Goal 2 Manage growth to preserve our resources, environment, and sense of community.

This goal is designed to assist City officials in avoiding some of the growth problems that can occur as a result of poor management and lack of vision. Great Falls has not grown as rapidly as some areas in Montana, providing the City with the opportunity to learn from the mistakes created by uncontrolled and rapid growth experienced by other communities. The Commission has the opportunity to help guide growth before too much of it occurs instead of having to try to rectify problems after they have happened.

Uncontrolled growth, as opposed to slow or moderate growth, creates serious environmental problems and degrades the living environment of a community. Issues that affect air, land, water, and lifestyle can all arise if strategic planning does not occur before problems surface.

A strong advantage that Great Falls has over many other cities is excess infrastructure -- the street network and the sewer and water treatment plants can serve a larger population. Time also is on the side of the Commission, providing the opportunity to examine different growth-management techniques used by other cities. The most important means of helping to guide growth is "master planning." Master planning provides policies that need to exist to ensure that the growth is compatible with the community lifestyle and environment. The community's Master Plan has been updated and rewritten by City-County Planning staff with help from hundreds of citizens. The plan has been adopted by the City Commission.

Another growth issue involves "who" pays for growth in terms of public investment in infrastructure such as water and sewer lines and streets. When the City pays, it can involve higher taxes and rates. Many cities work to shift growth costs to the developers through impact fees. These impact fees then can be placed in a fund from which dollars are used to build new public facilities. Impact fees may or may not be appropriate for Great Falls. In any case, there should be a public discussion of the issue of "who pays" before growth accelerates.

Poor planning and ignoring issues of growth and decline by other cities has had considerable and detrimental impact on the sense and strength of communities. An example is that of a mid-size city in the Northwest that continues to further abandon its older sections, creating consequences to the health of the community. Those who can afford it constantly move further toward the boundaries, with the City ignoring substantial portions of the older areas.

A similar situation could have occurred in Great Falls years ago in the Original Townsite. Fortunately, the City provided infrastructure and housing assistance through its block grant program in partnership with Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS), which committed substantial effort and resources toward halting the decline in housing and acting as an advocate for the neighborhood. NHS has since expanded to other areas of the City. Today, both the older and newer sections of the community create a sense of pride from residents.

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