ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAND USE GROK II

Rules and Regs Are No Fun, But Add Certainty For Developers

By Headwaters News, 11-13-06

Now that the elections are past, newly elected officials haven’t yet taken office and several land-use initiatives have either passed or failed, the media can return to the business of covering growth and development.

In Montana, that means taking a look at the process of approving developments. Over the weekend, the Missoulian reports on what some see as the advantage of big subdivisions in the Flathead Valley. Development in that valley is on a roll, with more projects planned that are larger than ever before, on more acres and for a much higher selling price. Tom Jentz, Kalispell's lead land-use planner, said that he prefers these larger developments because they include money and plans for streets, utilities and services, and manage a larger chunk of the growth.

For a long time, minor subdivisions, which are five lots or less, were the norm in Kalispell, but required few rules and regulations, and often didn’t come with roads, sewage treatment plants and many other urban amenities.

In Las Vegas, reports USA Today, the era of mega subdivisions may be coming to a close. The city is hemmed in by mountains, national parks, military bases, an Indian community and critical habitat for the rare desert tortoise, and estimates are that the Nevada metropolis will have consumed all developable land within the next decade. The fear of impending scarcity has already sent the price of land to $300,000 an acre, which is encouraging developers to build denser developments using smart-growth ideas and techniques.

But that land scarcity has translated into a “drive until you qualify” mentality for many homebuyers, who are buying homes dozens of miles away from the Las Vegas Valley because homes are much cheaper there – although the commute times are growing daily as more remote subdivisions crop up.

Las Vegas’ other issue has to do with finding water, and much to the frustration of many in rural Nevada and Utah, the city wants to pull water from underground aquifers in small farming communities hundreds of miles away that are already feeling the pinch for water.

In Colorado, reports Westword, some developments that do handle all of the urban amenities, have done the job of integrating themselves into the urban landscape, so that they blend in perfectly, with grid streets that are built to city specs and allow the public to use them like any city street. That method helps control unplanned sprawl, but can be deceptive to people who think the sidewalks are public spaces, which they are not. One such development, the Twenty Ninth Street retail district, has become a model of sorts to a handful more on the way.

And, as Westword reports, in a town such as Boulder where public protest is the norm, the Twenty Ninth Street mall doesn’t have to allow such protests on their private land. Which could no doubt someday lead to a public protest about lack of protesters’ access to the Twenty-Ninth Street Mall.

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