Jefferson County residents are invited to speak out about the proposed Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority — with the ultimate goal of providing train service in southern Montana.
The Jefferson County Commission is hosting a public hearing on a multi-county joint resolution on Tuesday, Aug. 25. at Borden’s Hotel in Whitehall. The meeting begins at 6 p.m.
Also on the agenda is a public hearing on a possible Whitehall location for the Western Legacy Center as well as an additional land-related item.
Montana law provides counties with the tool necessary to establish a regional rail authority through an initial joint resolution, which would allow the creation of a governing structure to begin the needed leg work for the project, as well as borrow money and issue bonds, according to the joint resolution.
Jefferson County is listed as one of 12 counties that have agreed to adopt the joint resolution, to include Sanders, Missoula, Butte-Silver Bow, Broadwater, Gallatin, Park, Carbon, Big Horn, Prairie, Dawson and Wibaux.
Before Jefferson County can sign the resolution, it must hold a public hearing, according to the joint resolution document.
Missoula Commissioner David Strohmaier, who has been one of the leaders of this effort, said that counties that were located on or near the former North Coast Hiawather passenger rail route, or had been served by rail in the past, were invited to be part of the joint resolution. The North Coast Hiawatha route was discontinued in 1979.
There also used to be a route that ran from Salt Lake City to Butte, so that’s why Butte was invited to be part of this, said Strohmaier.
Strohmaier said the plan is to keep all options open for routes either going north-south or east-west.
Strohmaier said this effort is important for southern Montana on several levels — economic, social and environmental.
The Empire Builder route, located along the northern tier of Montana, has been a big economic driver for that part of the state and a similar line here could do the same, said Strohmaier.
For those who cannot drive or fly, passenger rail would provide another option, and train service uses less fuel on a per person basis, said Strohmaier.
Existing freight lines could possibly be modified to accommodate passenger trains, he said.
Once the authority is established, additional counties can petition to join.
A virtual regional summit concerning the authority is planned for September.
Western Legacy Center
An existing building in Whitehall has been added to the list of possible locations for the proposed Western Legacy Center. The decision to add Whitehall as a potential site came after a June public hearing where there appeared to be little support for the center in Boulder.
The proposed Whitehall site, currently located near the I-90 interchange and is now occupied by the USDA and Jefferson County Weed District. It is one of five being evaluated as part of a preliminary engineering report being compiled by Mosaic Architecture.
The other four possible locations, all in Boulder, include a site west of I-15 at the Boulder freeway interchange, another piece of property located east of North Main Street and across from Town Pump, the site where the Bull Mountain Volunteer Fire Department is located on Highway 69 and a piece of land next to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.
Jefferson County Commissioner Leonard Wortman said that after the public hearing in Whitehall, the PER will be wrapped up in the following 30-60 days. Once that’s completed, the county will decide on which direction to proceed, said Wortman, speaking at an Aug. 6 Boulder Transition Advisory Committee meeting.
Wortman said that although Boulder was the original target location, spurred by the closing of the Montana Development Center, the lack of support in the city was a “tough pill to swallow.”
The project is seen as a driver of economic development and is designed to celebrate western culture, particularly that of cowboys and cowgirls and would include a retail component. The plans for Boulder included building a new structure, one that Mosaic estimated at a base cost of $250 to $300 a square foot — or about $6 million for a 20,000 square foot building — a figure that caused some concern among those attending the June meeting, as Wortman indicated it would likely borrow the money to build it.
