High Country News

Property-rights measure overturned

Oregon’s controversial Measure 37, which de-clawed the state’s famous land-use regulations, has been ruled unconstitutional by a Marion County judge.

by Randy Stapilus, Nov 14, 2005
What it took to win one small victory

The small community of Conway, Wash., successfully fought off a cell-phone tower, but paid a high price for victory.

by Ken Winkes, May 06, 2010
Growth unfettered

Arizonans are grappling with the consequences of Proposition 207, an anti-takings measure passed last fall.

by Daniel Kraker, Nov 26, 2007
Heard Around the West

Karen Claver delivers the mail in remote, rural northern Montana; The Duane B. Hagadone Heliport Blues; neighbor vs. neighbor over Arizona “pop-ups”; and New York’s famous Moondance Diner moves to Wyoming, blizzards and all.

by Betsy Marston, Mar 03, 2008
Energy succeeds where housing developers can't

As the West's housing boom fades, natural resource extraction surges, and a defunct housing development on the east side of Colorado Springs, Colo., may soon face drilling by Ultra Petroleum.

by Sarah Gilman, Nov 13, 2011
The paradox of the housing boom and bust

Outside Delta, Colo sits yet another rural subdivision that was never completed -- a sign of the West's housing bust and of the difficulty of regulating rural growth.

by Paul Larmer, Mar 04, 2012
Unfinished zombie housing developments haunt the rural West

Lack of planning rules and the housing bubble led to dead subdivisions plaguing the West, especially in Teton County, Idaho, where locals are trying to deal with the impacts of the real estate bust, yet still arguing if planning even works.

by Allen Best, Mar 12, 2012
Urban planning — with a wild touch

Practical Ecology for Planners, Developers and Citizens and Nature-Friendly Communties are two new handbooks on innovative land-use planning and habitat protection

by Ray Ring, Feb 06, 2006
The wages of sprawl

A new documentary, Making Sense of Place: Phoenix, the Urban Desert, uses the Arizona megalopolis to show what happens when urban sprawl is unchecked

by Jodi Peterson, Sep 13, 2004
City slaps back at property-rights measure

In response to Oregon’s recently passed Measure 37, Bend, Ore., adopts a rule that allows people to sue their neighbors if nearby development reduces property values

by Lissa James, Dec 20, 2004