Infill Planning
Missoula City Council Approves Infill Development at Mill Site
By Stefanie Kilts, 4-10-07
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| Maps of the proposed development at the old Champion Mill site greet people as they assemble for the final public hearing on the zoning of the area. Photo by Stefanie Kilts. | |
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With midnight approaching upon a weary group of city council and audience members, the Missoula City Council finally came to a unanimous decision Monday night to approve zoning on the much-debated 46-acre high-density urban infill project at the old Champion Mill site.
The project on the old lumber mill site between California and Hickory Street on the south side of the Clark Fork River will be a 285 lot subdivision with 520 residential units and a potential for 400 more units. The development will include units for retail, offices, multi-dwellings, single dwellings, and town houses.
At the end of the meeting, Councilwoman Stacy Rye said it is not everyday you see a project of this magnitude. “It’s not perfect for everyone involved,” she said, but then pointed out the years of planning that went into the project. That, council members agreed, had resulted in an adequate compromise.
Some of the final compromises included the same issues that had arisen during past discussions and were brought up again during Monday’s public hearing: bike lanes, parking, and building heights.
The Council ended up approving the building heights initially proposed by the developers—including buildings of 78 to 100 feet in some districts. The Office of Planning and Grants had recommended a maximum of 55 feet within certain sub-districts, complying with the Southside Riverfront Area Comprehensive Plan Update.
The parking plan, a much-debated issue, was solved through collaboration between the developers and OPG staff. The approved plan, according to Mary McCrea, associate planner at OPG, was developed by researching smart codes commonly used in urban design and months of planning with the developers to provide a design outline that would provide adequate parking but would also not “overpark” the development.
City council members also reinstated a condition that would require a bike lane on Wyoming Street.
The meeting was the last public hearing for the project. Although the project has been somewhat controversial, most of the people who spoke during the hearing supported the work of the project developers. However, many still preferred OPG’s recommendations of lower building heights and a parking plan.
Sue Spanke, a Missoula resident, said she worried about the number of units and height of the buildings. She said that the council should think of the strain on surrounding areas that are traditional residential neighborhoods.
The WGM Group, representing the Millsite Revitalization Project that proposed the development, provided an hour-long presentation on the history, partnership, environmental issues, plan, visual representations, and other aspects of the subdivision.
During a fly-by view of the proposed buildings along Wyoming Street, WGM Group’s Nick Kaufman pointed to the mountains that would be visible on the main street and explained, “The height of the building doesn’t have to take away the sense of place.”
Kaufman, in response to the height requirements and parking plan proposed by the OPG, stated that “You can think that three or four story structures can give you this plan but it can’t.”
Housing affordability was also a big issue for some of the speakers at the meeting.
Robert Doore with the Missoula Organization of Realtors said Missoula has “a supply and demand with no land” and that a high-density project line the champion mill site is needed to provide affordable housing to the working class.
But Dale McCormick, a resident who lives one block away from the subdivision, said that there is not necessarily a correlation between affordability and height, pointing out the luxury condos in the top stories of buildings that would not be affordable for the average working family.
Some speakers said they wished there was a tool that could cap the prices on the development, guaranteeing it affordable for the working class.
Rye, the council member in Ward 3 – the same ward as the proposed development- said although she wished there was a way to guarantee that the project was affordable for everyone, the infrastructure and clean-up costs were just too expensive.
The WGM Group representatives said the project is a long-term endeavor and that a small portion of the residential and business units will be built in three to four years.
Ellen Buchanan of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency spoke during WGM’s presentation and outlined the positive outcomes of the project including job creation, fulfilling housing supply, providing open space and trails, becoming a catalyst for redevelopment, and solving public safety issues relating to the “mischief” that has occurred on the site. Buchanan said that the project “was one of the most important issues in Montana.”
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Comments
In regards to the development, I applaud OPG for working the issues out on this. What a great project for Missoula!