Archive: August 2023

Camping World Opens in Lockwood

9 August 2023
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By Michael J. Marino, Yellowstone County News

Camping World just off Interstate 90 near Lockwood has opened for business, marking the RV dealer’s first store in Montana and its 199th store in the world.

Founded in 1966 and headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois, Camping World provides a variety of RV products and services. Devin Card, General Manager of the new Billings store, said that in addition to selling Recreational Vehicles and related items, they have 14 service bays.

With three other RV dealers just a stone’s throw away, one might wonder what strategy Camping World executives could have been employing when they decided to locate in Billings.

Card said he is not aware of all the details behind the company’s decision, but, “Billings draws in a large area of people that are traveling here on the weekends. People come to Billings for its shopping, [and] the hospitals ….I think that’s why you see so many RV places [in Billings],” he continued.

“As we enter Montana, the Billings community is a great place to begin,” said Camping World Chairman and CEO Marcus Lemonis. “It’s our goal to increase our store count by 50% over the next five years, through a combination of acquisitions, new store openings, and manufacturer exclusive locations.”

BLM Releases Oil/Gas Leasing Regulations

9 August 2023
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released a proposed oil and gas rule that would affect how fossil fuels are leased and produced on national public lands. The rule would implement the Inflation Reduction Act’s reforms of the oil and gas leasing system.

BLM claims the proposed rule will cut down on speculative leasing in the onshore program so that rather than producing fuels, those lands can instead be managed for other uses like conservation and recreation. Finally, the rule would reform the bonding rates that oil and gas companies must post in order to ensure public lands are cleaned up when companies abandon wells.

The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Policy Director Rachael Hamby:

“Congress overhauled the oil and gas leasing system last year. Now it’s up to the Interior Department to make those reforms stick and prevent them from being undermined by future administrations. Today’s draft rule is a major step in that direction. The recent oil and gas lease sale in Wyoming shows that the industry already has more public land under lease than they know what to do with. The least they can do is give taxpayers a fair return when they lock up more acres and profit off publicly-owned resources.”

“It’s imperative that strong bonding reforms make it through the rulemaking process intact. The Interior Department just announced it will spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars cleaning up oil and gas wells abandoned by irresponsible companies. This can never happen again. Drillers must post bonds sufficient to clean up after themselves the next time an oil boom inevitably goes bust.”

Billings Building Permits August 1, 2023

9 August 2023
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Commercial

Rocky Mountain District Of CMA/ The Exterior Design Solutions, 2545 St John’s Ave, Com Fence/Roof/Siding, $17,000

Billings Shiloh Hotel LLC/ Pentex Builders, LLC, 705 Henry Chapple St, Com New Hotel/Motel, $14,600,000

McCall Development Inc/ McCall Development, 6204 Norma Jean Sq S, Com New Townhome Shell $350,000

Montana Prime Meats, 524 Liberty St, Com Remodel, $5,000

Humana Inc/ Horizon Retail Construction,  1423 38th St W, Com Remodel $728,812

South Forty Partners LP/ Harvest Solar Electric LLC, 769 Fallow Ln, Com Remodel, $214,000

KRE HCRE 2 Owner 3 LLC/ Bauer Construction, 1739 Spring Creek Ln, Com Remodel , $13,000

Barry, James D/ Sundance Tile & Carpentry, 109 5th St W, Demolition Permit  Commercial, $31,000

Valley Financial Credit Union/ Sprague Construction Roofing Division, 3100 2nd Ave N, Com Fence/Roof/Siding $25,000 

Holton, Russell/ KE Construction LLC, 1320 S 31st St W, Com Footing/Foundation $215,000.00

Holton, Russell/ KE Construction LLC, 1320 S 31st St W, Com New Other $2,000,000

Denny Menholt Chevrolet, 3000 King Ave W, Com Remodel, $130,000

Elevation Church Billings, Inc/ Ralph Dupea Contracting, 711 4th Ave N, Com Remodel, $40,000

Charter Communications Inc, 1860 Monad Rd, Com Remodel, $10,750

Residential

Youngren Remix LLC/ Duane Youngren Contractor LLC, 431 Lewis Ave, Res New Accessory Structure,$15,552

Mike Christensen/ Michael Christensen Homes, 4931 Silver Creek Trl, Res New Single Family, $450,000

Infinity Home LLC/ Infinity Home LLC, 954 Matador Ave, Res New Single Family, $241,855

Billings Best Builders LLC/ Billings Best Builders LLC, 3513 Rachelle Cir, Res New Single Family, $250,000

Billings Best Builders LLC/ Billings Best Builders LLC, 3472 Tahoe Dr, Res New Single Family, $250,000

Goffena, Deborah H/ Jeff Engel Construction, Inc, 154 Stillwater Ln, Res New Single Family, $500,000

Wells Built Inc/ Wells Built Inc., 4624 Toyon Dr, Res New Single Family, $401,019

Vandersloot/ Yellowstone Property Solutions LLC, 575 Winged Foot Dr, Res New Single Family, $600,000

CDH, LLC/ CDH, LLC, 5210 Camp Ln, Res New Single Family,  $279,772

CDH, LLC/ CDH, LLC, 5216 Camp Ln, Res New Single Family, $289,908

McCall Development Inc/ McCall Development, 6204 Norma Jean Sq S, Res New Townhome, $0.00

McCall Development Inc/ McCall Development, 6206 Norma Jean Sq S, Res New Townhome, $0.00

Woods, Barry L & Angela L/ Rock Creek Trim & Design, 2160 Fair Park Dr, Res New Accessory Structure, $40,000

Billings Air Travel Increases

9 August 2023
Dennis Pyburn
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Enplanements at Logan International Field in Billings increased YTD as of June, 11.81 percent, and deplanements 16.29 percent.

For the first six months of 2023, a total of 198,165 passengers flew out of Logan Field, compared to 177,231 for the first six months in 2022. Of the seven carriers United Airlines transported the lion’s share with over 58,000 passengers. Other carriers are Allegiant, American, Cape Air, Delta, Frontier and Horizon.

Air freight has declined in 2023 by about 20 percent.

Mail by air also declined. Mail on dropped by .84 percent and mail off declined 29.29 percent.

Airport Photos to Showcase Eastern Montana for Visitors

9 August 2023
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Visit Southeast Montana and the Billings Logan International Airport are partnering to showcase the uniqueness and array of visitor opportunities in eastern Montana communities with a new photo installation as the airport continues its $60 million terminal expansion project.

The installation highlights the local communities and outdoor experiences in this part of the state that await the more than 400,000 passengers who use the terminal each year. It features:

* A wallscape of the night sky at Acton Recreation Area with a backlit lightbox that will inspire visitors to view some of the world’s darkest skies along Montana’s Trail to the Stars, which includes more than 45 dark sky viewing locations across eastern and central Montana.

* A 4.5-foot by 8.5-foot image of the Indian Memorial at the Little Bighorn Battlefield, the most-visited location in the Southeast Montana tourism region.

* A cutout of a cowboy riding a bucking bronco, which is a call to the area’s summer rodeo season that kicks off with the World Famous Miles City Bucking Horse Sale.

* A 4.5-foot-tall burger that reminds viewers to bring a hearty appetite and find their favorite burger along the Southeast Montana Burger Trail, which features more than 20 local eateries over hundreds of miles across eastern Montana.

A “dino selfie spot” to encourage visitors to embark on the Montana Dinosaur Trail, where families can dig into paleontology on a guided dinosaur dig or stop at local museums.

Aly Eggar Accepts Position

9 August 2023
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Aly Eggart, MSPR, CATP, recently accepted a promotion to become the Director of Leisure Marketing for Visit Billings, managed by the Billings Chamber of Commerce.

Eggart was hired as the Leisure Marketing, Sales and Social Media Manager in 2016 and has since become an integral part of the Visit Billings team.

“We are proud to promote her into this well-deserved director position for Visit Billings and the destination,” said Executive Director of Visit Billings Alex Tyson. “During her seven years with the organization, Aly has become the leisure marketing leader for Billings. She has elevated this crucial visitor segment greatly impacting the visitor economy for the destination.”

Eggart’s responsibilities will include managing and leading leisure marketing and consumer sales efforts, growing leisure visitation through attendance at travel shows, and fostering the international group tour market. Additionally, she directs and manages the social media, publicity and leisure communications activities and campaigns. Eggart’s work to promote Montana’s Trailhead has been recognized as she led efforts for a campaign that won a bronze Adrian award in 2022 and the 2018 Marketing Campaign of the Year at the Montana Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Recreation.