By Bay Stephens EBS STAFF WRITER
BIG SKY – The Big Sky Transportation
District has partnered with the Big Sky Community Organization to seek funds
from the state to make a portion of the planned community center in Big Sky Town
Center a transit hub with indoor space for passengers awaiting buses.
The transportation district board, which has
access to annual funding from Montana Department of Transportation for capital
projects like buses and bus facilities, agreed in a Feb. 20 meeting to apply
for approximately $225,000 to contribute to the community center for which BSCO
is currently raising funds. If granted, the funds would allow a warm place and
public restrooms for bus users as well as partially relieve fundraising
pressure for BSCO and the community.
“From BSCO’s perspective, we’re just
trying to leverage outside funds to get whatever we can [for the community
center],” BSCO Executive Director Ciara Wolfe said at the meeting. She added
that the funds would not make or break the project but would help keep money in
the pockets of Big Sky community members as BSCO prepares to launch a community
campaign for the project.
The bus stop along Ousel Falls Road in
Town Center serves as a transfer point for many bus users traveling from Big
Sky Resort to Meadow Village Center or Bozeman. However, late-night riders
don’t have warm places to wait for buses except in nearby bars and restaurants.
The transit hub stands to remedy that by giving these passengers access to a 1,900-square-foot
lobby with couches and chairs open to the public, as well as restrooms.
The transit hub would have vehicle pullouts
to accommodate Skyline’s large 35-passenger buses and shift the bus routes to allow
those heading up the mountain to make safer left-hand turns.
Envisioned as a future hub for Big Sky’s
trail system, Wolfe said she hopes the community center will facilitate local
use of public transportation instead of personal vehicles.
Transportation
district looks to expand boundary
The transportation district is also
seeking to add a boundary expansion onto the next ballot.
The expanded boundary would match that of
the Big Sky Resort Area District and better reflect the service area of the
public transit services, transportation district coordinator David Kack wrote
in an email to EBS. The current transportation district boundary was
established in 1991 when Big Sky was far smaller, he added.
Kack said aligning the two boundaries
makes sense because the resort tax board is the largest source of local
matching funds for the transportation district and, as was discussed at the Dec.
5 Eggs and Issues hosted by the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, the more that the
unincorporated area’s slew of special districts share boundaries, the better.
A copy of the petition states: “There is
no cost to expanding the boundaries of the District, as there are currently no
property taxes levied to support the Big Sky Transportation District.”
To be on the next ballot, 20 percent of
the registered voters living in the area to be added must sign the petition:
150 people from the Gallatin County side and 75 from the Madison side who don’t
reside in the transportation district but are part of the resort tax district.
“Signing the petition isn’t saying you
are for or against expanding district boundaries, only that you want to have
the vote,” Kack said.
Petitions can be found at BSCO, Big Sky
Owners Association, Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, and Lone Mountain Land
Company, along with a list of registered voters who live outside the current
transportation district boundaries, but inside the resort tax district
boundary.
