Crowd Gathers to Hear from Missoula’s New Planning Director

By Stefanie Kilts, 3-16-07

The Governor’s Room in the Florence Building was packed Friday afternoon for a City Club forum that explored how to manage growth in Missoula.

The topic at this month’s forum was “Preserving Quality of Life in the Face of Growth: Lessons Learned in Other Communities” and the main speaker was the new Office of Planning and Grants director Roger Millar.

Millar, a civil engineer and certified planner who has worked on projects in various cities throughout the nation, brought to the table his expertise on effective tools used in other communities. 

Millar began the speech by elaborating on the changing face of the Western region and its effect on growth. He noted the transition of Western towns from economies based almost entirely on resource extraction to the current age of technological advances, information, and globalization.

People today are able to fly or send a package almost anywhere in the world in the time span of 24 hours, Millar said. “People want everything faster, better, and cheaper,” he explained.

This transition has led to the realization that people can have all the recreational and wilderness opportunities and high class amenities by living in Western cities like Missoula but still maintain contact with the rest of the world.

Millar said the need to maintain a high quality of life goes beyond just for providing for current residents but for newcomers as well. Because if they are unhappy with the values of the city, “they will take the money elsewhere, and we won’t have resource extraction to fall back on.”

Millar went into the three main changes he feels are needed in the face of growth in Missoula: changing or creating new Missoula codes that are now listed in the 1972 Missoula Zoning Ordinance document, starting a new transportation plan, and offering more affordable housing in the city.

Millar said he wants to look specifically at the structure of the Missoula Zoning Ordinance document and has met with the Planning Council and County Commission to address pressing needs on code revision.

With the transportation plan, Millar wants the city to analyze land use, air quality, and the type of transportation that would be most affordable and fit Missoula’s transit needs.

Millar then talked about the need for affordable housing and said, “The face of affordable housing is in this room.” Millar elaborated on one example of alternative housing by referencing his work on the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon where 200 acres of under-used land was transformed into a lively neighborhood of housing, dining, arts and culture adjacent to Portland’s downtown. The project linked public and private sectors that needed each other’s support to create the project and Millar said there is the potential for a similar project in Missoula. 

Read more about Millar’s plans in the NewWest.Net/Missoula interview with him from yesterday.

Millar said the next step on these issues is action. He mentioned several times the “transparent process” he is promoting as the city plans to makes changes to Missoula so that the community can become actively aware of and engaged in the process. He also encourages public members to become involved with local organizations working on issues of growth in Missoula. 

Millar ended his speech by quoting this phrase: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Although Millar wants the discussion on Missoula’s growth to continue, he encourages Missoula to consider implementing a number of new tools to preserve and perhaps even improve the city’s quality of life.

The City Club Missoula conducts forums every month on pressing issues affecting the Missoula area and Montana in general. The club promotes “New Ideas - Free Exchange of Thought.” Previous talks have included the Rock Creek subdivision, global warming, and Montana’s energy future.

Upcoming City Club forums will be covering local and public education and healthcare in Montana. A special meeting will be held on April 3 with Senator Max Baucus; the topic has not yet been decided.