The residents of the Carey Valley opined on two disparate issues Monday evening, and it was with one very clear voice.
During the course of a two-hour public hearing hosted by the Blaine County Commission and Carey City Council, they made clear that a plan to route a 500-kilowatt power line near town will only happen over their outspoken and organized protests.
They also said Blaine County's inclusionary housing ordinance, which seeks to require developers to provide deed-restricted affordable housing, isn't for them.
"I find the city of Carey, Carey Valley residents, very vocal on this issue," said Carey Mayor Rick Baird. "Few issues have merited the kind of concern as have the two issues we're talking about tonight."
In both cases, the Carey City Council's submission of strongly worded resolutions to County Commissioners Tom Bowman and Larry Schoen was greeted with loud applause that filled the cavernous auditorium at Carey High School. Commissioner Sarah Michael was not present.
The proposal by Northwestern Energy, based in Sioux City, S.C., to build a major power transmission line between southwestern Montana and southeastern Idaho has identified two corridors through Blaine County as possible routes for the $800 million project.
One route would hug the northwest boundary of the 750,000-acre Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve and run between Arco and Cary. From Carey it would head southwest along U.S. Highway 26 to Shoshone.
The other route would bring the line across the high-desert sagebrush land to the east and south of Craters of the Moon.
It is early in the process, and the company has indicated it will not submit plans for federal consideration under a National Environmental Policy Act review until spring at the earliest.
The potential routes, however, are real, and the citizens of Carey aren't taking the prospect lightly.
"It would just be devastating," said Carey resident Cindy Mann. "Everything we moved over here for would be gone. I don't trust these guys. It's my land they're talking about. Let's not take it lightly. Let's stay on the offensive.
"I just whole-heartedly encourage everyone to write your letters. They really need to be thoughtful letters, from the gut, from you."
Mike Stephens, president of Lava Lake Land and Livestock, has been tracking the proposal. He pointed out that the lattice steel towers would be 132 feet tall, about three times taller than the highest building in Blaine County.
"This is a major industrial proposal," he said. "There's just no way to rationalize that this is an asset to this community. It does not serve local purposes. It is not intended to serve cheaper energy to Idaho."
The Carey City Council's resolution, presented to the county commission by Mayor Rick Baird, is clear:
"The city of Carey strongly opposes the Northwestern Energy Transmission Line Project's routing through the Carey Valley due to the following concerns: (a) the negative environmental impacts on the city and surrounding areas; (b) the aesthetic devaluation of real property in the city and surrounding areas; (c) a lack of economic or other benefit to the city and surrounding areas; and (d) the lack of information furnished by the proponent."
Last fall Northwestern Energy briefed the Blaine County Commission about the power line and the dozens of potential routes. They said the utility is looking at a number of alternative routes totaling 1,200 miles, a portion of which will be included in its final preferred route.
Tom Pankratz, Northwestern Energy's project manager for what is being called the Mountain States Transmission Intertie, said his company will consider comments from appropriate federal land management agencies, local county and state government officials and the public in deciding which route the line should take. Pankratz stressed that it is early in his company's consideration of possible routes.
"We are going to get it whittled down to one preferred route," he said.
Pankratz said that under the best-case scenario, Northwestern Energy would like to begin construction on the project in 2010 and complete it sometime in 2013.
As the proposed power lines are objectionable, so, too, is the prospect of deed-restricted affordable housing in Carey.
Carey resident Eric Alberdi works in real estate and said he spoke on behalf of Carey residents, many of whom later confirmed that he had indeed portrayed their opinions.
Alberdi said inclusionary zoning, which requires developers to set aside a certain amount of new development for affordable housing is "illegal, unethical and unfair to all the citizens of Blaine County."
It constitutes a regulatory taking of private property rights, he said, and results in a deficiency of property taxes. Moreover, he said, homeownership requires sacrifice. Inclusionary zoning and deed-restricted housing short-circuit the American Dream.
"For most of us becoming a homeowner is not easy, but we're willing to make the sacrifice," he said. "Subisidized affordable housing units compete with equitable free-market units."
Carey resident Jody Olsen said Carey should not be imposed with the north county's problems.
"You're dealing with a whole different issue down here than you are in the upper county," she said.
Mary Green, a life-long Carey resident, agreed.
"Right now, Carey is affordable," she said. "All it's going to do is raise the price for the other lots."
Again, the City Council's resolution was presented by Baird.
"Many people tell me that the land in this valley is their retirement," he said. "People are telling me that, for years, landowners north of Picabo have enjoyed the benefits of the value of their land. And at a time when it seems to be our turn at this end of the county, somebody wants to take our ability to take a full return away from us."
He read the resolution:
"1. The city of Carey respectfully declines to participate in inclusionary and/or government-sponsored affordable housing. 2. The city of Carey requests that Blaine County abstain from inclusionary and/or government-sponsored affordable housing in the Carey Valley. 3. The city of Carey encourages builders and developers to employ a mix of lot and residence sizes or other pricing strategies so that lot and residence pricing will remain affordable."
Commissioners Schoen and Bowman said they heard the citizens of Carey loud and clear.
Schoen, however, countered some of the points.
"The fact of the matter is, there is home appreciation as part of this program. One of the things we don't have in the county is good financing to assist with the program. It's a far more complex job than I thought, really. There are inclusionary zoning ordinances in many other communities in the United States, and there is a rationale for that."
That said, Schoen heard his constituents.
"I truly believe that this (inclusionary housing) ordinance does not fit with this community," he said. "I am going to support a position that supports this area as being excluded."
Bowman didn't tip his hand but acknowledged what he heard.
"I've got a pretty good idea of where the Carey Valley sits on this," he said.
Carey resident Eric Alberdi says inclusionary zoning, which requires developers to set aside a certain amount of new development for affordable housing, is "illegal, unethical and unfair to all the citizens of Blaine County."
