PLANNING AND GROWTH

Media Can Help the West Craft Growth and Build Consenus

By Shellie Nelson, Headwaters News, 2-16-07

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.

A situation that occurred last year in Montana, and covered extensively by NewWest.net, provides a clear lesson about involving the public early.

A developer seeking to build a 36-unit subdivision on 200 acres at the confluence of Rock Creek, a blue-ribbon trout stream, and the Clark Fork River ran into serious opposition to the project after he began moving dirt, but before he filed for any permits for the subdivision.

First, a group filed for a temporary injunction to halt the work, a request which was granted by a Missoula County District judge.

Then landowners in the Rock Creek area presented a request to the Missoula County Commissioners, asking that they be allowed to form their own zoning district.

The Missoula County Planning and Zoning board — made up of the county’s three commissioners and two others — approved that request.

But the effect of the ruling is unclear in that the three commissioners sitting as members of the planning board split the vote — one for, one against, and one abstaining — and for the ruling on the zoning board to have merit, the Missoula County Commission may have to approve it.

Both the developer and members of the Rock Creek Protective Association said that even though the ultimate effect of the planning board’s decision was unclear, the message sent by the nearly year-long legal wrangling was clear: Get everyone at the table, sit down and figure out a compromise.

Tracking those negotiations in the media could provide other developers and other neighborhood associations with a template on how to talk about projects, and perhaps avoid protracted legal disputes and the acrimony such battles breed.

On the positive side of media attention, if more was paid to consensus projects such as the fuels-reduction project in the Kootenai National Forest in Montana discussed in a column Roose wrote for Headwaters News, that attention could help other groups put together their own collaborative projects.

Not that the Kootenai National Forest Stakeholders Coalition is the only group doing such work in Montana.

Officials in Madison County have teamed up with the U.S. Forest Service and private landowners to complete a hazardous fuel-reduction project in the Beaverhead-Deer lodge National Forest in Montana to make it easier to protect homes built in the wild land-urban interface from wildfire.

It could be that more such groups exist — or will be formed as more counties in Montana and other western states work to reduce hazardous fuels in areas where public lands and private property adjoin.

Such efforts may be flamed by the federal government’s increasing drive to curtail wildfire fighting costs.

After a scathing audit by the Government Accountability Office on money spent by the U.S. Forest Service fighting wildfires in 2006, including a particularly disastrous year in Montana where dozens of homes burned, it appeared federal officials were examining how states were reimbursed for fighting wildfires.

Several bills that would tie counties’ planning decisions to availability of firefighting funds from the state general fund were introduced into the Montana Legislature this session.

Senate Bill 51 would require counties to consider wildfire hazards when developing growth plans. Senate Bill 167 would require counties to designate wild land-urban interface areas, and would allow the state to withhold firefighting funds for counties that did not so designate such areas.

At the Jan. 11, 2007 hearing on those bills before the Senate Local Government Committee, the committee decided to send the bills to a subcommittee to take testimony offered at that hearing, and combine the bills into one piece of legislation.

Legislation such as that proposed in Montana will add another layer of complexity to the planning process, but it could also work as the impetus needed to bring various stakeholders together to find a solution that works for everyone.

The media definitely have a role in providing residents insight into how legislation, such as the wild land-urban interface bills in Montana, will affect the Rocky Mountain West and what local officials think of the legislation and how such measures could change the look of their community.

If the planners, local officials and other people whom I met at the PLACEMATTERS06 conference are a true representation of the people who are working across the West, then there is a huge contingent of folks who are bright, committed and passionate about their work, and who are willing to bring everyone together to create the best plan possible for their piece of the West.

And the media should be there, following the progress, and perhaps most important, reporting the outcome.

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