I have had affordable housing, Agave Place, in my backyard since 2005 and haven’t had any issue with it. The Valley Club provided these 12 units of Agave Place as part of developing its PUD [Planned Unit Development] plat of The Valley Club West Nine subdivision in that year.
I have long wanted to provide play equipment on the PUD’s Parcel C, “The County Recreation Parcel,” for the children living at Agave Place and for kids riding to it on the bike path. It was supposed to be developed in coordination with the [Blaine County] Rec District. It is a stream-front parcel that could provide the public with picnic tables and a rest stop from a bike ride, or destination waterfront recreational fishing spot for people with mobility issues.
I and my neighbors have previously offered Blaine County Housing Authority [BCHA] and ARCH [Community Housing Trust] many tens of thousands of dollars in charitable contributions to fence Parcel C off from illegal truck parking and commercial operations that were causing a fire hazard, and to rectify the failure of ARCH’s Parcel B installation to meet the design criteria publicly agreed to (matching Agave Place). The public no longer has use of Public Use Parcel B as there has been a house moved to it, it has been sold off to private individuals, and it is fenced off.
I did have an issue with Blaine County in February 2018 issuing a building permit on this PUD’s Parcel C Open Space Recreational Use park, without following their own county laws to work with the developers to replat the piece legally. This is like someone getting an apartment building permit on county-owned Rotarun grounds without any public process or notice. It is dangerous to a democracy to have government officials believe that one can act above the law; the U.S.A. is based on equal laws for everyone and ‘no special above-the-law deals to cronies.’ This building permit for a duplex on the substandard-sized .67-acre Parcel C lot was issued to a private, nongovernmental entity, ARCH, which didn’t have an active lease on the property at the time.
I believed that the county issuance of a building permit was not legal and so instituted an action with the county in 2018 to contest it. ARCH and BCHA requested to be allowed into the case. The county has been pursuing expensive litigation in several instances in the county where I believe it could reach a mediated solution with homeowners; Flying Heart, Lees Gulch, and potentially now Greenhorn Gulch. Unfortunately now in our case, we are going to trial.
I am not against affordable housing; I had lived quite peacefully with a well-designed project in my neighborhood now for 15 years. I also submitted my résumé to the Blaine County Commissioners to serve as a volunteer on the Blaine County Housing Authority, but the commissioners refused me even an interview for the position, although the board position was open. I have offered to become a Yes-In-My-Backyard-charitable-donation–level member of ARCH, but ARCH has refused me membership. ARCH does not hold publicly open meetings and can keep a closed membership.
I have been hopeful that the County Commissioners would recognize that they need to operate under their own laws. They still can.
Sincerely,
Kiki Tidwell
Blaine County resident