Zoning is only real protection

By by Tim Davis, executive director
Montana Smart Growth Coalition

If a gravel pit or a new subdivision, a coalbed methane well or a strip club is proposed next to your home, would you have a say in how it would impact your property, your property values, and your quality of life? If you don't live in a well-thought-out zoning district, the answer is, most likely, no.

I get calls every week from people distressed by development proposals next door. The calls come from outside of Hamilton in the Bitterroot, from ranchlands along the Yellowstone, from the North Hills near Helena, and from the bend of the Missouri south of Great Falls, just to name a few.

Often the first question I ask the callers is whether they live in a zoning district. Ninety percent of them say no. I have to tell them, unfortunately, they will have a hard time protecting their rights and values in the face of the proposed development.

We all know Montana is going to grow. The question is how. Zoning answers that question. And, despite the fact that it gets a bad rap in Montana, it is perhaps the best way to protect your property values.

Zoning is one of the most basic exercises of grassroots democracy. It allows individuals to have a voice in development that will directly affect their property values and quality of life. It does this by placing your values and the values of your neighbors and the community into the form of zoning regulations. These are the same regulations that elected officials must use when making decisions on development proposals in your area. What could be more democratic than that?

Without zoning, the average Montanan has no say and elected officials have tenuous grounds on which to deny a development that could directly affect your property values and quality of life. In other words, you are left at the whim of developers, some of whom have the deep pockets, connections, and knowledge of growth laws that make it hard for the average citizen to challenge their proposals.

While a lot of developers don't like zoning in the short term, some are starting to realize that in the long term it's to their benefit. Why? Because it makes development predictable.

Just last week, a Montana Association of Realtors representative told a legislative committee that he wished he could travel across the state talking to landowners about why zoning is the only way to protect their property rights and values over time. Without zoning, developers are always left guessing whether their proposals will be fought. With clear zoning, those costly delays for administrative appeals or lawsuits are almost always avoided.

Montana has numerous zoning success stories. Let me share two with you.

In southeastern Jefferson County, landowners were tired of watching working farms and ranches turn into sprawling subdivisions and trophy homes. They knew if the trend continued, their ability to farm and ranch would be eroded. Eight years ago the Milligan Canyon/Boulder Valley Agricultural Zoning District was created for a 90,000-acre area. In most of the zoning district, land could not be subdivided into lots that wouldn't support commercial farming or ranching. Today, farmers and ranchers are still in support of the district, and it has protected exactly what they wanted — large farms and ranches.

North of Deer Lodge, in Powell County, residents had similar concerns. They also feared the effect of sprawling development on wildlife and drinking water. After holding several hearings, the county commission established zoning districts in the northern part of the county to protect farms and ranches, to channel growth to areas where residents said they wanted it, and to protect wildlife and ground water. As a result, northern Powell County has remained free of haphazard and fiscally expensive sprawling development. Meanwhile, southern Powell County, where zoning is basically absent, has sprawled.

Next time you see your county commissioners, ask them about what kind of zoning your county has, and tell them you and all the county's other residents deserve a voice in your future -- how farmland, water quality, and open space are protected from haphazard development.

You can take the initiative yourself. Montana law allows citizens to petition for and vote on zoning in their area. For more information, contact the Smart Growth Coalition at 449-6086. The Montana we love depends on whether we exercise this basic tool of democracy.