Missoula and Billings still on top 100 growing cities list

Populations continue to climb in many of Montana’s fast-growing regions – just at much slower rates than recent boom years.

“Basically the same areas that have been growing since 2000 are still the ones growing, although it’s slowed down quite a bit,” James Sylvester, with the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana, said.

Economic downturn has cut growth by as much as half in many of these areas, Sylvester added, largely because of the economic downturn.

Flathead County’s population grew by nearly 2 percent between 2007 and 2008, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau last month. The report puts the number of residents here at 88,473. That’s 14,002 more people than were counted here in the 2000 census.

Gallatin County’s 3 percent growth rate, up to 89,824 people in 2008 from 87,243 the year before, was enough to earn it a spot on the list of 100 fastest-growing counties in the country last year. Ranked at number 98, Gallatin’s growth was significant – but still sedate compared to first-placed St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana, which grew by 12.8 percent.

Billings and Missoula also claimed spots on a top-100 list, placing 70 and 80, respectively, in the ranks of fastest-growing metropolitan areas. Billings’ population grew by about 2,500 people or 1.7 percent to just more than 150,000 residents, while Missoula saw 1.6 percent growth to about 107,000 residents. [more]

'A SNAPSHOT IN TIME'

The West may be best known for its wide-open spaces, but increasingly it’s becoming an urban landscape. Many of the nation’s fastest-growing cities were in the West last year – and they’re not the places you’d think.

Sure, desert megalopolises like Phoenix and Las Vegas still claimed their share of newcomers. But growing even faster were places like Idaho Falls and Provo, Utah – small and midsized cities that out-of-staters would struggle to find on a map.

Utah and Idaho claimed four of the 10 fastest-growing metro areas in 2008, according to estimates released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau. A quarter of the top 100 metro areas were in the Intermountain West. Nineteen of the 100 fastest-growing counties were in the West, too. So were five of the nation’s largest cities.

Welcome to the new urban West. [more]

A workshop on the cleanup and reuse of brownfields will be held today, Thursday, Sept. 4, at the Missoula City Council Chambers at 140 W. Pine St. and, in the afternoon, at the Missoula County Courthouse less than a block away at 200 W. Broadway, rooms 201 and 374.

Anyone interested is welcome to attend, including local officials, developers, landowners, bankers, lenders, community leaders, attorneys and consultants as well as the general public or anyone who fits some, all or none of the labels mentioned above. (Registration is $25 and can be done online or in person at 8 a.m. at the Council Chambers.) [more]

Sheridan - Think of Wyoming as the giant ocean that it once was, with vast stretches of water between islands and atolls. Imagine traveling by boat. The more time and money it costs to reach each island, the more isolated it becomes – unless it has something singular to offer. The plain jane atolls affording nothing but tidal pools and coconuts eventually are ignored all together.

The high cost of fuel, circa 2008, has the same isolating factors on Wyoming as the oceans of yore.

Never mind the irony about how much fuel we produce. Wyoming communities, especially the small ones, depend on cheap oil. Wyoming relies on the outside world for practically everything. The more it costs to deliver those goods, the more they're going to cost the populace. [more]

The 'Megapolitan' West

It was surprising to see Govs. Bill Ritter and Jon Huntsman show up yesterday in downtown Denver. Usually it takes a natural disaster or a major fundraising opportunity to get two Western governors, of two separate parties, together in the same room. But Colorado's Ritter and Huntsman, of Utah, showed up at a press briefing at the offices of a big Denver law firm yesterday to mark the debut of … a new policy report.
[more]

From The New West Blog

Interesting story this week from the Denver Post’s Jason Blevins on who’s feeling what parts of the housing downturn at Colorado’s ritziest resorts.

The nut:

The number of home sales in Colorado’s resort communities has plummeted anywhere from 30 percent to more than 50 percent, a rare downturn in a market that has historically flourished. Resort markets that include Vail, Aspen, Steamboat, Telluride and Breckenridge are enduring record declines, according to Land Title Guarantee, which tracks sales in the high country.

Prices are still up though, and some are using those stats to maintain optimistic about the high-end Colorado market, and others say the highest of the high-end isn’t feeling any pain at all.

"the new new west"

A new report by the Brookings Institution assesses the dramatic population growth and economic and demographic shifts redefining the southern Intermountain West.

As all eyes turn to the West for the Democratic National Convention, now exists "a teachable moment for the region itself and us to convey the new realities on the ground," said Mark Muro, fellow and policy director at the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program. "The region is perpetually misunderstood and constantly caricatured, and we think this is an opportunity to address the real nature of its challenges."

The 80-page report, entitled Mountain Megas: America’s Newest Metropolitan Places and a Federal Partnership to Help Them Prosper, surveys trends and federal policy challenges in the Intermountain West. [more]

From WyoFile.Com

Wyoming is getting younger and richer.

Rarely do these two demographics merge and create happy endings. Wyoming is trying to be the exception.

The money part is pretty straightforward. Wyoming's real earnings in 2006 reached their highest level in 36 years. Our job growth in 2007 was the second highest in the nation.

The aging part isn't too difficult to figure out, either. Young wayfarers seeking fortune have long been a part of Wyoming’s economic history. What's surprising is how long this latest batch is staying on. [more]

When can a community afford to say no?

A moratorium on all new 20-acres or more development applications in Teton County, Wyoming until Dec. 31, 2008 has left a litigious air in the majestic Jackson Hole Valley.

Teton Meadows Ranch filed a lawsuit last week to reverse the moratorium, which was approved by commissioners one day prior to the development’s scheduled hearing.

The moratorium has essentially killed their 500-unit, 288-acre development in South Park, 4miles south of Jackson, which contained the condition to rezone the rural 50-home zoning allotment — a density 10 times more than is currently allowed. Many residents began “emergency” conversation with the commission in March when two additional projects, both in the South Park area, submitted plans for rezoning to allow 614-units, a total of over 1,000 new residences projected in the area.

Jackson faces a tough challenge of how and where to grow. Overflow from Teton County, Wyoming over Teton Pass into Teton County, Idaho has become rampant. [more]

NewWest.Net Conferences

The Designing the New West: Architecture and Landscape in the Mountain West Conference is wrapping up here in Bozeman at the historic Gallatin Gateway Inn. Put on by NewWest.Net and sponsored by the Sonoran Institute, the conference brought together designers from all over the country to explore innovative design ideas, identify best practices, and better understand how to bridge the gap between good architectural theory and sometimes-messy building practices in the fastest growing region in the nation.

A mix of presentations and engaging panel discussions tackled pressing Western issues like sustainable development, land design and the special challenges of urban, rural and resort design, historic preservation and affordable housing.

Click on the photo or here for a slideshow of the days' events. Click "more" for a recap of the conference. [more]