| The Idaho Land
Summit's Outcome report provides valuable insight into who
attended the land-use conference last month in Nampa and
the range of interests represented. As well, a survey conducted
during the conference ranked the most important factors
for attendees when considering growth and development and
Idaho's future.
More than 120 attended the summit and 30
of the state's 44 counties were represented. Most of the
attendees were from state and federal agencies and non-government
organizations, and included farmers, ranchers, Realtors, tribal representatives
and environmental and natural resource groups.
Nearly all surveyed believed that their Idaho communities
were growing too fast or much too fast. It should be noted
that 45 of the attendees lived in Ada County, 11 in Canyon
and eight in Latah counties.
Attendees were asked to prioritize 11 amenities of Idaho's
rural lifestyle. Water quality was listed as the most
important by more than 75 percent of attendees; second
was fish and wildlife and their habitat. Preservation
of family farms and ranches, access to public lands and
preservation of public lands rounded out the top five
most important issues to attendees.
When asked which of those 11 amenities of Idaho's rural
landscape were most threatened by the rate of growth and
development, fish and wildlife and their habitat was considered
most threatened by those surveyed, with family farm and
ranches, water quality, access to public lands and low
crime rates and uncongested traffic making up the top
five.
Conference attendees compiled a list of what they believed
were Idaho's most desirable qualities, and at the top
of that list was an appreciation of the state's natural
resources and the acknowledgement of those natural resources'
contribution to the economy, either through agriculture,
logging, hunting, fishing and recreation on public lands.
Second on the list was the stewardship and conservation
philosophy toward those natural resources. Rounding out
the top five most desirable qualities were working farms
and ranches, water quality and access to public lands.
After attendees were given a chance to outline what they
believed were the state's most important characteristics
and qualities they thought should be protected against
threats posed by growth and development, they developed
short-term and long-term strategies on what could be done
to manage the growth.
First on the list of the strategies the group believed
should be tackled was the defeat of Idaho's Proposition
2.
That ballot initiative is fashioned after Oregon's Measure
37, which limits the use of local government's power to
exercise eminent domain and also contains a provision
that says, should local land use planning adversely affect a
landowner's property value, the landowner may seek compensation
for that change in property value — or the government must
waive the regulation.
In an article in the New York Times earlier
this week, a rancher from Picabo, Idaho, said she was going
to vote for the measure even though she did believe that
the measure swung the pendulum of property rights too
far in the other direction.
A Sun Valley city councilman is quoted in the article
as saying that the ballot measure is an abomination. The
article says that opponents of Proposition 2 and other
similar measures on the ballot in 10 other states, including
Arizona, fear they have an uphill battle to get the measures
defeated in November.
Second on the list of immediate strategies is to develop
a group to study what type of incentives are being used
in the state to encourage landowners to keep their land
as working farms and ranchers or to protect them as wildlife
habitat. The goup would also identify which incentives work most effectively
for landowners.
Third on the list is to support the planning and zoning efforts
of local counties. Most of the attendees indicated in
their survey that they believed planning at the
county level was most effective.
Collaboration, providing technical assistance for land-use
planning, revising state law to allow more impact fees
and a fee schedule to make recreation pay were all
considered important short-term strategies
Creating some type of incentive program for landowners
to keep their land undeveloped was the top long-term
strategy. As Mr. Murphy indicates in his column, proposals
for tax credits or incentives for conservation easements
would be presented to the state Legislature next session.
Conference
attendees listed a wide range of income-generating fees to either replace the funding lost through the exercise
of those tax credits or to fund incentive programs. Ideas for those income-generating fees include
impact fees for developers, recreational fees for
boaters and off-road vehicle riders, among other fees.
Attendees also said education was a priority — both in
teaching residents about the effect of development
on their communities and nurturing a sense of stewardship
of the land and wildlife in the state's schoolchildren.
Creating sustainable economies through the purchase of locally
produced foods and goods, working to develop alternative
energy and creating community grant programs were also
long-term goals.
The group is expected to work on both the
short- and long-term strategies and make further presentations
on their ideas and goals the Idaho
Environmental Summit set for Dec. 5-7
in Boise.
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