real estate & development in the northern rockies
Growth in the Northern Rockies: Building from the Best
By Matthew Frank, 10-25-07
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The mood didn’t need to be lightened after the lively (and testy) talk about growth planning in Western Montana that had just finished up, but the Sonoran Institute’s Dennis Glick got the audience going anyway, leading the 300-plus here at the second annual Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies conference through a couple verses of what he thinks should be the anthem of the Northern Rockies: Home on the Range.
Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day
Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day
“We live in a terrific place,” Glick said, and we enjoy “a quality of life that is the envy of the nation.” But we also have growth, he added, and if current trends continue, places we love are likely to fill in. “What does that do to the home on the range?”
But growth isn’t necessarily bad, and examples of good growth is the focus of the organization’s new book, titled Building From the Best of the Northern Rockies. The book is composed of examples of community-based development and best practices, and attempts to “shift the debate from what is wrong with new development…to what is right,” Glick said.
“What can we build that our child will cherish tomorrow?” he asked “Can we build in a way that preserves our community character, preserves our quality of life and conserves the natural environment?”
Yes, Glick said, and the book is illustrative of that. It’s the result of two years of work by a team of architects, developers, planners, Realtors, conservationists, affordable-housing advocates and community leaders working to (1) identify best development practices, (2) identify projects on the ground that reflect those principles, (3) celebrate best projects—“If people are doing good things, we should put a spotlight on them,” Glick said—and (4) provide policy recommendations that encourage higher quality development.
And the team found, according to the book’s executive summary, that a New West is being designed and built that honors the region’s traditional designs and patterns of growth; incorporating energy efficiency and environmentally friendly materials; creating walkable, affordable communities where stores and homes are in proximity; and involving the community in the planning of these projects.
Glick highlighted a few of these projects, including Missoula’s Gold Dust complex that demonstrates how sustainable energy and community principles can effectively combine with affordable housing.
Examples of good growth were found all over the Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, not just in the Missoulas and Bozemans, Glick said. Indeed, the goal, in part, was “To demonstrate that you don’t have to be in a cappuccino-drinking, Patagonia-wearing community to do good stuff.”
For more on the Bozeman-based Sonoran Institute and its book Building From the Best of the Northern Rockies, click here.
Stay tuned to NewWest.Net/RealEstate for more coverage from the second annual Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies conference.
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