guest editorial

Ravalli County Kicks Off Countywide Zoning Effort

By Ravalli County Commissioners, Guest Writer, 7-31-07

On August 7th and August 14th, 2007, Dr. Larry Swanson will be visiting Ravalli County to present information valuable to the countywide zoning effort. Dr. Swanson is the director of the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West – a research and education program focused on exploring challenges and opportunities facing the intermountain west. His talk will focus on recent trends in the Bitterroot Valley regarding population, economics, the role of agriculture, and on the importance of grassroots involvement in local planning efforts.

The first presentation on August 7, 2007 will be held in Lone Rock, at the Lone Rock School Gym and will begin at 7:00 p.m. The second presentation on August 14, 2007 will be held in Hamilton, at the Hamilton City Hall and will begin at 7:00 p.m.

We are pleased to have Dr. Swanson in the valley, for not only is the message he brings worth understanding and appreciation, but because his arrival initiates a series of public meetings focused on Ravalli County’s countywide zoning effort. At the conclusion of Dr. Swanson’s presentation, staff from the Planning Department will outline the next steps of the zoning effort and what you can expect from the process.

Briefly, after Dr. Swanson’s presentations, the next step in the zoning effort involves holding a meeting in each of the County’s seven school districts. These “Nuts and Bolts” meetings will have as their focus an introduction to the draft zoning regulations that the Land Use Subcommittee of the Planning Board has been so hard at work on since Fall 2006. Also, the “Nuts and Bolts” meetings will include an overview about Community Planning Committees (CPCs): what their role in the zoning process will be, the support each CPC can expect to receive, and other critical information.

At the conclusion of each “Nuts and Bolts” meeting, people interested in forming CPCs in each of the County’s seven Planning Areas (school districts) are encouraged to start organizing and meeting.  Planning staff members will be assigned to each CPC to help provide support.  We deeply encourage each interested individual to attend Dr. Swanson’s presentation and the “Nuts and Bolts” meeting in your area.

Following the “Nuts and Bolts” meetings, there are a series of other public meetings and workshops planned in Planning Areas of the County addressing the following topics: CPC training workshops, zoning question and answer sessions, and presentations about the GIS Land Suitability Analysis and what it means for zoning.  All of these meetings, as well as the local meetings of CPCs, are important initial steps towards starting to develop a countywide zoning map.

When the County initiated the countywide zoning project in January of 2006, we knew that creating a quality work plan that allowed for a solid public process that would ultimately result in a quality product would require a great deal of flexibility. To this end, we understood it to be essential that we periodically review progress made to date, identify areas that present challenges, identify areas of opportunity, and ultimately improve the zoning work plan to address changing conditions. An updated countywide zoning work plan can be found on our website, www.ravallicounty.mt.gov/planning.  You can also find a number of other documents on the website that might be of interest to you, including draft zoning regulations and a draft zoning matrix, an outline of upcoming meetings, etc.  Keep connected to the project by checking our website, or better yet, ask to be part of the County’s planning mailing list for regular email updates.  Please also feel free to visit the Planning Department to obtain copies of posted documents.

Many challenges lay ahead of us in this project, but we also see an incredible opportunity to develop an enduring vision of the future of Ravalli County. The County Commissioners and the Planning Department are firmly resolved in moving the process forward deliberately, methodically, and with a focus on quality. We are resolved in providing high quality and professional support to each CPC and all interested citizens. We are resolved in obtaining additional professional assistance to further the merit and excellence this project deserves. And finally, we are resolved in establishing and sustaining the firm pledge to grow in a direction that best serves the welfare of the County.

Dr. Larry Swanson’s presentations are scheduled for:

• Tuesday, August 7, 2007: Lone Rock School Gym at 7:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, August 14, 2007: Hamilton City Hall at 7:00 p.m.

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