Mission residents voice community concerns
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ST. IGNATIUS — The first of five community meetings held by Lake County, its community partners and the Lake County Community Development Corporation took place Jan. 26 at the St. Ignatius School District Office. About seven people attended the meeting and voiced concerns on issues from lack of housing and public transportation to the town’s delayed water project.
Lake County is seeking input from the public for a five-year comprehensive economic development strategy and feedback to understand what is needed in local communities. LCCDC also presented the audience with numerous statistics regarding everything from unemployment to education levels in Lake County, compared to neighboring Sanders and Mineral Counties.
LCCDC Executive Director Billie Lee prompted the group with a question concerning housing.
“What are the issues that we are really faced with?” Lee asked the audience. “We have so many leaving to North Dakota; is it housing?”
“Especially in St. Ignatius, there (are) definitely housing problems,” said Amy Miller, owner of the Malt Shop, Sunset Motel and some rental properties in St. Ignatius. “There is nothing empty. I’ve never heard of it.”
This led to Miller mentioning the county’s lack of public transportation and the need to improve the town’s infrastructure.
“It’s not where it needs to be yet. Water is a big issue,” Miller said, adding that she has heard water rates may go up to help pay for the town’s chlorination and well water project. She said currently, paying the meter on the Malt Shop and apartments is like paying for six meters.
“It’s harsh if it goes up more,” she said.
High school English teacher Tim Marchant believed boosting the area’s bike path would bring hundreds of bicyclists through the area, highlighting the potential for ecotourism and agritourism. He explained that often bicycle tours bring a wealth of money to communities they visit, contributing to local restaurants, hotels and farms. Marchant is on the board of directors for Missoulians on Bicycles, a nonprofit organization that promotes cycling in Western Montana.
Marchant mentioned that bike paths in the area are well-used, and more are needed to improve the lack of public transportation options. He noted that he often sees people riding or walking back and forth on the bike trail between Pablo and Polson.
The Lake County Fairgrounds was also an item of concern, especially for Marchant, who is the manager of the fair board.
“The Lake County Fairgrounds is getting squeezed tighter, and we are just running out of places to put the hogs and sheep,” Marchant said. “It is open class and everyone is getting involved … everything is free and getting to be something hard to maintain. What makes the fair unique is it’s small. Do we want horseracing and beer gardens? No, but we are headed in that direction.”
Another area of concern for Marchant was activities for children in St. Ignatius. He said the city did well providing a skatepark as an alternative to sports teams, but said it attracts more boys than girls and there is a need for supervision.
“Bike paths, fairgrounds and activities for kids,” Marchant said summing up his list of important issues, but said it was “hard to prioritize” which was more urgent.
Though Theodora Lambson lives three miles outside St. Ignatius, she said she uses the town as her center for her everyday needs. But it was the basic needs of St. Ignatius that worried her the most.
“Basic kinds of things are the problems — roads, streets, the repair — there’s no sidewalks,” Lambson said, explaining that there is often no distinction between what is the city’s or property owners’ responsibility when it comes to repairing holes or damage. “It’s a rather pervasive problem. It’s those basic community needs, like paying for an adequate police force.”
“It’s hard to talk about bicycle paths when you don’t have basic needs,” Marchant reflected after Lambson addressed the group.
Lee told the group in addition to garnering input; one of the reasons for the meetings was to create a plan. The comprehensive economic development strategy will analyze the regional economy and serve as a guide for establishing goals, developing a plan of action, identifying priorities and funding sources.
“If you take nothing more away from this, that would be to create a plan. If there is money available we can say these are the priorities in our communities,” said Lee, noting that improving public infrastructures are a five-year process no matter where you start.
“(LCCDC) provides a credible avenue for expressing one’s concerns … it’s up to us to decide how involved we are going to get,” said Lambson after the meeting.
She included that she would have liked to have seen city council members at the informational.
“I don’t know if they are already knowledgeable,” Lambson said of the statistics and information presented by LCCDC. “I would have liked to have seen that they are engaged and see that they care about (our thoughts and concerns).”
The next meetings will be held Feb. 2 at the Ferndale Community Center, Feb. 7 in Ronan at the community center at the fairgrounds and Feb. 9 at Arlee High School. The meetings are being used to gather information about the different communities.
“We’re asking for public input from the citizens of Lake County,” Program Director Gib Turner said. “It’s a wish list of what the community needs.”
Coinciding with the town meetings, an online survey will also be available for adults of every household in Lake County until Feb. 17.
Turner says every household is urged to participate so the data will include as many residents in the Valley as possible.
“We’d like to see 25 percent of the county population for a baseline; hopefully we’ll get more,” Turner said. “It’s approximately 90 questions and takes about 12 minutes to fill out. We will have a drawing Feb. 17 for three $50 gift certificates if they leave their name and phone number.”
According to a press release, the survey will correlate with the CEDS development. Organizers are anticipating this design will bring together public and private sectors in the creation of an economic roadmap to diversity and to strengthen local economies.
“It’s a development tool for locals and outside sources,” Turner said at the Jan. 23 Ronan City Council meeting. “There is a tremendous amount of data we can gather from our community.”
According to Turner, the main purpose of holding the meetings is to define and prioritize the wants and needs in communities based on public infrastructure, transportation, broadband Internet, affordable housing and other projects that could benefit development.
A physical report will be the end result of the meetings and survey, which can then be used for development, planning and promotion of the county.
The report will analyze the regional economy and serve as a guide for establishing goals and objectives, developing and implementing a plan of action, identifying investment priorities, and funding sources.
Benefits from the five-year plan will help utilize the region’s unique advantages to maximize economic opportunity for its residents by attracting the private investment that creates jobs in the region.
Hard copies of the survey are available for those without a computer, and can be obtained from Turner at the Lake County Community Development Corporation in Ronan, to complete and return. To access the online survey, visit www.surveymonkey.com/lakecounty_survey.
