Volume XX, Number 14

Wednesday, November 3, 2004

by Arnie Polanchek, Member, Pantry Partners Board of Directors

Pantry Partners Food Bank needs our community's help! Because of the increasing number of people needing assistance we are asking for your help. We are averaging 120 families each month and we are finding that our resources are being stretched to the limit and our stock of food supplies is diminishing.

Donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated: canned fruits, jams and jellies, peanut butter, laundry and dish detergent, macaroni and cheese, tuna and canned meats, soups, cereal, and tomato and spaghetti sauce.

Hunt for the Hungry campaign is ongoing and any game meat taken can be donated to the Pantry by taking it to Hamilton Pack and specifying that it is for the Pantry. There is no charge for processing to the hunter as the Pantry pays for that.

We purchase approximately 85% of the food that we provide our clients so monetary donations are needed and would be very much appreciated. There are several food banks in our state that have had to close because of lack of community support. Our food bank has been a viable working organization for 15 years because of the generous support of our local community. The kindness and the generosity of this community is what makes the Pantry work!

Pantry Partners appreciates all the assistance of the community in keeping our doors open. Donations can be brought to the Pantry at 616 Park Ave, Stevensville any Monday, Wednesday, or Friday between 12 noon and 3 p.m. and the last Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

If you would like more information you can call us at 777-0351.

A tough education

Dear Editor,

We are one of the many unfortunate families drawn into a subdivision mess in the valley. We have learned a very tough lesson in how this fast-track process works and how our county politicians favor the development and the almighty dollar without any regard to the people that it affects.

We are certainly not activists, just regular hard-working people who have been done wrong. We would really rather just mind our own business, but in this case ethically need to let people know the truth about what is happening to the valley. We write this not to whine and complain, but to inform those many of you who will come up against this in the near future and will probably be blindsided by the situation as we were. Hopefully this letter will help in some way, and not scare you off further. You do have to work hard and you do have to be tough. When I say many of you, I really mean it. There are some 45 subdivisions up for review between August and November of this year alone. Apparently we are "cheap to develop" and "that is all the land here is good for," both quotes from our county government and local developers.

First you will be notified that your beautiful property and neighborhood will soon become a like a suburb, cluttered with as many homes as they can possibly twist and turn onto a map to put the most money in the developer's pockets as possible. Then you wait, and wait, and wait for your subdivision/planning meetings. Use this time to do your homework!! If we had only known, we would have. Finally you are notified no more than 2 weeks ahead of time. You will learn that the first meeting, a plat meeting, will occur. They will tell you not to show up to this meeting, because it really "means nothing," BUT IT DOES. You must attend to show any and all opposition. You then receive the ability to speak at the next Public Hearing. In our case, we were not even fighting the Centennial subdivision as a whole. We were only trying to decrease the number of homes that were to completely encircle us, and make someone understand that some sections could not support septics due to standing water. We just wanted someone, anyone, to listen to our very valid concerns. You will be discouraged by people telling you that you really have no chance in fighting it. We were actually told by a staff member in the Planning Office that "this subdivision basically has already been approved, and just needs to go through the motions. You are wasting your time." That was even before our Public Hearing.

Then you have approximately 2 more weeks to prepare for your Public Hearing. You must investigate all the information that the County and the developers already have, or already have easy access to. You, however, do not have easy access. The usually large file is at the Planning Board Office by now and is a matter of public record, but they will not tell you this. At least they did not tell us. In fact, we were refused access to information in this public record, which is highly illegal. You should go and look and copy any and all information you find pertinent. It will cost money to get the copies. Get information on roads, school funding, fire department funding, wells, water and septic systems, legality of the planned park systems, turnaround for emergency services, increased traffic dangers, noise pollution, air pollution, anything you can think of. You will find that the developer has done everything is his power to do the minimum as is legally possible to get by. In some cases they don't even do that much. Compile the information, and make it part of public record at the Public Hearing. You must apply for more than a couple of minutes speaking right. They time you. And you must do this ahead of time. Study up, get your neighbors to help. Most of them will be opposed too, and they will have information and ideas you had not even thought of yet.

Then there are the variances. These are all about breaking rules and laws! They are all about saving the developers money. They are asking the Commissioners to ignore their own rules. Of particular interest in our case was the fact that they did not want to pay the standard fees-per-lot to either the school district or fire department. This means more taxes for the people of Corvallis! Not to mention the cost to taxpayers when their septic plan fails and they want to hook up to city sewer, which they are already lobbying for. That is after they contaminate all your wells.

So your Public Hearing date arrives and you have done your homework. In our case, we thought we really worked hard. We had speakers who within their own rights were experts. We brought all our statements, documents, concerns and questions. But unfortunately things went downhill from there. The public microphone did not work. Since you have to face the Board and address them only, the public behind you cannot hear you because of the poor acoustics in the room and no microphone. You are being timed, so you speed through your statements. The Board looks bored. They yawn, some roll their eyes. They get confused. This is because many of them have not even been out to the site they will be discussing and deciding the future of. They quietly ask for any further comment, but because you cannot hear them you miss the announcement. Once closed, people who came to speak are not allowed. How unfair to those people who made the effort to come with their concerns. Then the Board gets to talking. Most of them refuse to use their microphones, so the public cannot hear them. We found out the hard way that the Board will not address you and they do not have to answer your questions. They did not answer most of ours. They are in a hurry to get the whole thing over with. In our case, one member was so confused as to what was going on, she kept asking over and over, and she was the one who kept calling for votes! There are a few people up there who do really care, thank goodness. But the poor people just say their piece and shake their heads while doing so, because they know the rest of them will just vote the other way, the way of the developer. At our meeting they spent an hour-and-a-half on a driveway and whether or not to move an existing road so the developer could put in even more homes, and they did not even mention the sewer and water concerns! NOT ONE WORD. That was really the biggest issue of concern for those of us in the neighborhood. We are all downhill from all the sewage they will be putting into our ground. One neighbor hit water at 11 feet!

Suddenly it is over. You have spent two-and-a-half hours telling them all the problems with the plan, and they take a short moment to say the whole thing sounds good to them and it is passed. The very valid concerns that the entire neighborhood has are not even discussed. They talk about the minor concerns, ignore the major issues because "their hands are tied" and they "cannot consider the future or cumulative effects." Yes, those are direct quotes. Can you imagine? A Planning Board that cannot consider the future. Should we look up the word "plan"? By the way, these people are handpicked and appointed by your County Commissioners.

So that is how it goes. You stand in front of the Board, some of them people you have known your whole life. You leave knowing that you were not meant to be heard, nor did they want to be heard. They are there to supposedly help us, and it ends up they are just helping the developers. That is what the County government wants.

We, however, felt we ethically had to do something for our conscience's sake. So, since our greatest concern was over sewer and water issues, we paid our $25 to DNRC and they came right out to tour the site. It was well worth the money. Between DNRC and County Environmental Health (Sanitarian) we learned some invaluable information. Information that we acted upon, not because we wanted to, but because we were forced to in order to protect ourselves. Property rights work both ways. We went to the expense and trouble of drilling a new well, just so the development's septic drain fields would not be on our property. In this county, it is not against the law for them to put their sewage on your private property. Outrageous! The County Commissioners then quickly and easily passed everything. Never in the whole process were most of our questions answered, or our concerns ever discussed.

As mentioned, it is a ton of work. And it costs money. We certainly do not have the money to fight this the way we would have liked. If you can get a good attorney, do so. Like most people, we were not willing to go into debt to fight a losing battle. And why should we have to? I have never been in touch with a lawyer my whole life, but since this has been happening, I now have legal counsel. Then we had to borrow money to put in the well to save the integrity of our land, water and property value. The costs are another discouraging factor.

Sadly for most of us it is a losing battle because of the corrupt county government we currently have. These people are not protecting you and not protecting this valley. You know you have really grown up when politics matter to you.

This system is not working for the people or for the resource that is the Bitterroot Valley. Like another wise person stated so recently, do not wait until they show up in your backyard. Unfortunately, we did. So we will lose our home that we completely remodeled inside and out, top to bottom on our own. We choose to live without people in our yard, and with room for our children and pets to play, so we will move. One of these days this will affect and anger just enough people or just the right person with deep enough pockets to end all this. But by then, what will be left to save?

Robert and Jeanette Smith
Corvallis

Reply to Kay Gervais

Dear Editor,

I became alarmed for the treatment of Hayes Creek and Coyote Coulee after reading the letter by Kay Gervais, Corvallis (Star, October 13), so I went to the site to see this for myself. The trails above Blue Jay Lane have a portion next to private that is indeed thinned to 40 feet between trees as Kay stated, but most of the area is around 20 feet spacing leaving the larger and better trees. Pine trees were all that I saw cut, not other plants and the ground was not "barren and sterile." I will grant you, Kay, that the area is much more open than prior to the treatment. Some of the thinned stands had several thousand pine trees per acre, and many of these overstocked, stunted, deformed trees have been cut and piled. The other plants of the area will now have more sunlight, water and nutrients for improved growth, and since the USFS left clumps of thickets and all of the riparian areas untouched, the wildlife should have better food sources and adequate cover areas. This area used to be an apple orchard so the pines have invaded this area crowding out the other plants. If the apple trees recover from the pine invasion, the bears will have a field day in the fall.

Kay gave credit to President Bush for the Healthy Forest Act, and as I understand, Bush had about 40% of the votes to past this bill with Congress gathering the remaining 60%. Congress launched this program, not Bush, and I find it refreshing that Congress and our President is taking an interest in our forest.

The loggers that I ran into were quite proud of the fact that they were leaving the best, largest, and/or healthiest trees, and they could explain the contract specifications in great detail. They explained that dealing with the 20-foot spacing was tough, and cutting only the smaller trees was just about the opposite of a regular logging job where they cut the larger trees to make money. The old trail they were using was possible because the USFS arranged a 90-day right-of-way with a neighboring landowner to avoid building a new road through a riparian area.

Actually, Kay, if you want to understand more about the forest, please consider taking the Forest Stewardship program at the U of M. Better yet, if you want to get the logger perspective, take the Accredited Logger Professional course at Yellow Bay this spring. At this course the loggers get a crash course from several professors on forest stewardship. Contact the Montana Logging Association at 1-406-752-3168.

After visiting the area I am convinced that the USFS has a solid plan for a first entry, and while it is roughed up at present, in a year or two it will look very nice. It was refreshing to see that the larger trees were retained.

Craig E. Thomas, Forester
Stevensville