County Commissioners never completed their duties as required by state law to appoint an Administrative Officer to assist the appointment of a Board of Airport Hazard Adjustment. The present members of the county Board of Adjustment may serve as the Airport Hazard Board.

 Mr. Pollard stated, “the voters of the County have no say” regarding the expansion and new runway of the airport.  This is totally incorrect, and I would suggest that he review County Resolution #1244 from November 27, 2001 where the Ravalli County Airport Board was created. The County Commissioners reserved certain powers for themselves, and on page 4 of the Resolution, they listed nine of these powers. Power #2 states as follows,  “Power to enlarge; extend runway with vote of registered electors of Ravalli County.” I would be happy to provide a copy of this Resolution to Mr. Pollard, or he can obtain it from the clerk & recorder upon request. I would also be happy to discuss this with him at any time.

 I am not a newcomer to airport issues or zoning. I served in the US Army Air Corps for 39 months. I have also served on numerous county planning boards and zoning commissions also have participated in writing zoning ordinances from the ground up. It is very important that the County Airport be zoned along with the Airport Influence Area. I’m sure Earl Pollard will agree with this.

 Also, I don’t understand Earl’s statement about Lorraine Crotty. She always writes her own reports without any influence from me or anybody else. And I never mentioned her name in my previous letter. Lorraine is not involved in any CPC or Airport group. Maybe Earl was having a “senior moment,” and thought we were discussing Hamilton City finances.

Bob Frost
Hamilton

News from the Clothes Closet

Dear Editor,

First, let me say thanks to everyone who has been donating such really good items! We had a period earlier this spring where we were unfortunately getting alot of non-useable items. This increases our expenses with the costs of having to dispose of them. So remember as you are sorting things out for us we can only accept items that are ready to use.

We want to remind everyone that we are nearing summer and will be changing to our summer hours, Wednesday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., starting Wednesday, June 4th.

Helping hands! We are needing some help for the summer! We would like to invite any organizations to consider cooperatively coming as a group on a Wednesday or a Saturday for the four hours. One day, once a month or once a summer - we are always grateful for any helping hands! Churches, Youth Groups, Boy Scouts, Knitting Groups, or Book Clubs... we are not picky! And we always seem to have fun!

Rumors are flying as always, but to clarify... we are not closing our doors...we are needing a new or rather different space. We are hoping for another donated building in our future. Eleven years ago Lois Staves ran an ad in this paper asking for someone to help out, and it worked. We are hoping it will again... if you can help or have ideas you can call Sara at 529-0015.

We so appreciate everything this community has done to support us for the last 16 years. The service we provide is unquestionably necessary and truly making a difference in the lives of a wide range of community members. Thank you.

Sara Schardt, Director
Stevensville Clothes Closet

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