Montana is the hot spot, planners say

Years ago, New Mexico had it. Then Colorado got it.

But they both lost it.

Now Montana has it, some say Whitefish is it.
Question is, what is it and how do we keep it?

Remarkably few answers emerged Friday, but it wasn’t for lack of trying at a standing-room-only forum on recreation and real estate sponsored by the Burton K. Wheeler Center http://www.montana.edu/wheeler/index.htm . Planners, policymakers, developers, conservationists and community organizers tried to wrap their arms around it – to define exactly what makes Montana so cool that people are willing to spend absurd amounts of money to live here.

Surely, there’s that Big Sky, but other states have wide horizons too. And there’s the rivers and lakes, but those, too, sparkle under other mountains.

What it really seems to come down to, when you press developers hard enough about their clients’ motives, is that Montana remains relatively unpopulated. Never mind that the elbow-room sales pitch is quickly eliminating the very thing it’s selling.

For now, Montana still has it, and there appears to be no end to the people who want it.

By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2005/10/08/news/local/news03.txt

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Being discovered has its drawbacks and some positives

By WILLIAM L. SPENCE
The Daily Inter Lake

Sylas Daniels, left, and Evan Farrell frame a new house in Iron Horse on Tuesday afternoon. The Iron Horse development in Whitefish was one of many topics discussed Friday at a symposium about growth and development in Montana. Chris Jordan/Daily Inter Lake

It was 10 years ago this fall when Whitefish Mayor Andy Feury first noticed how much things were changing.
He was strolling down the road at the time, walking to a local baseball tournament.

Whitefish was a fairly sleepy community at the time, Feury recalled, as was the Flathead Valley itself. There wasn’t a lot of development taking place, so pretty much any commercial or residential proposal was met with open arms. Almost anything that created new jobs or tax base was welcome.

"We had no cachet, no national name appeal," Feury said. "Whitefish was still a pretty small ‘business.’"

Then, during his walk, he heard a visitor remark to a friend that they’d come to town "looking to buy some dirt."

That was when he realized that Whitefish, and Montana as a whole, was being discovered.

"Suddenly, we were the in-spot to go to," Feury said.

Full Story: http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2005/10/08/news/news01.txt