Thursday, May 13, 2010
Valley Citizen
The most important and challenging issue we face today is economic – how do we recover from the unprecedented downturn and move toward a stable, healthy economy? The answer lies in concentrating on three building blocks to set a solid foundation for Teton Valley’s future: focusing residential and commercial growth toward our cities, encouraging entrepreneurship and investing in our schools.
Over the past 10 years we incentivized sprawling residential growth in the rural parts of the county. This growth pattern is the most costly for taxpayers, provides the lowest service level for everyone and now, it is clear, has a limited market. The projected demand for second homes in the valley until 2040 is estimated at 1000 units. We’ve platted nearly 3 times that amount, a surplus that is dragging on our economy – not to mention leaving us with astronomical foreclosure rates and blighted, half-built subdivisions.
This is not a good situation, but it is an opportunity to re-focus development and stabilize our economy. Increasing density in our cities make sense because it costs taxpayers less to service, attracts new home buyers such as Generation Ys (young, tech savvy entrepreneurs that will pay a 15% premium for walkability) and will build vibrant downtowns. These unique downtowns characterized by a strong retail environment attract tourists, hence increasing visitors and retail sales.
In addition to re-focusing commercial and residential growth, we need to be inviting to businesses. Starting a quiet business from home – making ski bindings, painting portraits, offering accounting services – should be easy and welcomed as the community boon it is. Starting a business with more impacts on neighbors – a cement plant, a car repair shop, a timber frame company – should also be easy and welcomed as the boon it is. No business should face a laborious, inconsistent conditional use permit process. Instead, we need to adopt consistent standards for low impact home businesses and work with the cities to identify areas that meet the needs of businesses that have more impacts and create incentives for both these types of companies.
Finally, in order to attract entrepreneurs we need to focus on our schools. The state of Idaho is making a mistake by cutting school funding and Teton County should not follow suit. By slashing already-slim budgets, Idaho will lose good jobs to other states. Simply put, good schools attract new residents and keep young families in the area, both of which sustain economic growth. If we keep our schools strong the benefits will trickle throughout Teton County as families start businesses and build new houses, putting unemployed residents back to work.
We’ve been blessed with natural resources – great snow, blue-ribbon trout fishing, and access to national parks. It’s up to us to protect our other assets - unique small-town character and great people by building a strong economy. By focusing development in cities, encouraging entrepreneurship and investing in our schools we will set the foundation for a sustainable future for Teton Valley.
