Tackling the 'Z' word
Zoning was the order of the day at Commissioner Chilcott's lunch meeting with concerned citizens
by DANA GREEN Ravalli Republic

STEVENSVILLE - The word "zoning" mentioned time and again at a Republican lunch meeting? Go figure.

But the 'Z' word was the hot topic of the day, as Ravalli County Commission Chairman Greg Chilcott spoke Friday before members of the Bitterroot North Valley Pachyderm Club, a Republican organization that hosts lecture and educational forums on current events and political topics.

As club members lunched on chicken salad sandwiches at the Frontier Cafe just off busy U.S. 93, commissioner Chilcott laid it out in plain terms - Ravalli County needs some type of zoning, and it would be better if it came from the bottom up rather than the top down.

The reason for zoning would come as no surprise to county residents, Chilcott said - unprecedented growth.

Economist Larry Swanson of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West recently projected that the valley's population would pass 73,000 within two decades, Chilcott told the audience.

But an economic study conducted by BFI, a Missoula waste management company, came up with different figures: 123,000 people living in the Bitterroot within 20 years.

"We have been discovered nationally - we have developers coming here and buying large tracts of land," Chilcott said. "This is new - we haven't seen that before."

Growth was to be expected - but residential growth ends up costing the county more than it brings in, Chilcott said.

A Gallatin County study showed that unplanned development outside of towns costs taxpayers $1.45 in services for every dollar collected, while farmlands cost only 50 cents in services per dollar.

"In effect, (we're) going backward for every new development built," Chilcott said. "We find we're not able to provide the level of services to taxpayers we were able to provide in the past."

To make matters tougher for high-growth counties, the Montana Department of Revenue currently calculates property taxes based on 2002 prices - on a new home worth $180,000, the county only sees about $275 in property tax revenue at the end of the day.

"That's a pretty staggering statistic," he said. "With that, it's pretty difficult to provide a law enforcement officer with a car, or a gun on their hip."

Chilcott told club members that he didn't have all the answers - but they were more likely to come from valley citizens than from any government agency.

County officials planned to conduct a study this year assessing impact fees on developments for schools, roads, and other county services. The study is required by state law before any impact fees could be assessed, and it was the right place to start, Chilcott told the audience.

The next step, after instituting appropriate impact fees, is zoning - but ordinary citizens should be involved in forming and shaping it from the start, Chilcott said.

"The time is about 30 years too late to have zoning in Ravalli County," he said. "(But) we have to do it together - with a lot of input. We need to do it as a community ... and come up with zoning that makes sense."

Chilcott expressed reluctance to enact interim, or emergency countywide zoning because he believed it cut the people out of the process.

Chilcott encouraged the people in the room to come to county commission meetings and speak on behalf of countywide zoning if they supported it.

Special interest groups shouldn't be allowed to lead the debate over zoning, Chilcott said, the silent majority need to step up to the plate and get involved.

"The battlelines are going to be drawn," he said. "We need to come together as a community and create a common vision for the future."

With his talk wrapped up, club members sounded off on their own concerns to their local elected official - from paying property taxes on a fixed income, to the possible impacts of the proposed Bitterroot Resort in Lolo, to the loss of agricultural land and local produce in the valley.

"I'm concerned about what (new residents) are going to eat," said Stevensville School Board trustee Ed Cummings of dwindling farmland in the Bitterroot Valley. "We think the trucks are going to just keep rolling into the (supermarket), and we can keep paying for them to come. That's a problem that should be a priority."

In an effort to get his members directly involved, Pachyderm Club President Bill Hester circulated a clipboard asking club members to sign up for an e-mail newsletter, telling folks when and where the next commissioner meetings on zoning issues would be held.

Sometimes residents get busy with their own lives and hobbies, and it's easy to let local politics slip by unnoticed - but the growth issues impacting Bitterrooters are too big to ignore, according to Hester.

"This is something that's so important, and it touches everyone who is here," Hester said, collecting his clipboard with names of those ready to learn more about the not-so-dreaded 'Z' word. "We have to become more aware."

Reporter Dana Green can be reached at 363-3300 x28 or at dgreen@ravallirepublic.com