Page 29 - Flathead Beacon // 3.23.16

CLOSING RANGE DAVE SKINNER
GUEST COLUMN STEVE THOMPSON
SUPPORT BLACKFOOT CLEARWATER STEWARDSHIP PROJECT
NOWMOBILES AND SEELEY forests, protecting our community from Lake go hand-in-hand during the re danger and o ering snowmobile ter- winter months. Our community rain we’ve never been able to venture
THE WHITEFISH WAY,
SREVISITED
EVERAL WEEKS AGO, THE
you have a mortgage on it, pay taxes on it, it’s mine. And, even if nothing is really mine, well, it’s still mine.”
The messmakers deserve due credit. It is they who successfully voted in like- minded city councilors who enacted ordinance after ordinance, creating ridiculous regulatory over-reaches like the “doughnut” asco, critical areas, dark skies, in ll requirements, density “bonuses,” architectural review – all part and parcel of the White sh Way.
But are the false fronts behind Safe- way that much of an achievement? Isn’t the current fetishistic exposed-beam fad, stone veneer and all, just a bit overdone and contrived? And, why expect hous- ing to be “a ordable” when develop- ments done the White sh Way are bur- dened with bureaucratic costs imposed nowhere else in the Flathead?
Yes, builders investing in White sh plan for all the expected delay, the polit- ical kabuki, the sheer nattering nitpick- ery of the White sh Way – but they either pass those costs on, or build elsewhere.
Worse, no matter the project, the amount and duration of “hassle” never varies much, meaning a high (and xed) “hassle cost.” What’s the correct capital- ist response to maintaining good returns against high xed-cost situations? Sim- ple ... build the most expensive unit-cost project the market can stand!
Even long-term believers in the White sh Way are beginning to grasp why White sh can’t get “a ordable” proj- ects going in order to plug today’s “a ord- ability gap.” Long-time mayor/councilor Andy Feury, who has been there at seem- ingly every step along the White sh Way, conceded the true core issue when he declared White sh needed to “change our mindset [to be more] open to having density.” Yes, you may enjoy the irony.
Nonetheless, Mr. Feury voted along with the rest of the council to fund yet another wasteful a ordable housing study plus a task force, expected to cost $60,000intax-incrementfunding.
The sad part is, a study won’t help close the “a ordability gap.” Consultants will never suggest the one and only thing that can make housing more a ordable in White sh, the council taking positive action. What might be a positive action? Maybe if four city councilors say one sim- ple syllable together: “Yes.”
Beacon’s Tristan Scott did a nice
long-form story about White sh’s “A ordability Gap.”
Yep, there’s a heck of a problem with “a ordable housing” in White sh. As Mr. Scott learned from North Valley Hospi- tal’s Catherine Todd, only 36 percent of NVH sta live where they work. That’s amazingly bad, considering health-care jobs pay comparatively well.
So, what’s the core of the problem?
White sh – or what is kindly called “The White sh Way.” It could be called the “Aspen Way,” the “Jackson Way,” the “Vail Way,” the “Steamboat Way” – take your pick.
Like too many “amenity” towns, White sh is what happens when self-serving political mavens warp development policies into an irratio- nal mishmash. That mishmash in turn accelerates a transition toward precisely the two-tiered, peasants-and-pluto- crats “community” everyone claims to hate, especially me, as I’m old enough to remember when White sh was real – an authentic, organismic community with a diverse business base and equally diverse citizenry.
What the heck happened? Well, watch- ing city council proceedings one evening, I got a hint: A prominent citizen got up to testify on the topic of nal approval of what I think was a small condo/apart- ment proposal next door to her home. It was duly zoned, but the woman none- theless asked the council to impose conditions that would satisfy her land- scaping concerns. She had her very own landscape design sketches showing what needed to go where, not on her property, mind you, but next door.
I found her shameless disregard for any investments, rights or concerns other than her own coldly fascinating, even entertaining. But over the com- ing months I came to understand she wasn’t an anomaly. Rather, she was, and remains, a leader of White sh’s most committed political faction, the messmakers.
If these messmakers have any concept of property rights, it seems to be strictly a one-way deal, where certain prop- erty rights are more equal than others – summed up as: “Not only is mine, mine, but everything I see is mine, too. Even if
sees an average of 125 inches of snow per year, making it a perfect destination for folks looking to unload their sled for a few days and venture into the backcoun- try. One of our biggest tourism drivers in the winter, which any seasoned Mon- tanan knows lasts longer than our sum- mers, is snowmobiling.
Ten years ago, several diverse inter- est groups came together to strategize and plan for the long-term future of our public lands, in a method that bene ted all. The result of this collaboration is the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project, which holds three main compo- nents. Our timber industry gets a boost through federal dollars supporting har- vest and healthy forests, our conserva- tion community comes out ahead by designating additional wildlife habitat as wilderness, and our recreation econ- omy gets a bump by creating the Otatsy Snowmobile Recreation Area, among other recreation provisions.
The Otatsy Recreation Area would earmark nearly 2,000 acres to snow- mobiling in the winter months, adding a huge playpark and numerous new trails to our snowmobile network. This addi- tional resource is a signi cant invest- ment in our winter recreational econ- omy here in Seeley Lake. Folks from across Montana and around the nation migrate to our neck of the woods with their sleds, families and friends to par- take in our high-quality, groomed trails. Adding this additional resource equates to longer stays and more money invested in our economy.
Additionally, the BCSP’s timber com- ponents would thin some of our nearby
into before because of tight elbowroom with trees. Another bonus for snowmo- bile recreation is that we don’t lose a sin- gle mile of terrain in the proposed wil- derness designation. Everything that is currently open to sleds stays open, and we gain so much more.
I’m a proud member of the Seeley Lake Driftriders, our local snowmo- bile club who maintains our groomed snowmobile trails. The Driftriders were proud to endorse and support the BCSP, as did the Ovando OHV commu- nity group called “The Club.” We all see this proposal as a win-win for all inter- ests in our community and region, and are eager to see our Montana delegation pick up the torch and see this through in Washington, D.C. We’ve done the work on the ground here in Montana, and we have the support. Now is the time for our delegation to work together on behalf of Montanans, and nish what we’ve begun.
Recently, I had the great pleasure of taking a sta er from Sen. Steve Daines’ o ce out on sleds in Seeley Lake, to see our world-class trails and chat about the proposed Otatsy Recreation Area addition and the BCSP. We had a beau- tiful day under the big sky, and I was pleased to now see both of our senators become engaged in our made-in-Mon- tana proposal.
Those of us in the Seeley Lake and Ovando areas have spent a decade re n- ing the BCSP, and making certain it rep- resents all interests. We’ve done our job. Now we are looking to our delegation, to do theirs.
“THERE’S A HECK OF A PROBLEM WITH ‘AFFORDABLE HOUSING’ IN WHITEFISH.”
Mike (Uncommon Ground) Jopek and Dave (Closing Range) Skinner often fall on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to political and outdoor issues. Their columns alternate each week in the Flathead Beacon.
“THE OTATSY RECREATION AREA WOULD EARMARK NEARLY 2,000 ACRES TO SNOWMOBILING IN THE WINTER MONTHS, ADDING A HUGE PLAYPARK AND NUMEROUS NEW TRAILS TO OUR SNOWMOBILE NETWORK.”
Steve Thompson is retired from the Seeley Lake Ranger District and is a member of the Seeley Lake Driftriders.
MARCH 23, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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