" I would have to say that attilla was right on several points.

First of all what many fail to understand is that developers very rarely pay for anything. Costs are passed through to the new homebuyers. These new home buyers already often pay higher property taxes (due to higher appraised values) than existing homeowners. But, the fact of the matter is they do pay property taxes just like the rest of us. Our all knowing commissioners, hiding behind their catch all phrase of "public health and safety", have increased road standards to the point that there are virtually NO, ZERO, NADA, county roads that meet their ridiculous and often less safe from an engineering standpoint standards. So, what they have created is a situation where there are existing deficiencies in our roads. Who should pay for existing deficiencies? Obviously if there are existing deficiencies, then existing homeowners are not paying their way. Why should new homeowners be forced to pay for our pre-existent failings? Don't they pay taxes just like the existing homeowners? Why should they have to pay extra on top of the property taxes that they already pay?

So, what is the solution? Why is this so difficult? The reason it is so difficult is that L&C County does not want to follow state law. I direct you to Montana Code Annotated 76-3-510, which I believe was referenced without citation by attilla. It states in part, "costs must reasonably reflect the expected impacts directly attributable to the subdivision". Hmm, seems pretty clear to me. All that the local government needs to do is establish existing average daily trips (ADT's) on the directly impacted road, compare it with the estimated ADT's of the proposed subdivision, and the new development will pay their fair percentage. Again, the reason they are making this so difficult is because L&C County wants the new homeowners to pay MORE than their fair share. Further, the legislature gave local governments another method of imposing infrastructure fees on new development, called Impact Fees. So, why has L&C County not pursued impact fees more diligently? Again, because Montana Code requires that local governments establish nexus and proportionality in order to impose impact fees. Once more, not accepted by L&C County because, as I stated earlier and what should be very clear to even the casual observer, L&C County does not want to follow the established laws, and instead want to make up their own laws and force new homeowners to pay MORE than their fair share.

I used to have a lot of respect for the builders and realtors, as they were often out there on the point of the spear and willing to take on local government to protect private property rights and try to promote affordable housing. The comments by their representatives in this article were disappointing to say the least. It would seem they have turned over a new leaf, and are just plum tickled to be able to go in and aid and abet our local government in violating Montana State law. The newly proposed standards still clearly violate MCA, and for the life of me I cannot understand why Mr. Simonich and Mr. Walsh would choose to heap praise on a local government that has continually ignored and is currently thumbing their noses at the legislature and governors who passed and enacted these laws, to the detriment of the private property rights of the citizens of our county. It certainly seems that Mr. Walsh and Mr. Simonich want everyone to sit around and hold hands and sing Kumbaya. What an utterly naive approach to take. I'm reminded of a quote from Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged:

"There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil. The man who is wrong still retains some respect for truth, if only by accepting the responsibility of choice. But the man in the middle is the knave who blanks out the truth in order to pretend that no choice or values exist, who is willing to sit out the course of any battle, willing to cash in on the blood of the innocent or to crawl on his belly to the guilty, who dispenses justice by condemning both the robber and the robbed to jail, who solves conflicts by ordering the thinker and the fool to meet each other halfway. In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit. In that transfusion of blood which drains the good to feed the evil, the compromiser is the transmitting rubber tube . . .

When men reduce their virtues to the approximate, then evil acquires the force of an absolute, when loyalty to an unyielding purpose is dropped by the virtuous, its picked up by scoundrelsand you get the indecent spectacle of a cringing, bargaining, traitorous good and a self-righteously uncompromising evil."


Thankfully we have finally elected a county commissioner, Derek Brown, who I don't think will compromise on the law and on principles, who has common sense, an engineering background, and who can understand terms like "directly proportional" and "nexus and proportionality". Someone who will avoid lawsuits instead of encouraging them. I'm sure Derek will be met with much opposition, especially in light of the evil middle ground the realtors and builders seem to be taking.

It would certainly seem that "compromise" is the catch word of the builders and realtors. I'll share one more quote from Ayn Rand, "There can be no compromise between a property owner and a burglar; offering the burglar a single teaspoon of ones silverware would not be a compromise, but a total surrenderthe recognition of his right to ones property." "

" The current road scheme being proposed by our illustrious commissioners and Ron Alles is nothing more than another attempt to extort more money out of new homebuyers to pay for existing deficiencies in our infrastructure. We all use our roads, we should all pay for them ... existing and new homeowners alike. Isn't that part of what we pay property taxes for?

Why are the Realtors and Builders refusing to stand up for these new homebuyers and instead are saying how nice it is to work with the county as they try to extort more money from homeowners? Aren't these people their bread and butter? The Pollyanish comments by Mr. Walsh and Mr. Simonich clearly show an ignorance of what has transpired in L&C County, and also an ingorance of the law spelled out in Montana Code. We, the taxpayers of L&C County, are facing multi-million dollar lawsuits over previous actions from our commissioners related to upgrading roads. The current watered down version will do nothing more than promote more lawsuits, and clearly does not meet the "directly proportional" language in Montana Code Annotated related to offsite road improvements by new development.

We the voters already got rid of one of the rogue county commissioners. Murray and Hunthausen are next, and when that happens there goes Alles' job security. "

" Just being okay with the "Developers would be responsible for gathering engineering estimates" is where you take a turn for the worst. Go check out the Northstar subdivision between Anteres and Guthrie Rd. This is where developers tell unsuspecting owners property easements exist where they really don't. I should know... "

" "Commissioners, on the advice of their attorneys, stopped adding road improvements to the list of conditions they impose on preliminarily approved subdivisions, and began rejecting proposals off substandard roads, except in a few cases where developers negotiated separate road-improvement agreements with the county."
If you don't stick to your original proposal with the funds up front, the city is going to lose and the other residents will end up picking up the tab- BIG mistake to let these developers have this window. They WILL take their money and run or file for bankruptcy later on. What will it take for the Commissioners to not make this big mistake. There is no compromising here, money first or no approval- even partial funds is no assurance. Sad to read that you are even considering some compromise here- losers! Look at the other developments and learn. "