A Kalispell resident shared with Montana1stNews Mayor Ryan Hunter’s devious and sneaky plans which they state will benefit Hunter’s employer the (non-profit) Flathead Land Trust. (see below)
“I’ve been following something taking place on our new Kalispell City Council involving our new mayor. The attached from today’s article doesn’t give the whole story and context to what had originally happened. So imagine this if you will”…
1.Our new mayor works for a non profit that purchases permanent easements so land can’t be developed – ever!
2. His employer wants to purchase an easement on a piece of property (his statement) in the West Valley area. (It’s currently privately owned farmland).
3.The fact that this property lies within the growth policy boundary is a problem for the mayor’s employer as it makes the property more valuable and it’s more costly to purchase the easement and lock up the property.
4. His employer would like to see the property removed from the growth policy boundary (public comment from another employee of the mayor’s employer in first meeting in January).
5. Removing the property from the growth policy area could be justified if he could use wildlife protection as the reason. Enter the Sandhill Crane into the discussion, a bird that has no federal protections, is abundant and is known as the ‘ribeye of the sky’. Make this bird the reason to never let land be developed and voila! The easement is now cheaper, and the landowner has no development options!
6. In order to achieve this a map showing the area the bird frequents would need to be produced to justify the action as a finding of fact, something desperately needed by the mayor to get his wishes.
7. City staff disagreed with this concept and told the council this at the work session where the mayor first hatched (no pun intended) this plan. Staff said FWP had not participated in any planning for this area before.
8. Seeing the roadblocks and lacking a map from FWP, the mayor knows the next step would be to designate the sandhill crane and the land as an environmental concern. At this time, (Mr. Hunter), as noted in the article, says he will speak with Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (on his own).
9. This is on his own, not with approval of the Council and not a public meeting, just the mayor shopping for “facts” to get his way and benefit his employer.
10. Skip forward to the mentioned public hearing for MLUPA and a letter, needed by our new mayor to get his way and justify his intent for placing a “environmental concern” on the West Valley area, miraculously appears from FWP at 4:59 PM before the public hearing. This letter benefits the mayor’s wishes and his employer’s price on future conservation easements. (However, it did come in too late for the public to comment on it).
11. The letter from FWP could be described as a governmental taking of private property rights and value as it recommends a minimum lot size of 40 acres in the West Valley area in the Kalispell Growth Policy area.
Wake up Kalispell, Mayor Ryan Mamdani is doing what he can to take your rights and benefit his employer. This went from a huge conflict of interest to corruption.
To read the article to which the author is referring click here (this topic is covered in the first portion of the article). By Jack Underhill DIL Staff Writer
