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DOWNSPOUTS AND DEVELOPMENTS

New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson declared 2007 to be the “Year of the Water,” for his state’s Legislature, but with increasing populations and dwindling water supplies, water will no doubt continue to be one of the top issues for federal, state and local governments in the West – no matter what the year.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that in New Mexico developers’ plan to use irrigation water rights to help keep a project near Santa Fe afloat there has raised the ire of neighbors who fear the development may be too big and have too great an impact on water supplies in the area. Developers have claimed that enough water exists on the 1,300-acre parcel for 120 homes, but the development could see between 200 and 700 homes.

The State Engineer’s Office says that any irrigation water right that’s converted to another purpose has to be evaluated at “consumptive use amount, or that which is actually used by crops,” – which is about 14.5-acre feet. And the State Engineer’s Office will no doubt have the final say on the project, since in New Mexico, that office has authority over all surface and groundwater and the allocation of those resources.

Development in Mesquite, Nev., has sparked an interstate debate over water between Arizona and Nevada. Mesquite officials are looking south into Arizona for water to supply their needs in that fast-growing community. And just as Las Vegas’ water prospecting plans near the Utah border has caused a commotion in that state, Arizona residents are not pleased with the water-witching ways of Nevada. [more]

BUCKLES AND BOOTS IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL

Governors and lawmakers from Western states were in Washington, D.C., most of this past week, and they were busy pressing Congress on a slate of regional issues, making it a busy week in the nation’s capital for regional concerns. [more]

WILDLIFE, WANTS AND WON’TS

Affordable housing, wildlife habitat and open space – all are issues of concern to communities in the Rocky Mountain West. But unintended consequences of a buildling moratorium in one Colorado city are hobbling affordable housing efforts there. Concerns about wildlife habitat compelled the Idaho Fish and Game Department to issue an uncommon protest against a proposed development in Blaine County. And a desire to keep a cluster of new homes from cluttering up open space at the confluence of a Montana river and a prized blue-ribbon trout stream led to the creation of a zoning tool known as a citizen-initiated zoning proposal – a zoning district created at the behest of a group of concerned residents who opposed an Oregon developer’s plan to build 36 homes on 505 acres on Rock Creek.

The Aspen Times reports that the Aspen City Council, which had enacted a 10-month moratorium on building projects last April — voted on Wednesday to extend that deadline to May 31, 2007. That decision also denied the request by proponents of an affordable housing project that the project be exempted from the moratorium. Citing the resort town’s obvious need for affordable housing, members of the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority urged the City Council to exempt projects that would allow the demolition of 25 low-cost rental apartments, 14 at the private Park Avenue complex and 11 at the city's Smuggler Mountain, and replace them with 22 units of affordable housing on the two sites.

But the Council denied the exemption, putting the projects on hold until after the moratorium expires on May 31.

In Idaho, the Cove Springs development in Blaine County garnered a rare thumbs-down from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The Idaho Mountain Express reports that wildlife agency officials criticized the developers for their unwillingness to work with the agency to alleviate concerns about the effect of the proposed 338 housing units on 600 acres of a 4,630-acre ranch five miles south of Bellevue.

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HOUSING RUINS

Golf developments are nothing new. Neither are slope-side condos or homes with private fishing access. But homes with their own archaeological site? That’s a new one.

Utah developer Milo McCowan thinks it’s going to work, though, and he’s already in the throes of building a housing development with between 700 and 800 units on 270 acres west of Kanab Creek, and with a 20-acre dig site. The site includes 14 Anasazi ruins that span the culture’s residence over almost 1,200 years, ending about 800 years ago.

His plan, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, is to connect the archaeological sites with amateur diggers and university researchers, and to keep the 20 acres as a long-term study site in a park-like setting for residents.

McCowan is under no obligation to preserve the ruins, which include ancient dwellings that extend down 15 feet, and he has received praise and even offers to help from the Division of State History.
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THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

Numerous states around the country are retaliating against a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that gave local governments the power to condemn private property for economic development. That retaliation is especially pronounced in Western states, where private property rights are considered somewhat of a divine right.

The lead in a Washington Post article from June 24, 2005 sets the stage. Charles Lane writes: “The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that local governments may force property owners to sell out and make way for private economic development when officials decide it would benefit the public, even if the property is not blighted and the new project's success is not guaranteed.” This ideology, as one can imagine, stands in stark contrast to the culture of our region for many reasons. [more]

BABY, IT'S DRY OUT HERE

Officials across the Rocky Mountain West gave a collective nod of agreement to the findings of a new report that said the West is dry and getting drier.

The New York Times’ article on the report, issued by the National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the extreme drought suffered by the region in the late 1990s and early 2000s was a return to “normal” conditions after decades of higher than normal precipitation.

The report culls information previously published in scholarly journals and presents it in a straightforward manner. And the primary understanding regional officials pulled from the report is that some of the fastest-growing regions of the country are going to have less water from historical resources.

The Colorado River Basin covers 240,000 square miles in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico, and encompasses some of the nation’s fastest-growing areas: Colorado’s Front Range, Utah’s Wasatch Range, the Phoenix metro area in Arizona and Las Vegas. [more]

COOL WHEELS

A headline on the Tesla Motor’s Web site reads “They’re going fast!” And though this electric luxury sports car can reportedly go from zero to 60 in four seconds, the headline is referring to sales of the actual cars. The California-based company tore through its initial run so fast, it’s taking orders for the 2008 models and building a new production plant.

For weeks, speculation ran wild as to where that plant would end up, but last week, the decision was made to build in Albuquerque, reports the Albuquerque Tribune. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez joined Tesla CEO and co-founder Martin Eberhard and board Chairman Elon Musk (the man who started PayPal) to announce the plan to locate the plant in New Mexico. The new manufacturing facility will produce at least 10,000, five-person sedans and create 400 high-paying jobs.

New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans said the company will receive about $20 million in incentives, including two $3.5 million capital outlay appropriations to build infrastructure at Tesla's proposed Cordero Mesa location. The company was attracted to the state’s welcoming attitude along with Richardson’s clean energy agenda.

Cars start at $50,000, so start recycling those cans. [more]

EXPENSIVE DECISION

It’s the classic modern-day Western: a plot of land at the edge of town is valued as open space by locals who already have their piece, but a developer wants to build, and people are waiting at the gates to buy whatever he has to offer. Such is the case in Telluride, where both pro and anti-development advocates have eyed 570 acres at the entrance of the Colorado resort town.

The battle could be over, though, reports the Denver Rocky Mountain News, as a Delta County District Court jury agreed last week with a developer’s lawyer, who said the parcel was worth no less than $50 million.

Leaders with Valley Floor Preservation Partners, a local group that has been trying to buy the land to preserve it as open space, was shocked at the ruling. The group has been working to raise the $26 million it had offered the landowner, San Miguel Valley Corp.

The group says the land is too valuable as open space to be sold off, and said that it would only go to the wealthiest people. But over the weekend, advocates determined that with money from the city and money the group already raised, they may be abe to come up with that $50 million after all. [more]

MOVIN’ ON UP

Boise is starting to look a lot like U.S. cities in the early 20th century, when rural folk moved into the city for the jobs and cheaper living. A study done by and reported on by the Idaho Statesman shows that 43 percent of newcomers to Ada and Canyon counties from 2000 to 2005 moved from other places in Idaho. Only 11 percent came from California.

The data used comes from IRS tax-return address changes from 2000 to 2005 collected by the Charlotte Observer, a newspaper in North Carolina. It shows that the top four of five counties funneling people into the two urban counties are Idaho counties, while the fifth is Maricopa County in Arizona.

The Idaho Statesman reports, though, that while many Idahoans are moving to the “big city” for the jobs, the affordable housing and the amenities, those moving from out of state are attracted to the city’s smaller size. All told, that influx is increasing traffic and congestion, and much of the blame for burgeoning urban problems still falls on Californians — deserved or not. [more]

PLANNING AND GROWTH

I was introduced to Lincoln County Commissioner Marianne Roose at the Orton Family Foundation's PLACEMATTERS06 Conference, which we both participated in last fall. Marianne was participating in the panel "Forging Innovative Partnerships for Change," to tell about her experiences in helping bring together a diverse group of people in her county to work on reducing wildfire risk while also creating a sustainable plan for the Kootenai National Forest.

I was in a panel discussion entitled, "The Role of Media in Local and Regional Planning." Jonathan Weber, publisher and founder of NewWest.net, moderated that panel discussion. Subsequent conversations with Marianne and others at the conference made me wonder if there is actually a good deal of collaboration going on that’s not being reported by the media.

In my discussions with planners and local officials at the conference, many criticized the media for leaving out one critical aspect when covering planning decisions. That critical component, those folks argued, was that approval or rejection of subdivision plans hinged on following the letter of the law. Some said media coverage often began mid-way in the project, sometimes after projects have cleared the preliminary stage. Others I talked with said developers should be communicating with the media from day one, urging news outlets to get information on preliminary meetings and early public comment deadlines out in time for the public to become engaged early.
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