Flathead Valley growth, planning and the 'rest of the story'

I should thank Russ Crowder and American Dream for spending a large amount of money to get out the message that we are faced with real growth concerns here in the Flathead, and that the Flathead County Commissioners are doing something about it.

Unfortunately, most of the full-page ads recently taken out by American Dream contained inaccurate information. I normally do not respond to people who mislead and deceive the public, but the good folks of Flathead County deserve the "rest of the story," and so I respond.

These ads have prompted many conversations via phone, e-mail and in person about growth issues. Incidentally, the phone calls are running over six-to-one in favor of what we are doing, and we were asked and encouraged to keep up the good work.

There is a lot of history that has brought us to this point, but the most important issue is what we are doing now and where are we going with the Growth Policy.

In December of last year, the commissioners formed what is now known as the Long Range Planning Task Force. It is made up of a third county department heads affected by rapid growth, a third city representatives, mayors, city managers and planning directors, and a third community members at large.

It is an absolutely outstanding and committed group of hard working individuals who originally agreed to look at a 10- and 20-year plan of what we want this special valley to look like by identifying future road corridors etc.

The group has morphed into not only working on their original charge but in helping with the writing of the Growth Policy and compiling information for a resource analysis document. This is necessary for the completion of the Growth Policy. It also helps the Flathead County Planning Board focus on what they have been called to do — process hundreds of applications, be the first line of review of the work being done on the Growth Policy or Master Plan update, and make a final draft recommendation to the commissioners.

American Dream's ad stated that the Collins Group was hired to write the Growth Policy. This is not true; they have been hired to provide consulting services to the planning staff who are writing the Growth Policy. Their role will be to conduct public meetings, help our staff write issue papers and lend their expertise to the process the commissioners have implemented.

The Collins Group will allow us to engage more of our citizens in the process — that's important to us. The Collins group has years of experience in writing successful Master Plan updates around the country. After a thorough background check on this organization, we are extremely fortunate to have budgeted the funds to engage this level of expertise.

It is an exciting chapter in our history, as we take a comprehensive and professional approach to completing the required rewrite of our Master Plan. We have until October 2006 to have it completed. The citizens of this county will have a say in the process and will be pleased with the final product.

American Dream has some twisted notion that a Master Plan could provide some sort of relief for the heavy tax burden Americans are faced with. This group suggests that we should impose higher taxes to pay for the burden placed on our county infrastructure by 25 percent growth rates.

The legislature provided a means for counties to implement a reasonable impact fee, which is a small portion of what is needed to keep us from falling further and further behind in our ability to provide services, such as adequate roads, park systems and law enforcement.

We are doing a cost-of-services study, and it may show we need to charge a high impact fee. However, the commissioners will have the final say, and I promise you it will not be unreasonable.

The citizens of Flathead County cannot continue to subsidize those who demand services, on the public dollar, in every location in the valley. It's just too big for the tax base.

The development community enjoys doing business here in the Flathead because they can charge the same prices for their subdivision lots as if an impact fee were already included. We need additional revenue to provide services to our county residents, and it is time the developers help pay, not the taxpayers. In my opinion, higher taxes are not a part of the American Dream.

The "moratorium" conspiracy theory from American Dream (nightmare) ad is just that, a theory.

When the Two Rivers master plan change was approved, part of the public discussion was to try and find a method by which the planning board and staff could handle the tremendous work load imposed by master plan amendments while, at the same time, writing a Growth Policy.

This was an issue I brought to the floor. My fellow commissioners decided to take it a step further and ask the board to consider making a recommendation to suspend all applications until the Growth Policy is completed in October 2006.

We have asked the planning board and staff to make a recommendation on how we can adequately handle the current workload and get the growth policy completed by our deadline.

There has been no decision on a development moratorium. There is absolutely no "green" agenda promoted by Citizens for a Better Flathead or any other group but simply three commissioners trying to do the work of the county on behalf of all Flathead County taxpayers. Rhetoric and conspiracy theories don't help us find solutions; neither do very personal attacks.

Flathead County is in very good shape, particularly considering the incredible growth we have experienced over the last decade. We have some of the best department heads and employees in the business. We are healthy and getting healthier by the minute as we hire up and staff for the growth curve we are experiencing.

I am extremely excited and optimistic about the progress we are making. I urge your involvement in this process — be part of the solution. We will begin regular communication in the newspapers regarding the progress of the planning process.

God bless our great country and the Flathead Valley. Thanks for letting me share "what's really going on in Flathead County."

Gary D. Hall is Flathead County Commissioner