What is best for the community versus what is best for nostalgic notions? When it comes to the local Custer County Planning Commission, the latter still prevails despite the overwhelming evidence that local zoning laws are threatening to cause the community in the Valley to go extinct slowly. All of the Planning Commission members are excellent community citizens, but I hope one fact would wake them up; we are now the oldest average-age county in the United States. At an average age of 61 years old, Custer County might be over a demographic cliff from which we can no longer recover. Because Custer County enacted strict zoning regulations on land use in the 1980s, the Valley attracted wealthy retirees to build quality homes, then sell…
