Hot Springs residents voice concern over growth policy draft

A unanimous crowd of almost 40 people denounced the new Hot Springs Growth Policy at a public comment meeting hosted by the Hot Spring’s Planning Board at the town’s senior center last Tuesday.

The meeting was charged as speaker after speaker spoke against the proposed policy that has taken almost a year and a half to develop. “We disagree that the mere act of soliciting a wish list to the public represents support for a growth policy,” Roger Wicke said. Wicke said he thought that the expense and outside expertise necessary to implement the growth policy would be too much for Hot Springs to handle.

Janell Clarke, a member on the Steering Board, stood to oppose the policy because she was skeptical about how it would be implemented and what the overall effect would be upon the community.

“I’ve been on this committee since the beginning and at this moment I oppose this growth policy,” Clarke said and wondered whether or not she’d have to tear down her garden shed or her barn if it were to be implemented. “There’s many questions I don’t understand,” Clark said.

While many of the arguments were emotional and heated, there were few that actually targeted specific parts of the policy. There were also complaints about insufficient communication on the part of the planning board to the rest of the community about the policy.

The planning board asked for a show of hands to see who had read the growth policy and Julie Lazaro, the Hot Springs Town Clerk, counted four people out of the entire crowd who had actually read the document. While the policy has been posted on the Hot Springs Library Web site and has been in the library for the last month and a half, there were many people who asked for more time to read the document.

Liz Fee, the planning board chair, said that the policy is the result of the current trends in population growth. “You all kind of assume that everything’s going to stay the same around here if this doesn’t go into effect; sorry folks, but that’s not the way it’s going to be, I know because I’ve left and came back,” Fee said. “Hot Springs will continue to grow, we’re not going to grow fast, but we’re going to grow.”

The growth policy document references statistics from the United States Census Bureau to show growth trends within Hot Springs. From 1990 to 2000 the census reports that the population went from 411 people to 531, a 29.2 percent change. And from 2000 to 2005 the census reports a growth of 531 people to 565, a 6.4 percent change.

The growth policy goes on to reference the estimated population growth statistics for Sanders County according to the Montana Department of Commerce. Their estimations predict that Sanders County will have 11,670 people by 2010, 13,170 people by 2020 and 14,920 people by 2030. The estimated population for Hot Springs in 2030 would be 761 people.

In January of 2007, the planning board held a committee meeting to have citizens rank what key opportunities the growth policy should help Hot Springs achieve. The 80-plus residents who attended the meeting listed town appearance and revitalization as their number one priority. Their second priority was to engage the local tribes in the planning process and their third priority was to increase tourism and allow for new buildings.

Paul Stelter, the steering board chair, wanted people to know that the new policy would help them see those opportunities and would not affect any current buildings or homes. He also said that the policy would help protect the community from big-budget homeowners and businessmen who might use finances to influence the design of the town.

“We’re going to see that come this way,” Stelter said about possible wealthy, new residents. “If we don’t have some vision, some guidance, we’re going to be at the mercy of whoever comes down here and decides what our town is going to be like,” Stelter said.

After hearing the complaints about the policy and the desire of community members to have more time to study the document, Stelter said that there would be five more copies in the Hot Springs Library to checkout. Including those five additional copies, there’s also two copies at the senior center, two permanent copies at the library with the five additional ones available for personal check out.

“This has been an ongoing process and I don’t think it’s over yet. But I’m afraid of what the future brings without us being prepared for it,” Stelter said.