There are 240 residents of Ralston if we’re to take the word of the sign on the edge of town.

If so, nearly 15% of those residents showed up to a meeting last Tuesday night to hear some issues regarding the future of the unincorporated community 5 miles southwest of Powell.

That may not sound like a good percentage, but as someone who has covered many of the meetings for different communities regarding the county’s new land use plan and the implications of it, it’s actually a pretty good number. A number of meetings regarding much more populated areas have drawn similar or less attendance.

That was good to see, and at least in my mind it gave more weight to the overwhelming theme of what most of those in attendance wanted. Simply, nearly all of those in attendance were opposed to growth and development in the town.

In many places, even in Park County, simply saying you don’t want growth and development can sound naive, which is why the county is working to come up with managed growth. It’s not like anyone can tell someone they can’t subdivide their land and sell off pieces, and I know a lot of landowners don’t like the idea of new regulations preventing them from doing just that in the future.

However, Ralston is in a unique position within the county. The town was platted to be a dense townsite and expected to be a bigger hub, being astride the railroad and canal. Instead, it was Powell that grew and Ralston became a rural community, now home to many septic systems and wells that are unpermitted and would not be allowed to be built so close together if they were to be built today under current state and federal, much less local, regulations.

As county Planning Director Joy Hill noted at the meeting, real growth and development can only be achieved if Ralston were to solve its infrastructure issues of water and sewer.

So, if most residents are unwilling to pursue a special tax district or town incorporation with the ultimate goal of centralized water and sewer, they really do have the power to stymie growth within the old townsite and “strip” along the highway. 

It may certainly be a frustration to some in the community who want to see growth and business development, but it’s also a case of democracy at work. If most people in Ralston want the community to stay basically as it is, then it probably will.