Sale of Park and Zoning Discussed at Council

SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Community Council (SLCC) hosted WMG Group’s Nick Kaufman to discuss zoning. The council was also presented with an idea from the county to sell a public park on Double Arrow Ranch at its March 14 meeting.

The council invited Kaufman, who is a land use planner, to speak about the pros and cons of zoning. The discussion of zoning come up due to the possibility of a cell tower being built in Seeley Lake.

Kaufman explained that his first experience in Seeley Lake was in the 1970s when it was very much a lumber town.

“One thing I can tell you, as I look back on 1970, is things are changing,” said Kaufman “Twenty years ago things they weren’t changing very fast. Ten years ago they were changing slower. In the last ten years every one of you has seen more change than anytime in your previous life.”

He explained that Seeley Lake faces some challenges in the valley that are common to Montana.

First, there are a lot of older people moving here. That means, as they pass away, they transfer their wealth to their kids. This creates a large number of new people who own land here that may or may not have the same connection to the area.

Second, it used to be that people would move to the places where there were jobs, like Seeley Lake in the 1970s. Now, the millennial generation tends to find a place that they want to live and then businesses have to move to them if they want workers.

Kaufman explained that everyone already has all sorts of regulations on their land.” Most property also takes on covenants when it is subdivided.

Government regulations, like septic, air quality and floodplain regulations are designed to protect the public. If people build in a floodplain and it gets washed out, everyone has to pay for it. If someone dumps septic in the lake, everyone pays for it.

Covenants are usually put in place to protect the property values. They do this by keeping neighboring landowners from doing unsightly or disruptive things that devalue another person’s land.

Zoning is another layer of regulations, and like all government regulations, it is legally binding. With covenants, landowners must enforce the rules. Zoning violations constitute breaking the law and therefore enforceable by the county.

As to the cons of zoning, Kaufman talked about one main con. Zoning takes away personal property rights.

“Any time you do zoning, it always works better on a vacant field or new development,” said Kaufman. “Where it works terrible is trying to create a zoning district, let’s say, for the downtown area of Seeley Lake. Because what you don’t want to have, is the majority of your uses be nonconforming uses.”

Despite that, Kaufman feels that zoning can be designed to fit any neighborhood. Uses that are nonconforming are always allowed to continue until they are either destroyed beyond 50 percent of the value or the use ceases for a set amount of time. Over time those nonconforming uses will slowly go away.

“In a community as complex as Seeley Lake, with the number of uses, zoning can work but it can only work by having conversations like this and designing a set of regulations that work for everybody and then holding firm,” said Kaufman.

In other business the council was informed that Missoula County Parks is considering selling Drew Creek Park. The park is located at the end of Montana Drive and lies within Phase III of Double Arrow Ranch.

The park was created when Phase III was developed in the early 1970s.

John Stegmaier, Parks and Trails Coordinator for Missoula County, explained that the park is too far away from the bulk of the population in Seeley Lake and has never really been developed as a park.

The county is considering selling the park and taking the funds to find a park that is more usable to the public. The county is in the early stages of the idea. There has not been an appraisal on the property yet and no other location has been selected to replace the park.

Public in attendance expressed concerns that if the county sold it that it should maintain public access to adjacent public lands. It was also suggested that Drew Creek, which runs through the park, should have some protections added to it.

More information is available online at: https://www.missoulacounty.us/government/community-development/community-planning-services/parks-trails/drew-creek-park-form

The next SLCC meeting is scheduled for April 11, 6 p.m. at the Seeley Lake Historical Museum & Visitors Center. Drinks and snacks will be provided starting at 5:30 p.m.

 

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