Tronstad Whitefish Stage development Public Comment from Rachael Neumann[NOTICE: This message includes an attachment -- DO NOT CLICK on links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe.]
Dear City Councilors,
I am writing to add my voice to the discussion regarding the Tronstad/Whitefish Stage development. I am adamantly OPPOSED to the development. Here are some of the reasons below.
* We are losing our rural lands. So many people are moving in here that soon we will have high density housing and all open spaces will be gone. I grew up here, and Kalispell has
changed so much since the 80s and 90s that it is almost unrecognizable even now. If the housing isn't here or available, people need to look to move elsewhere. That's the cold hard
truth. It isn't up to the City to make create housing due to demand, especially when the majority of residents do not want it.
* Traffic. I live on Whitefish Stage just north of Schrade. I live on a straight section of the road, yet within the past 5 weeks, we have had 2 vehicles crash into the ditch right
at the end of our driveway in literally the exact same spots, hitting our mailbox both times. Whitefish Stage is busy as is, and with that development, there is only one way to get
to Kalispell itself, and that is to exit south onto Whitefish Stage, since the exit from Tronstad to Hwy 93 has been made into a one way only right turn north onto Hwy 93. Whitefish
Stage will turn into an even more dangerous road with that housing development bringing 300+ more vehicles to use the road daily.
* Why does the City feel they need to annex this development? The property is miles from the City of Kalispell boundaries. Is the City of Kalispell having revenue problems that they
want to overcompensate for? There is a ponzi scheme of city growth polices that seems to be across the board. Is Kalispell one of them?
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/5/14/americas-growth-ponzi-scheme-md2020 <https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.strongtowns.org%2Fjournal%2F2020%2F5%2F14%2Fa
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3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C20000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=YGdkuBWbt6I9TaTpaO2nHm%2Fk4kyVzxQUaHn2XIMDcQM%3D&reserved=0> "We have responded to this
challenge in two ways that compound the tragedy. First, like with any pyramid-shaped financial structure, cities tried to overcome insolvency by growing faster. This alleviates the
immediate budget pain but only increases the future hardship. Sequential bubbles over the past four decades in residential and commercial real estate attest to the collateral damage
of trying to grow our way out of this problem using the same experimental pattern of building."
* The City wants to have people move here, yet at the same time the property taxes have increased and the people who have lived here for decades are now being forced to evaluate if they
can live here due to "The Great Taking" taking place with high property taxes and land and houses that is beyond affordable, OR if they even want to live in this metropolis that Flathead
is becoming if they can even afford it. If I didn't have family obligations in the Valley, I would look elsewhere to live. Indeed, the influx of people has left a very bad taste in
my mouth and I know many others are unhappy as well. Why add fuel to the fire? Growing doesn't need to be painful, but we are in a state of extreme pain. And to what outcome? People
like me, if they aren't obligated to stay here, will move away.
My understanding is at the Planning & Zoning meeting regarding this development, nearly all were opposed to this development, yet these bureaucrats decided to approve the development
anyway, despite the many and numerous objections.
Maybe listen to the people who live near this development and vote NO on this development.
Respectfully,
Rachael Neumann
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approve this that isn’t just because PJ recommends it, and if so, what are they?
Neighbors prior to attending this meeting assumed that the developers would have to prove why their plans benefit the city, just as we would need to prove why it wouldn’t. Instead,
the developers spoke very briefly, as if it was already decided, and presented maybe a few minutes total worth of argument for their development, with zero actual evidence besides their
opinion, and no expert opinions. They also had zero public comment via email in support of the development, and had one person that wasn’t the developers themselves there that spoke,
despite there being well over 100 people there, hours worth of public comment, and the developers having months to gather support, rather than the less than 2 weeks that we had. Despite
the newspaper quoting the developers as having a panel of community members supporting this, and the Tronstad Meadows website currently stating “We're working closely with a variety
of families—including policemen, healthcare workers, teachers, tradespeople,”, not a single one of this advertised panel that they’ve supposedly had for months was at the public hearing.
In case you’re interested they also were not at the listening session the development put on that I attended. This is very confusing to the community. Please explain why the default
seems to be approving this development and giving the developers whatever they want, and why you think that benefits the community. We don’t want to waste your time with the vast amount
of reasons we have to oppose this that don’t actually matter to you. If you give me a list, I can ensure that there are community members there that are professional experts in those
areas to give you better information to aid your decision making. We actually do have a group that includes dozens of teachers, healthcare workers, firemen, and tradespeople. Do the
developers have more say in this than we do, and if so, why?
In addition, why are their only 3 representatives for the development, and why are they very small minority owners? I would think you would want to hear from the actual majority owners/developers
that have the power to actually enforce any of the statements made. Currently the development hasn’t even had the respect for the city to have any of the primary owners of the property
present , even via Zoom, for information gathering. It obviously isn’t that important to them if they can’t take the time to participate despite having by far the most time to prepare
for this. Mr. Garner and Mr. Sonju specifically told us at the listening session they put on that they have no actual power in influencing the direction of this development. I’m curious
if you are unaware of that, and assume you are talking to the people in power. As city representatives I would think you would want to make these plans with the people that actually
have influence.
Finally, I would like to discuss a way to ensure that everyone interested in publicly commenting on this is able to do so. At the Planning Commission public hearing, at least 20 people
had to stand along the walls, and another 20 or so couldn’t even fit in the room. Because of this, many people couldn’t hear, and there were some people (elderly or with physical conditions)
that couldn’t be expected to stand for hours, and had to leave. Considering the amount of interest we have now had time to gather, I imagine there will be even more people interested
in this. I’m sure you’re aware of the overflow at that meeting. I would like to know