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  Andrew Bissell - Arrow Staff

   "United We Plan, Subdivided We Sprawl," warn the gigantic black letters that grace the insert of the newsletter. Next to that ominous phrase, the newsletter's editors have inserted a photo of ugly, heavy-duty construction vehicles transforming what was once a field of wheat into a foundation for a new development project. The newsletter's message is clear: join us in our planning crusade, and you can prevent this from happening in your own neighborhood!

   Yes, the latest anti-development musings of the Citizens for a Better Flathead have arrived in the mail. The deceptively named local land-use group advocates more strict zoning laws (and any other type of restrictive government measure) that would scale back the rate of development in the Flathead Valley in order to achieve their stated goal of "sound planning." The picture of sprawl-in-progress that appeared in their newsletter was a familiar one to me. A perfect view of that construction project, which took place one block from my house, was available from my living-room window.

   What Citizens conveniently omits from its bimonthly house organ are images of these development projects once they are completed. The building that recently went up near my house has become a place where dozens of hard-working Flathead Valley entrepreneurs serve customers and build their businesses. Citizens has good reason for leaving images like this out of its publication; after all, it is much easier to drum up public opposition to development if it is symbolized by bulldozers and dirt-piles than if it represents the places of enterprise and achievement where we work, eat, and play in our everyday lives. Indeed, one of the restaurants reviewed in this volume of The Arrow now operates in the building whose construction Citizens viciously slandered. Imagine a picture of The Grainery accompanied by the caption, "Sprawl at its worst." It's not exactly a message that would resonate well with Flathead Valley residents.

   Unfortunately, the Citizens for a Better Flathead don't limit themselves to whining about the use of land for productive enterprises other than farming. All too often, they succeed in their efforts at blocking economic expansion in the Flathead Valley. Most recently, a plan to lease a 640-acre plot of state land at the southwest corner of West Reserve Drive and U.S. 93 was derailed by a lawsuit filed by Citizens along with the Montana Environmental Information Center. The plan would have allowed for additional commercial, retail and residential development, as well as the construction of a high-technology business park, on a tract of land that has, up until now, been leased for wheat production. In the lawsuit, they argued that environmental and economic reviews were required by state law before development proceeds.

   Of course, no public-interest lawsuit machine conducts expensive cases merely for the sake of upholding the letter of state law. CFBF's public statements reveal that in truth, they believe that new developments should meet their pie-in-the-sky environmentalist standards, and that a general skepticism towards private property and business underscores their antagonism towards construction and growth. According to Citizens' interim director, Mayre Flowers, new developments should "meet attractive and environmentally sensitive design standards, reduce traffic and encourage pedestrian access." In other words, every new place of business in the Flathead should look, feel, and smell like Woodland Park. Flowers also claims that there is a "surplus of retail commercial space (in the Flathead) already." You'll recall from economics class that permitting the creation of lots of businesses is a bad way to encourage economic growth.

   Citizens supports state law when it serves its goal of hindering growth, as it did with regard to the business park proposal. If the law doesn't support that goal, though, Citizens advocates a change in the law. For instance, if property held by private individuals may legally be subdivided for residential suburban development, Citizens often campaigns for a change in zoning laws to stop such a project dead in its tracks. It is only after meeting ridiculously costly and inconvenient development standards that a developer can win Citizens' praise.

   As a resident of a neighborhood on the fringes of Kalispell city limits, I have personally witnessed development projects spring up. Rather than fill me with bitter resentment toward "hodgepodge" development, they have demonstrated firsthand the potential such development has to add to the sum of human happiness among my neighbors and friends. The Daily Inter Lake erred when it characterized the business park controvery as a collision between economic opportunities and "smart growth" in a recent headline. When the Citizens for a Better Flathead get involved, the only collision is between growth and stagnation.