City’s growth requires a balanced approach
As someone who works with Flathead Land Trust to conserve our open spaces, I share Diane Etter’s frustration about Kalispell’s rapid growth (“Kalispell Growth,” Sept. 29). Many of us wish Kalispell wasn’t the fastest-growing micropolitan area in the country, or that managing this growth didn’t require such difficult choices. Approving development on currently undeveloped land — a stage all developed land once went through — is never easy.
The reality is that people aren’t moving here because of a new development approved by the city. They come for our natural beauty, outdoor recreation, job opportunities, family connections or simply to return home. If we fail to build the housing needed to accommodate this growth, we’ll see higher prices, a growing homeless population, and the resulting social and economic fallout that erodes our community’s character, something we’ve seen after the post-2020 growth surge.
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