In the Gallatin Valley, Montana, (Bozeman, MT) as is so often the case in the West, how best to manage growth is a contentious issue, pitting the rural-minded against the urban-minded, the agrarian-minded against the industrial-minded, those who want wild western land, or at least large western ranches, against those who want productive western land; sometimes the two sides overlap, as in the case of the western farmer seeing the land in wheat and the western land conservationist seeing the land in native grass, or the western rancher retaining the land for cattle and the urbanite retaining the land for recreation.
There are a wealth of ways in which western land can be controlled for future use: clustered development, transfer of development rights, zoning, conservation easements, and citizen-initiated zoning districts, but no single or combined use of these controls pleases everyone. Here is a piece from NewWest.net on the issue and the various "tools," as Susan Duncan calls them, toward pleasing everyone:
Redefining Urban and Rural: Why Growth "Tools" Haven't Succeeded
from NewWest.net, Susan Duncan, 1-28-08
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