EPA comes to the rescue of town overrun by growth

FACTBOX • At a glance • At a glance

McCALL, Idaho -- This tranquil spot in the mountains can see change coming fast -- and it's called in the experts for help.

"We've been discovered," said Roger Millar, the McCall city planner who invited the Environmental Protection Agency to McCall this autumn to help the city plan for an avalanche of development. "It's a great problem to have."

Rising real estate values are nothing new these days, but the speed of their climb in McCall stands out. Housing prices went up 100 percent last year. The average family income is $50,000 -- but it's hard to find a house for less than $200,000.

"We would offer people jobs, they'd meet with a Realtor, and they'd turn us down," said Millar of recruiting workers.

What's happening in McCall is going on in many places. But here it's happening all at once. Retiring baby boomers are looking for somewhere to build second homes, which already make up 60 percent of the housing in McCall; investors shy of the stock market are putting their money into land. There's a general population shift toward the interior Western states; McCall grew 41 percent between 2000 and 2005 to a population of 2,524.

"There is a kind of a continental migration," said Daniel Kemmis, a senior fellow at the Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Missoula, Mont.

Economic culture shift

Many of the new arrivals have money. Just a few years ago, the arrival of a jet at the McCall Municipal Airport was cause for comment, said Rick Harvey, the airport manager. Nowadays, it's common to see 10 to 15 jets and turboprops land every day in the summer.

"It's been a sudden change in economic culture, I guess you might say," Harvey said.

And then there's the Tamarack Resort, a ski area that went in 15 miles down the road last year. While McCall has long had the low-key Brundage Mountain Resort nearby, Tamarack is new, and it's running glossy enticements in national media.

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