Although some parts of Marcus Daly's legacy in the valley seem destined to last in perpetuity, like the massive Daly Ditch project still providing much needed irrigation water to the east side of the valley and his mansion that has been preserved as an historical monument, some parts are destined to disappear, like the magnificent and stately Daly Cottonwoods that line so many of the valley's irrigation ditches and roadsides. The reason being that these majestic giants have a limited lifetime and though it is a long one, about 100 years, their time has about run out.

As the trees grow old, decay in the trunks and branches occurs, creating hazardous conditions for anyone passing underneath. Following a recent incident in which a large limb came crashing down on an automobile as it passed along Fairgrounds Road, the Ravalli County Fair Board decided to get a professional assessment of the 19 giant trees located on county property. As a result of that analysis by Montana Department of Natural Resources Community Forester Mark Lemmon, at least 17 of the trees are now slated for removal.

According to Lemmon's report, many of the trees had visible holes in the trunk or limbs that would indicate rot higher up in the canopy of the tree. Over the life of the trees they have been subjected to pruning and fires that have damaged the trunks, which has resulted in rot in the tree's stem and crown. Large limbs were severed and opened to decay organisms. Over the years the decay has moved up and down the stem, weakening the structure of the large limbs in the crown.

Lemmon stated that decay in the branches must be treated as a high risk. Even small branches shedding from 60 to 90 feet up will cause severe damage on people and property. He noted that due to the condition of these trees they have become a liability to the county and a hazard to users of the fairgrounds and the road.

Based upon his analysis, Lemmon recommended that one tree be removed immediately. He also recommended removal of 16 others, while only two of the trees received a "remove or monitor" evaluation.

After considering the report last week the County Commissioners decided to have the one tree removed immediately and to solicit bids for removal of the rest. Although it was recognized that some members of the public will inevitably be upset at the decision, given the decadent condition of the trees and their inevitable demise, the hazards identified in the report and subsequent liability to the county demanded action.

As Commissioner Greg Chilcott put it, "In this case, public safety trumps public outrage."

Sheriff faces funding crisis

By Michael Howell

Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman told the County Commissioners last week that his office is facing a severe funding crisis. Hoffman said that his office has no choice when it comes to responding to emergency calls but it is not currently being funded at a level adequate to meet the county's growing demands.

Lack of funding has been a perennial problem for the Sheriff's Office for decades as the demand for services has mushroomed along with the county's booming population growth. Unlike some other departments in the county, however, the Sheriff's Office cannot simply cut back on services.

"We have to answer 911 calls," said Hoffman. "We have no choice about that."

Another of the Sheriff's responsibilities that is growing incessantly is that associated with mental health services.

In the past year the Sheriff's Office has made about 70 round trips to Warm Springs, the state's mental health facility. That has involved about 19,600 miles worth of travel with associated fuel costs totaling close to $10,000. It has also required about 511 hours of officers' time. At a starting wage of $17.53 per hour that would yield a minimum cost of $8,957.83 in wages. If paid at minimum overtime rate that minimum cost would be about $13,439.30.

The Sheriff's Office also provides guards for dangerous patients at Marcus Daly Hospital. Last year the office provided 1,009 hours, or 84 twelve-hour shifts, of guard duty at the hospital. At the minimum starting wage that would bring the total for the year in wages for guard duty to $17,687.77. If paid at the minimum overtime rate that cost would amount to $26,531.66.

"One thousand nine hours would essentially mean a full time deputy's sole duty for almost a half year would be spent doing guard duty at the hospital," said Hoffman.

Although, technically, the state is required to reimburse the county for those efforts, the money never comes in a timely manner, if at all.

"In the meantime the cost of these mental health services is eating our budget alive," said Hoffman. Hoffman has been warned by the County Commissioners in the past that he could be held personally responsible for any expenditure that exceeds his approved budget.

Hoffman said that he was trying to cut overtime costs in order to stay in his budget, but that means pulling officers off the street and cutting back on regular patrols. He said that raises concerns about officer safety on the street as well as public safety. He estimated that his office is currently about 10 deputies short for operating at an adequate level.

Hoffman said that he is not blaming the County Commissioners since the value of mill levies is set by the state. But he does wonder why the growth in population is not generating the necessary funds in taxes. He said that it is essentially a problem that should be dealt with by the Legislature. The crisis only stands to be compounded if the federal government fails to renew the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program as it is considering. The Sheriff's Department has about $500,000 in PILT funds augmenting its budget.

Hoffman said that he is looking for some direction from the commissioners, the local legislators and the public in terms of setting priorities.

"I know what my job is," said Hoffman. "It's providing public safety. My job is not to raise money or find funds for these services." Yet the Sheriff's Office has been relatively successful in doing that through seeking grants and other forms of aid. "This really needs to be addressed by the legislature and by the public," he said.

Representative Rick Laible, of Darby, agrees with Hoffman. He said that the mental health crisis was a big issue not just in Ravalli County but all over the state. Laible serves on the Department of Health and Human Services Interim Committee and said that some legislation was being drafted by the Montana Association of Counties to address the problem.

"It's ridiculous for the State to have a $1 billion surplus and not fund the local government enough to provide essential services," he said.

County citizens get an education on zoning

By Greg Lemon

Nearly 150 Ravalli County residents went to school Saturday, learning about the history and philosophy of zoning, as well as the tools available to aid them in their quest to assist in countywide zoning.

"We're proud to be here - and provide some background and hopefully a foundation for the work you're going to be doing over the next couple of months," Chris Duerksen told the crowd.

Duerksen is the managing director of Clarion Associates, a national land-use and real estate consulting firm hired by Ravalli County to spearhead the countywide zoning project.

Clarion Associates and the county planning department hosted Saturday's event, which was dedicated to educating members of the seven community planning committees, as well as the interested public in attendance, about the process of developing county-wide zoning.

In November 2006, Ravalli County voters passed an emergency zoning ordinance, which stated, in part, that the county must develop countywide zoning by November 2007. The county commissioners extended that deadline, which is now November 2008.

Over the past several months, the county has formed community planning committees, or CPCs, which represent each of the seven school districts in the county. The CPCs are tasked with providing comment on draft zoning regulations and zoning maps in their own districts, which will then be melded into a countywide zoning plan.

Clarion Associates will take the recommendations from the CPCs, the county commissioners and the planning department to form the countywide zoning regulations and map of zoning districts, which should be unveiled for public comment this coming June, said Don Elliot, senior consultant with Clarion.

To kick off Saturday's workshop, Duerksen gave a brief history of zoning.

-- In the early 1900s, with the Industrial Revolution in full swing, communities began to realize they needed some sort of control on where factories were built in respect to residential houses and neighborhoods. People began to see how the congestion, pollution and noise associated with industry "devalued their houses because they didn't have certainty of what was going up next to them," he said.

In 1916, New York City was the first American city to implement zoning. By 1926, 425 cities had zoning. In the West, most states, including Montana, passed laws allowing cities to zone in the 1920s and 30s. However, the pressure to expand zoning to counties began to intensify dramatically for many rural areas in the region due the growth experienced during the 1990s, Duerksen said.

"A lot of counties around the West that hadn't experienced a lot of growth, like Ravalli County, are now going through the same things you are," he told the crowd.

Duerksen described three types of zoning: Euclidean, planned unit development and performance systems.

Euclidean essentially sets up districts where certain types of development can occur. This gives a community certainty because it protects residents from incompatible growth.

"The idea is if you separate uses, they'll be compatible," Duerksen said.

Planned unit development, or PUD, is negotiated zoning. Developers can work with county commissioners to formulate their development to fit with the desired uses of a certain area. This could mean incorporating clustered residential development, open space and mixed-use development. It is, in a word, flexible. Many communities around the West are incorporating PUDs, Duerksen said.

With performance systems zoning developers can, in theory, do anything they want anywhere, as long as they meet community-developed standards. This premium on negotiation can allow politics to play into performance systems zoning, Duerksen said. Plus, this type of zoning has a lot of uncertainty for home and business owners.

After describing the different types of zoning, Duerksen then referred to the draft zoning regulations developed by the Ravalli County Planning Board's Land Use Subcommittee. Everyone in the room had a copy of these draft regulations, as well as a Clarion document critiquing them.

"The zoning regulations you're looking at today is what I call a hybrid code," he said.

They include a little bit of all three kinds of zoning.

Duerksen then described the aspects of zoning citizens will need to consider as they go forward. First, the CPCs need to consider the Montana laws concerning zoning. Particularly, any countywide zoning must be in accordance with the county's growth policy. Next, he suggested that people keep zoning as simple as possible.

Duerksen then delved into specifics.

The county has to make decisions about large subdivisions.

"Do you, as a community, want to allow these things and how do you want to review them?" he asked. "Do you want them near towns or is it okay if they go out in the rural areas?"

The specific zoning districts will be important, Duerksen said. Each zoning district will allow certain uses and it's important for people to consider what those uses will be and how detailed the zoning regulation will define them.

In developing the zoning regulations, the CPCs are going to need to think about density. For instance, the current emergency zoning density of one housing unit per two acres doesn't allow much flexibility and will encourage sprawl, Duerksen said. One unit per 10 acres is better, but still not great.

"We're not terribly fond of one unit per five acres," he said. "It's too big to mow and too small to plow."

The zoning regulations should address development standards. Duerksen cautioned against development standards that are too detailed, but they still need to be considered. Development standards include lot setbacks, height limits, lot size, landscaping, parking lots and lighting.

The CPCs should consider how the regulations would be administered. Duerksen suggested leaving that authority with the county planning department. They can review applications and issue permits. If there is an appeal, then it could go before the county commissioners. But he encouraged people to "put more authority with the professionals."

The zoning regulations will need to fit with what the local towns are doing with their growth and zoning, Duerksen said. That means it will be important for those working on the zoning regulations to involve city officials.

"The zoning regulations in the county, as nearly as possible, must be compatible with the municipalities," he said.

After Duerksen spoke, Clarion senior consultant Don Elliot specifically addressed the draft zoning regulations. Clarion had analyzed them and provided people with a critique.

"I will say in all sincerity, this is a good, good first draft," Elliot said.

Good ordinances are user friendly, he said.

"Most people only pick them up when they've got to use them," Elliot said. "Keep it at a level that is understandable for citizens."

In their critique, Clarion is suggesting several changes like allowing existing developments and structures to be grandfathered into the new zoning regulations. They are also going to suggest zoning based on density.

"Density is not the same as minimum lot size," Elliot said.

He also encouraged the CPCs to better define what their rural zone will be. If you can define areas that should remain rural and less developed, then you can give people a clearer idea of what is expected and where more intense growth should occur.

After Elliot and Duerksen spoke, Renee Lemon, senior planner with the county planning department, introduced the land suitability analysis. This project was done with two consulting firms, Geum Environmental Consulting, Inc. of Hamilton and DTM Consulting, Inc. of Bozeman.

The planning department and the two firms collected and organized a variety of geographic information system data from around the county and developed maps detailing development suitability based on the information.

The group looked at six aspects of suitability: existing infrastructure, public health and safety, water resources, wildlife resources working lands and open lands. Each set of data was organized in one of the six categories, which was then translated onto a Ravalli County map.

This project produced a series of seven maps that, in a general sense, identified areas of the county more or less suitable for development, Lemon said. Six of the maps were based on each of the six aspects of suitability. The seventh map was the combination of the other six maps to give a general sense of land suitability. The maps were on display for people to view.

"We looked at (land) suitability through several different lenses," Tom Parker from Geum said. "These maps are not zoning maps. All they are is information that has been compiled to help you understand the valley from different aspects."

The maps aren't detailed enough to use to make decisions about a specific parcel of land, he said. Rather, they give people a general idea of what areas are more or less suitable for development.

"This is one of those things that's better to look at standing 10 or 20 feet away," said Bryan Swindell of DTM consulting.

The maps were created to aid the CPCs in their development of zoning regulations, Lemon said.

"The maps are going to be one tool to be used with many other tools," she said.

In developing the maps, the group had to do without some information, Lemon said. For instance, none of the maps address roads, primarily because the county doesn't have a transportation plan, which would provide an idea of where roads should be improved in anticipation of future development.

The maps also do not address groundwater, primarily because there is no existing data on the Bitterroot Valley's aquifer that is adequate for the analysis, she said. The county does have data from wells around the valley, but that data wasn't broad enough to include in the suitability analysis.

After the land suitability analysis was presented, Ben Herman, from Clarion, outlined the process in which CPCs will provide recommendations on the zoning map.

In the next two months, the CPCs will begin working on value maps, which will essentially guide Clarion in developing a final zoning map. The value maps will give Clarion a rough idea of how the CPCs want to see the county develop.

Before drawing maps, Herman wants the CPCs to define community values by following the county growth policy as closely as possible.

"Using words, define what your values are before you start drawing it," Herman said.

Then each group will take their values and begin developing zoning maps, he said.

Clarion will bring its people back to the Bitterroot on Feb. 6 and 7 to work specifically with the CPCs on this exercise.

The zoning process is now going to start to happen quickly, Duerksen said. In March, Clarion will have another draft of the zoning regulations and by June they'll have maps and regulations ready for public hearings.

But to keep the timeline, they are going to need a lot of help from the local CPCs, Elliot said. "The fact is, though it may seem rushed and a little overwhelming, the county is in good shape to get this done."

"I really don't want people to go back to these CPC meetings and say 'Ah, they're rushing us through these things'," Elliot said. "You're not behind the curve, you're ahead of it."

Carlotta Grandstaff, County Commissioner, agreed. "I really think the process has been going along really well," says Grandstaff. "I see that now. Still, developing countywide zoning is a huge undertaking, but it's important to get it done now. I think we've recognized all along that we're cramming several years worth of effort into less than a year. This is our perfect opportunity to do this."

Grandstaff also encourages other people in the community to get involved.

"Community buy-in is critical for the success of this project," she said. "It won't happen without it."

Editor's Note: Renee Lemon, Ravalli County senior planner, is married to reporter Greg Lemon.

Back to top

Hamilton PAC performing in the red

By Michael Howell

The Hamilton Performing Arts Center has been operating in the red and the Hamilton School Board, which has been funding the program, is looking for a remedy. According to Hamilton High School Superintendent Duby Santee, the Hamilton PAC lost approximately $15,000 in the 2006-2007 school year and the school board is not willing to continue running the performing arts series at a loss.

He said the board was considering four options.

One option would be to turn the operation over to a for-profit entity, he said. James Olsen of HIPinc, a Hamilton-based company, said that his company might be interested in such a proposition but it would depend upon the willingness of the school board, and the Friends of the Performing Arts, a local ad hoc group also interested in supporting the performing arts series. Olsen said that it would also depend upon getting the right contract in place fairly quickly.

A second option, according to Santee, would be for the Friends of the Performing Arts to formalize itself as a non-profit foundation and take on the fundraising and operational aspects of the series. Friends of the Performing Arts did submit a written letter to the board committing to raise at least $15,000 for the operation of the program.

Margot Sturgis, a member of the group, said, "Our intent is to see the performing arts series continue with the same high quality of performances and see that the kids have a continuing chance to enjoy the educational opportunities associated with the program."

Santee said that a third alternative was for the school board to continue operating and funding the program by getting the costs under control, which might mean limiting the number of performances to hold expenses down.

The last option, he said, would be to shut the program down.

"The school board does not want to see it go away, but we need to make it financially viable," said Santee.

The future of performing arts series will be the topic of discussion, he said, either at the next Finance Committee meeting scheduled for February 6, at 5:30 p.m., and/or the next school board meeting scheduled for February 11, at 6:30 p.m.

Attempt to modify Interim Zoning fails

By Michael Howell

An attempt by County Commissioner Greg Chilcott last Wednesday to amend the Interim Zoning Regulations which limit subdivisions to one dwelling per two acres did not pass muster. The consideration, instead, was tabled until next August.

Chilcott proposed to allow cluster development on lots less than the two-acre minimum so long as the overall density of the subdivision met the one dwelling per two acre restriction "on average." Chilcott's proposal in essence would have legitimized a previous interpretation of the "one per two" restriction put forward by County Planning Director Karen Hughes. Hughes argued, at the time, that the one-per-two restriction should be interpreted as an average density. County Attorney George Corn disagreed and issued an opinion that the restriction established a minimum lot size of two acres and should not be interpreted as an average density.

Following some words of praise for the Interim Zoning regulations because they slowed down subdivision applications and gave the county planning staff some time to pursue countywide zoning efforts, Chilcott said one bad effect was that it had promoted urban sprawl with the two-acre minimum lot size. He advocated the possibility of clustering homes within a subdivision as a good planning tool that would help preserve open space and agricultural land. He also noted that it could allow for further lot divisions on smaller acres if the subdivision should fall within a zoning area that allowed more density once the countywide zoning is established. He also said that it allowed for more efficient use of the infrastructure and made it easier to provide services.

"It's in the Growth Policy and the Planning staff will tell you cluster development is a good tool," said Chilcott.

Commissioner Carlotta Grandstaff said that the Interim Zoning had one good effect and that was to force the county forward into the countywide zoning effort. But she said it also had some unintended consequences. She pointed to three subdivisions that had been approved under the Interim Zoning restrictions and said it was sponsoring urban sprawl.

"I would not live in one of these," said Grandstaff. "I am very ashamed for having been involved in this."

She did express concern about the proposed amendment in turn, however. She said that it could lead to infill if the open spaces established were not protected in perpetuity. She also questioned whether 5- to 7-acre open spaces would really be useful for agriculture.

Commissioner Jim Rokosch said, "I think monkeying with the one-per-two measure is a bad idea." He said that Interim Zoning was never meant to be permanent and suggested that the best way to improve on the Interim measure was to proceed at full speed on the countywide zoning that would replace it. He said that trying to amend the Interim Zoning at this late date would simply "open up another can of worms when we've already got enough cans of worms on the table."

Commissioner Kathleen Driscoll said that she never liked the one-per-two idea and that one-per-ten would have been better. She said that it was not time now, however, to rock the boat.

Commissioner Alan Thompson said that his views had not changed. He said that it made sense to make a minor change in the Interim Zoning to improve it instead of waiting nine more months for the countywide zoning. He said that it didn't make sense to keep going down the wrong track and that the zoning should be changed now to protect open space.

Most of the public spoke against the proposed amendment. Stewart Brandbord, President of Bitterrooters for Planning, threatened a lawsuit if the commissioners voted for the amendment, claiming that they had no legal authority to change the voter passed initiative.

Another member of the group that worked to pass the initiative said that blaming the Interim Zoning restrictions for making bad subdivisions was "baloney." He said that if the subdivisions being pointed out were bad that there was no one to blame but the person who designed them and the commissioners who approved them.

Chip Pigman, a local developer, said that what was being contemplated was a minor change from lot size to density and that the commissioners had a responsibility to stop bad development.

In the end Commissioner Rokosch moved to table the idea of a revision until August of 2008. He said that if the status of the countywide zoning was in doubt at that point then the matter of amending the Interim Zoning could then be considered again. The motion to table was passed on a 3 to 2 vote with Driscoll and Grandstaff supporting Rokosch in the vote.

Page One •	Valley News •	Op/Ed •	Sports •	Calendar •	Classifieds •	Links •	About Us •	Back Issues •	Email Us •	Home
©2007 Bitterroot Star This site was Done By Dooney