03/14/00 Roose to Racicot/Land Board HearingMarch 14, 2000
Governor Marc Racicot
PO Box 200801
Helena, Mt. 59620-0801
RE: Upcoming Land Board Hearing on March 2&, 2000
Dear Governor Racicot,
I'm the Regional Development Officer for western Montana's seven counties. I
live in the Flathead Valley and am familiar with the area's economy. Accordingly I feel I
should comment on the Land Boards ability to provide a tremendous positive push in
economic development, the mitigation of urban sprawl and simultaneously increase the
rate of return on school trust lands.
The land north of Kalispell, west of Flathead Valley Community College know as
section 36 could he a tremendous asset to induce these benefits. Just north of section 36
is a high density housing subdivision located in the county. Just west of that is being
proposed another 200 lot subdivision. All these single family and multi -family units are
on septic tanks as they lie within the county and adjoin the Stillwater River. The closest
connection to a city sewer system is to Kalispell through section 36. This section of land
has gone through a neighborhood study to develop its `highest and best" uses. The
findings are available through DNRC's Kalispell office. Basically the plan calls for a
mix use, of which some is office professional and other retail/office space which could
house a technology business park.
In the last few months the City of Kalispell has received a lot of attention with the
success of locating Stream International Inc.'s call center to the area. This attention,
among other things has caused other companies to look to the Flathead Valley as a
potential site location. I can point to two right now I'm working with that are technology
companies looking for homes that hope to employ as many as 200 jobs each in the next 2
years. Both were looking to develop their own campuses in the county, not the cities of
the county. I approached each company's principals with the idea of developing a
technology park and if it was developed would they be interested in occupying space
there instead of their own campus. Both expressed a very high level of interest. The
geographic relationship to FVCC was a sizeable attraction to them. You're probably
aware through the college distance learning and relationship with the University of
Montana you can receive an MBA there and will soon be able to become a certified Cisco
engineer! These are exciting compliments to the already touted factors in locating
Stream here. (Please see attached printed pages from Stream's web site.)
There is a possibility establishing a technology park, connecting a high -density area to
city services; mitigating potential urban sprawl that is jeopardizing our aquifer. The
1424 9th Avenue - PO Box 200505 • Helena, MT 59620-0505 • PH: 406-444-3814 • FX: 406-444-1872
higher use and payments ofhigher rents will be more commensurate with the market
potential of the land, and would be in the best interest of economic development,
environmental interests, and urban planning. Let's capture the momentum of the Stream
location and multiply it to take advantage of the other amenities that exist in Montana to
attract more companies through cooperative efforts with local, county, state and federal
governmental agencies. This doesn't cost us Coal Tax Trust dollars and gives us a higher
rate of return on our assets without compromising them
Thank you for your leadership in this matter.
Sincerely,
Voice: 406.892.0646
Fax: 406.892.8882