CORNERSTONES

[Jim]

Here is a summary of the CORNERSTONE discussion at the March OLC
meeting:

-Dan said he has some thoughts on the Cornerstone idea and compared
it to Grizzly
bear habitat. He said better habitat gets more conservation efforts
and he told the
group it could be a helpful tool by having the prime agricultural
lands identified.
-Dan also said the Cornerstones are not promoting zoning in an area,
but are identifying certain limited resources and protecting what is
there first before spending
all the money on smaller less significant areas.
-Heather said that because ranchers are land rich, money poor, she
worried that if a
ranch is considered or identified as a cornerstone, it may limit the
landowner’s ability
to sell some land in order to keep money coming in during a difficult
time.
-Heather added that being identified as a cornerstone in Potomac can
be problematic because Potomac land is not great for most agricultural
endeavors. She said it would
be difficult for her to sell her land as agricultural land if that how
it is identified.
-Jim said Heather’s description is very accurate if the Cornerstone
concept was considered zoning. He added that maybe Potomac should not
be included as a Cornerstone because there is not much prime soil in
that area. He said the Cornerstone idea would be reinforcing some of
the findings of the PLACE project in the way the PLACE project has
identified the important resources in Missoula
County.
-Meggen told the group that Paul Hubbard did a presentation to the
Evaro-Finley-
O’Keefe Community Council and she understood Cornerstones to mean
predictability factor for developers; where developers could expect a
little more focus on how their subdivision should look like coming out
of a cornerstone.
-Jim Berkey said the map CFAC created is more of a suggestion and that
their preliminary proposal was that the Growth Policy be amended to
include the existence of Cornerstones and that would be a way for that
vision to officially be included. Then the incentive packages could be
included in the cornerstone plan at a later time.
- Karen explained that there a lot of possibilities and concepts with
how the Cornerstones can be used and that the group should explore the
possibilities advise the Commissioners on the best options or
potential drawbacks and concerns. Karen said that Paul had suggested
to the group that Cornerstones be used as the basis for an incentive
program. Karen said when the Growth Policy amendment is written, how
to use and not to use cornerstones can be written into the policy.

[Jim]

Cornerstone designation seems to be a logical outgrowth of the PLACE
project findings of the important resources of Missoula County and may
serve as a valuable tool in highlighting important agricultural
regions.

In reviewing the comments made by OLC members at our March
meeting,however, I feel that many farmers and ranchers will agree with
Heather that having their property included as part of a Cornerstone
area will be met with displeasure and resistance. If an attractive
package of incentives could be designed and implemented to assist
landowners in Cornerstone areas remain in agricultural production,
this might offset the associated negativity.

But if incentives can not be practically identified, the possible
alienation of landowners may greatly detract from the value of
identifying Cornerstones. Perhaps the findings of the PLACE project,
particularly the distribution of productive agricultural soils, can
serve as unnamed Cornerstones by themselves.