where should growth occur?
Bitterroot Communities Look to Collaborate on Zoning
By Greg Lemon, 2-22-08
Countywide zoning is going to impact the communities of Ravalli County, but just what those impacts are and how the county and towns will limit or mitigate them are, as yet, unanswered questions.
But one message from county and community officials is clear: everyone will need to continue to work together.
“It’s generally the right thing to do because clearly any zoning we do around the existing incorporated communities can affect how they end up growing,” said Karen Hughes, director of the Ravalli County planning department.
The countywide zoning project began over a year ago. The county has contracted with Clarion Associates out of Colorado to facilitate and develop the zoning. Community Planning Committees are meeting in each of the seven county school districts to aid Clarion Associates in the zoning process. The goal is to have a draft of the zoning regulations and maps ready for public comment this summer.
Montana law dictates that countywide zoning must consider the zoning regulations in local incorporated communities, said Chris Duerksen, planner with Clarion Associates. But the law doesn’t get into detail about the extent county zoning must conform to city zoning. That’s where the communication between the incorporated communities and the county should come in.
“We have to make certain that there are some zoning districts that are in keeping with what’s going to happen around the town,” Duerksen said.
Ravalli County has four incorporated communities: Stevensville, Pinesdale, Hamilton and Darby. In addition, Corvallis and Victor have community sewer districts and treatments systems. Florence has a sewer district, but no infrastructure. The general concern is that future growth near community borders will be inconsistent with the way the communities have been designed.
Take Hamilton, for instance. Hamilton has its own zoning and building codes. If the county tries to steer denser development near existing infrastructure, then it should be compatible with what is already in place, said city planner, Dennis Stranger.
“We think urban density should be provided with urban services,” Stranger said.
Those services mean more than just public sewer and water. It also means police and fire protection as well as road maintenance, he said.
Developments bordering the city will put pressure on city services, particularly the police department. So, it stands to reason that they be annexed so they would be included in the city’s tax base. But if they’re going to be annexed, they need to fit Hamilton’s own development standards, which include standards for roads, curbs and sidewalks along with sewer and water infrastructure.
“We’d have to work out some kind of mechanism with the county so we have some say about what gets approved where,” Stranger said. “That’s a prerequisite for any of this working.”
Communication will be the key, said Clayton Floyd, Stevensville town councilor and community planning committee member.
“As Ravalli County develops zoning districts countywide, I think the tendency’s going to be to want to zone the higher density closer to developed areas,” Floyd said. “And I think the assumption is that those areas, those towns, would want to, at some point, annex.”
But if future development doesn’t conform to Stevensville standards, then the town may not annex them, he said.
Another question is: Will the annexed growth pay for infrastructure upgrades, like possible expansion of sewer and water facilities, hiring more police officers, or maintaining new roads? Floyd isn’t so sure. So how will the community pay for the new development?
“From a taxpayer standpoint in Stevensville, how much do you think is fair to ask the taxpayers of Stevensville (to pay) to expand water and sewer to accommodate dense growth in the surrounding areas?” he asks.
These questions must be answered, or at the very least discussed, before countywide zoning is completed, Floyd said. The county must closely communicate with the towns as the project progresses.
“I would hope that we would have a real close collaboration,” he said.
That collaboration is happening, said Hughes. The planning department is leading the community planning committees and has been actively engaging the community leaders on how they envision working with the county through this process.
One piece of information the county is drawing from the communities is where would they like growth to occur and how much they think the can accommodate, she said. The communities and the county are also discussing how developments are going to be reviewed and approved.
The Montana law allows for a variety of ways to allow cities and counties to share in the review process for developments, said Ravalli County Attorney George Corn.
“The law provides for this cooperation, it just takes the political decision that they want that to make it happen,” Corn said.
This could mean a joint city/county planning board or having county commissioner representation on city planning boards, he said. It also could mean signing interlocal agreements or memorandums of understanding between the county and the communities, which could provide for input from communities on growth near their borders.
“There’s all sorts of statutory ways, it’s just up for the cities and towns to decide that they want to do it,” Corn said.
In Darby, Mayor Rick Scheele would want the town to have input on any developments within a certain radius of the town – say, for instance, five miles.
He doesn’t necessarily see the need to have combined planning boards, but maybe the town and the county could come to an agreement that if a development were proposed within that five-mile radius around Darby, the town would have a voice in the review process, Scheele said.
Discussion is already beginning about how the county and communities will work together on reviewing developments near the towns, Hughes said. But it’s too early in the process to say what mechanism will be put in place.
“As fast and furious as this process is, that part of the discussion is only just beginning it feels like,” she said. “I think we’re just kind of right now trying to get some of those concerns on the table so we can figure out how to address them.”
Commissioners and the planning department will continue to meet with community leaders to figure out a method of working together on implementing zoning and how, once implemented, they will work together through the review process, she said.
This story originally ran in the Bitterroot Star.
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Comments
The dialogue between the towns and the county to work out these problems is vital. I'm happy to see that Ravalli County is making that effort. I think that dialogue hasn't begun here yet.
Zoning to preserve agricultural land and open space made little progress here because it seemed that the urban populace was forcing "open space" down the throat of rural residents. Zoning to move dense development next to existing towns and/or infrastructure could meet resistance because the urban population feels forced to pay for services to "rural" residents. Only dialogue will help work these problems out. Ignoring these perceptions only leads to stalemate.