Discovering Transit in Montana

Darby - It is has become evident that our cousins in the south valley do not share the same opinion of the Bitterroot Valley’s future that the majority in the central and north valley do; a future in which growth is regulated based upon a shared vision of what our rivers, communities, farmlands, forests, and slopes should look like for generations to come. I do not blame the residents of the Darby School District for how they feel, for increased government regulation does represent something that much of Montana has been able to escape…large scale change.

While I respect and even understand the views of many in the Darby area, I must disagree. We have a natural and justified tendency in the Rocky Mountain states to inherently distrust regulation from government. But this is not a distant federal government ignorant of the particular needs of the local people, this is a government of fellow Bitterrooters. The policy of planning our growth through zoning is not a conspiracy for government domination over individual rights, but a solution to the crisis of rampant development that has the potential to destroy all that makes the Bitterroot Valley special.

There is clearly a difference in perception between the Darby School District and those of the north end of the valley. In the same decade that saw 13% growth in Ravalli County between 1990 and 2000, the Darby area changed the least, since most of that growth was concentrated in the Florence, Lone Rock, and Stevensville areas. The influence of Missoula’s growth and inflation in housing prices has caused much of this north valley development, and residents of these districts are desperate to hold on to the rural character of their once sparse landscape. Only Stevensville has been able to hold onto a shred of independence from Missoula by planning for the town’s future with a focus on emphasizing its core values. This is what the county wide zoning initiative hopes to accomplish. It does not seek to control every aspect of our lives, but to take control of our destiny and make our valley something to be proud of.

We have two distinct futures: One where the Bitterroot Valley is transformed into Missoula-South by out-of-state developers; a vision of an unending column of houses marching across the landscape from Hamilton to Miller Creek, and a future where we grab hold of our own destiny and focus the inevitable growth in a way that strengthens our existing communities, protects our agricultural heritage, and saves our natural wonders for my generation and our descendants. I for one do not want to see that first future, one that has already occurred in countless valleys across the world. It is irresponsible to think that Darby will be unaffected by the unplanned future simply by its distance from Missoula. We are in this together. We cannot achieve a desirable future if we are not united in its vision, just as the United States would not have achieved independence without unity against tyranny. The precedence of a single school district opting out of the county wide zoning will make it very difficult to make the vision of our preferred future a reality.

- Benjamin

Missoula - While transportation improvements to the Miller Creek area have now lost funding, congestion is continuing to increase, and more is on the way as the Teton Addition, part of the Maloney Ranch subdivision, begins construction. Today the Missoulian reported (see Missoula link) that Missoula County lost $1.27 million that was meant for a roundabout designed to relieve congestion at the intersection of Upper and Lower Miller Creek Road. It is easy to try and find blame in a disaster such as this, and there is plenty to go around at both county and federal levels of government, but I think such superfluous rhetoric misses the point.

The entire Miller Creek area, including Linda Vista and Maloney Ranch, was a flawed design at the start. This part of Missoula is a great example of what not to do when planning the transportation infrastructure of a new neighborhood. Outside of the Missoula city limits when the Miller Creek area was first developed, county officials dropped the proverbial ball when these subdivision designs were approved. If Missoula County had used strict guidelines regarding efficient transportation access and impact fees, perhaps the developers of that land would have provided the extra funding needed for additional road access other than the lone Miller Creek Road. Now, a few decades later, the cost of the poor design is still being inherited by current and future Missoulians. This poor design is compounded by the lack of any public transportation from Mountain Line.

Has the lesson been learned? I would hope that our current elected officials have learned from this ordeal. It is far easier, and cheaper, to get it right the first time around rather than to try and go back later and fix bad transportation design. Even with this simple lesson, subdivisions like Maloney Ranch have still been approved by both city and country officials without developers paying for their share of infrastructure improvement. They reap the benefit of real estate sales, yet take no responsibility for the increased strain their development puts on an already taxed system. The least they could do is pay for bus service to the area, which would benefit home sales anyway.

As more land in the valleys of Western Montana is converted to homes and businesses, I hope that the lessons of Miller Creek are remembered by our local officials. This latest development proves that we cannot always count on federal funds to bail us out of transportation messes created at home. The solution starts locally, before the earth movers go to work.

- Benjamin