School trust lands targeted for development

A new management plan released on Friday will likely result in greater development of state school trust lands in Flathead County and Northwest Montana over the next 20 years.

The plan, which still has to be approved by the state Land Board, recommends that the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation be more aggressive about developing residential, commercial and industrial uses on Montana's 5.1 million acres of school trust lands.

"The philosophy behind this plan is that we would participate in the growth of a community," noted Jeanne Holmgren, head of the DNRC's Real Estate Management Bureau. "If an area is growing and we have trust lands available there, we would look to develop some of those lands."

Montana's trust lands were granted to the state by the federal government upon statehood. The DNRC is mandated to manage the property in a way that generates long-term revenue for public schools and universities.

The need to generate more revenue from the trust lands prompted the creation of this new management plan. The DNRC also wanted a more consistent overall policy that would help it evaluate specific land-use proposals and opportunities.

A final environmental impact statement released on Friday looked at several different approaches to accomplish these goals.

The preferred alternative identified in the document calls for the real estate bureau to take a more active role in the development process. Rather than simply wait for private developers to submit proposals, as it does now, the bureau would try to form joint ventures with them.

"On a statewide basis, our planners would look at the trust lands in their region, particularly around urban areas, and look at the market demand," Holmgren said. "If the properties meet certain criteria, we would generate a prioritized project list. We might also try to obtain more favorable zoning [for high-potential sites], and we'd try to stay in the process longer," rather than just sell or lease or exchange the land and let the developer take it from there.

It's estimated that this approach will result in about 3,200 to 5,400 acres of school trust lands within the bureau's Northwest Land Office region being develop for residential purposes by 2025, according to the environmental impact statement. That's 10 percent of the total residential development anticipated for the region during that time period - and it's about half of the total residential acreage that the agency expects to develop on all trust lands statewide.

Another 812 to 1,354 acres could be developed for commercial and industrial purposes.

The Northwest Land Office includes Flathead, Lake, Lincoln and Sanders counties. The area contains about 313,000 acres of school trust lands.

Holmgren noted that these development figures are estimates, rather than goals or targets. Depending on the level of growth in a given market, and on how suitable the trust lands are, the actual number of acres could be lower or higher.

"If it's an area that's growing rapidly, and we have trust lands that are positioned right, we wouldn't stop just because we hit the 10 percent figure," she said.

In fact, the preferred alternative would allow as much as 10,800 acres of residential property to be developed within the Northwest Land Office region by 2025 - including 3,600 acres by 2010 - before it triggered a re-evaluation of the plan.

By comparison, about 6,500 acres of residential, commercial and industrial development has been approved in Flathead County since the beginning of 2002.

The new management plan only deals with real estate development activities, which currently account for less than 1 percent of the total school trust lands. It won't affect grazing, agriculture and timber production.

Last year, these resource-based activities generated an average net revenue of $3.15 per acre for the school trust - compared to almost $55 per acre for the limited amount of real estate activity.

The preferred alternative will go to the state Land Board early next year for final approval. The environmental impact statement that describes the preferred alternative and other alternatives is available online at www.dnrc.state.mt.us/programmatic/feis.htm

Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com