Jefferson River Canoe Trail: River News from the Media.

On the Jefferson: Sprawl Prompts Study of Setbacks
by Nick Gevock of The Montana Standard, 04/08/2006

A watershed group is considering whether counties need to implement building setbacks along the Jefferson River to prevent the sprawl of homes that have been built up along other Montana rivers.

The Jefferson River Watershed Council this week formed a committee that will study setbacks and other development issues in the floodplain along the river. The move was spurred largely by the rapid sprawl that has put homes right along the Yellowstone, Bitterroot and other Montana rivers, said Gary Nelson, a Jefferson Valley rancher and council chairman.

"Probably what has sparked the interest is a drive from Jefferson County to other rivers to see what has been done," he said. "We're just going to look at the whole issue of land use in the floodplain." The council is only an advisory group and any regulations would have to be approved by the counties that the river flows through, which are Madison, Jefferson, Gallatin and Broadwater.

Madison and Gallatin counties have minimum setbacks for new lots created by subdivision along rivers, and Madison County last year approved a 150-foot setback along the Big Hole River for all property.

Nelson said as a rancher with river front property, he's concerned about subdivisions next door can cause problems for ranchers.

But property advocates showed up at a council meeting Wednesday night to voice their opposition to any setbacks. Among them was Leita Beardsley, who lives near Three Forks and was chosen to sit on the committee.

She said she's opposed to a private group taking on land use planning, which should be handled by local governments. And Beardsley said the setbacks would amount to an illegal takings because it would drop river front property values.

When people do build in inappropriate places along a river and get flooded out, they should be responsible for paying for their actions, Beardsley said. But those few instances don't justify an across-the-board regulation.

"I don't want people to be banned from doing that when there could be some perfectly good building sites within 150 feet of the river," she said. "If people built too close to the river, it's their own fault and they're own tough luck." But Nelson said the property rights argument cuts both ways. When homes get built up along rivers, riprap is often dumped along stream banks to protect them.

That just forces the river into a smaller channel to ultimately flood someone else out.

Jefferson County Commissioner Ken Weber, who sits on the committee, said as a local official his concern is public safety. Homes along stream banks means septic tanks and wastewater reaching the streams and those homes are also at risk during floods.

"If you build too close to it, your house becomes in danger and even your life becomes in danger," he said. "The town of Livingston is a prime example of the problems that have been run into and the tremendous amount of money spent to try to keep people safe."

Used with permission of the Montana Standard.

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