New West Network

My Page: Greg Lemon

City Voters Allowed to Vote Country

Montana's Attorney General issued an opinion this week that gives voters living in incorporated communities a vote on any countywide referendum, initiative or ordinance – specifically zoning ordinances.

Mike McGrath made the call in a case over who should have been able to vote in 2006 on two controversial Ravalli County zoning ordinances.

According to some, this decision could have far-reaching implications for county residents across the state, because it gives voters living in cities a voice in county land-use regulations. Other say county land-use regulations affect city residents too, so every voter in the county should be able to have a say. [more]

where should growth occur?

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. [more]

Health Care

Complexities in Medicare and lack of federal funding put pressure on rural health providers, said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, at a lunch forum in Hamilton Thursday.

Montana's concerns about rural health care are shared by other states, and with Baucus's position as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, those concerns will certainly be addressed, he said. [more]

Take It To The People

Last year, with Ravalli County facing the enormous task of countywide zoning, a group of citizens decided to look around for grant money to help the county with the task.

They found a willing donor in the Brainerd Foundation, based in Seattle, said David Schultz, a member of the Ravalli County planning board's land use subcommittee. Schultz was one of the people who solicited the Brainerd Foundation for money.

"We saw that (countywide zoning) was going to be a big job and it was going to take a lot of resources," Schultz said at a press conference yesterday in Hamilton.

Now the group is looking to the community to contribute money to match part of the Brainerd Foundation's grant. [more]

To the U.S. Supreme Court?

Aaron Flint, former president of the Associated Students of the University of Montana, is in a legal battle with the University over his First Amendment rights, and the case may come before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Flint is suing the University over their $100 cap on campaign spending for ASUM offices. In 2004, while Flint was running for ASUM senate, he spent $214.69 on his campaign. The money spent above his limit was for campaign posters and pizza. After Flint won a senate seat, his votes were thrown out by the ASUM senate because he violated the University rule. [more]

bad math?

State Sen. John Cobb, R-Augusta, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday with the District Court in Helena claiming Governor Schweitzer and his office have their accounting principles wrong in authorizing a tax rebate for homeowners.

The center of the complaint is House Bill 9, the bill passed during the May special legislative session that gave homeowners the $400 refund. Attached to the bill was language stipulating that should the state's general fund exceed $1.802 billion, another rebate would be triggered. The rebate would be for 2007 state income taxes and amount to about $140 per home.

Cobb's complaint states that Schweitzer's staff didn't use "generally accepted accounting principles" in determining the final amount for the state's general fund for the fiscal year 2007, and if they had, they would have determined the state general fund revenue for 2007 to be $1.769 billion -- not enough to trigger the tax rebate. [more]

real estate & development in the northern rockies

Imagine asking local businesses to give one percent of their profits to help their community.

Imagine working for nearly 90 years to help reconnect urban youth with the natural world by convincing cities to set aside urban nature preserves.

Imagine turning to the overcrowded forest behind your home for the wood to make the flooring in your wife’s dance studio and discovering a niche market for a once-worthless timber product.

Imagine using local taxes to put local youths to work on community restoration projects.

These ideas and more -- some already happening, some still faint -- were all laid out in the final panel discussion at NewWest.Net’s second annual Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies conference Friday evening. [more]

real estate & development in the northern rockies

Community development must respond to the environmental pressures and dangers existent in the world today.

It’s a broad statement and encompasses so many aspects of life: food, transportation, and housing. But this is also a statement that is crucial for communities in the West to understand as they continue to grow, said Don MacArther, founding partner in MacArthur, Means and Wells Architects in Missoula.

MacArthur spoke on innovative designs in community development at the NewWest.Net conference, but he started his discussion with an overview of the reasons community development must change. [more]

2nd Presidential Hopeful in Montana

John Edwards came to Missoula with a message:

“I think the system in Washington is rigged,” he told a packed, cheering room of supporters in the University Ballroom at the University of Montana Tuesday evening.

The University Ballroom was hot and it was close quarters. If you moved two feet in any direction, someone filled in behind you, particularly if you were close to the side door. Many people were holding their phone cameras up over the heads of the crowd ready for him to emerge. A concession table near the entrance sold beer and wine, and, in typical Missoula fashion, several people were passing time drinking Moose Drool out of bottles and red wine out of cheap plastic cups. [more]

DNRC Running out of Money

Montana will owe more than $39 million after fall rains and snow have cooled this fire season. And already, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is out of money.

Earlier this week, Gov. Brian Schweitzer called state legislators back for the second special session of the year, this time to put money toward fighting fire and beef up the governor's emergency relief fund.

Some have questioned the timing of the special session, since fires are still burning around the state, but Bob Harrington, DNRC State Forester, says it's past time.

"We're out of money and we're going to have to shut down the DNRC to keep going," Harrington said. "We're out of money to pay the bills." [more]