With the closing of the Stimson Lumber Co. mill the removal of Milltown Dam, and new development on its way, Bonner and Milltown are two places facing drastic transformation. Yet what some viewed as an opportunity to plan for growth passed this week when the community council put the brakes on the project's funding source days before the grant application deadline.
The Bonner Milltown Community Council held a special meeting Tuesday to discuss a subcommittee recommendation to withdraw support for a competitive “smart-growth” grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“I felt a duty to the public to make sure we were recommending something that we knew something about,” said Jeff Patterson, a member of the land use subcommittee and a candidate for the Missoula County commission. “I felt bad that I stood up and supported it (in April), and that's why I suggested we resolve to retract our recommendation until we could learn more about it.”
Except, some are asking, what's there to learn?
“It commits people to good planning,” said Roger Millar, director of Missoula County's Office of Planning and Grants. “I mean, who's for dumb growth?”
After Tuesday's meeting, council member Gary Matson - the only member who supported submitting the smart-growth grant application - resigned when the council refused to allow 40 or so people in attendance to speak, including Millar.
In his resignation letter, Matson wrote: “These high-handed actions by the council define it as a body willing to exclude the public and bend the rules for the sake of its own prejudices. It is no longer a valid voice for the Bonner Milltown area community.”
Commissioner Jean Curtiss, chairwoman of the Missoula Board of County Commissioners, said the council was “totally out of line” not to allow public comment.
The Bonner Milltown Community Council is one of the newest of the county's seven councils. It's the county's responsibility to educate its council members about open meeting laws, Curtiss said. The community council is a public entity because it receives taxpayer money to operate.
“The community council should want to hear what the public has to say,” she said.
Patterson is not on the community council, and cannot speak on its behalf, he said. Patterson considers himself a strong supporter of public involvement. Under these circumstances, however, he didn't feel there was a need for public comment because the council “only wanted to receive the land use committee's report.”
In addition, he described the crowd as a “mob of people” solicited by Matson “who have not been educated on what it is we are pursuing.”
County staffers began work on the grant application in February. That's when the community council approached the county about wanting to plan for future development in the area.
If selected, the EPA would have sent an economist, urban designer, transportation planner and architect to work with the Bonner and Milltown communities to design a plan for future growth. That amounts to approximately $75,000 worth of services.
The county planned to match the grant with about $75,000 during next year's budget cycle, for a total of approximately $150,000 to begin planning for growth in that area.
Even if Missoula County was not chosen as a grant recipient, the commissioners may have decided to allocate money to the planning effort anyway, Millar said, but it's doubtful now.
“It sends a message that the community is divided and that's a terrible atmosphere to work in,” Millar said. “We are willing and able to work with them when they are ready to work with us.”
Community Council Chairman Toby Dumont, who was not present at the meeting, commented by
e-mail, saying “The Bonner Community is very frustrated that things are being pushed on them asking for support at the last minute without any opportunity to really look into the matter.”
He went on to say, “If the Community has a chance to look into this further and wishes to pursue this grant, then it can be done next year with support from the entire Community.”
The grant is awarded annually to four or five communities nationwide, Millar said. The application submission deadline was Thursday. Had Missoula County received the grant, planning could have started as early as the fall of this year.
“We'll have the opportunity again next year and it will give us time to work with the community,” Curtiss said. “My hope is that the folks who think it would be good to start such a planning process come forward. Sometimes the naysayers happen to be the most vocal.”
Reporter Chelsi Moy can be reached at 523-5260 or at chelsi.moy@missoulian.com.
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