Plan, what plan?

Twice in the past month, a county officials has identified the need to "do some planning."

OK, what are we waiting for?

The first time it came up was in early October when county planner Ken Peterson expressed some exasperation with the number of new subdivisions occurring countywide and the impacts to not only his office and workload but life in the county in general.

"The county is going need a growth policy because of the amount of land being developed in rural areas," said Peterson.

And earlier this week, during a discussion on the financial impacts, both positive and negative, of the Montanore project, Lincoln County Commissioner Rita Windom said, "We are definitely going to have to do some planning."

Personally I think it's too late.

It was evident 13 years ago when Noranda was in the construction mode for the Montanore adit that tremendous impacts were about to happen as that mine evolved.

Nothing has been done since.

Now, the county is facing not only this massive project that could add 400 families to the area, but we have numerous large pieces of property being considered for subdivisions or already in the county's administrative pipeline.

The impact to area highways and roads, city services, law enforcement, ambulance and fire could be enormous if the combination of subdivision growth and Montanore reach a fraction of their potential. Remember the need for a county jail?

We missed the boat on planning but there are some things we can still salvage. Without planning, we will lose that "quality of life" everyone holds so highly around here.

Hey, don't forget to vote in the mayoral and council races in Libby and Troy next week. That could impact things, too. — Roger Morris