Massive Missoula area subdivision garners initial approval (2024)

A standalone community with its own farm and potentially hundreds of homes at the Wye west of Missoula was initially approved by county officials this week.

The Missoula Consolidated Planning Board unanimously approved the Grass Valley Gardens subdivision on Tuesday, and the Missoula County Commissioners will consider the project on August 8. The subdivision includes the first four phases of a larger development and includes 445 residential units and seven commercial lots.

“I hope this really builds out and becomes what it’s proposed to become because we’ve been very vocal about wanting mixed-use development,” said Rick Hall, a planning board member. “I think it’s a great plan.”

The project is located south of U.S. Highway 10 West and west of Deschamps Lane near the Interstate 90 and Highway 93 interchange. The approved subdivisions will include a mix of single-family and multi-family housing, a 2,000-square-foot sales office and 25,000 square feet of retail space on the 66 acres adjacent to Highway 10.

The developer expects to build out the first four phases over the next eight to 12 years. A 121-acre lot will be added to the subdivision, but it will not be developed until a larger regional water and wastewater system is built in the area.

A conceptual master plan for the 187 acres the developers own, plus 40 acres they don’t, outlines a long-range vision for the property as an “agrihood” — a residential neighborhood centered around a working farm. The fully realized development would include a central permaculture farm, other parks and trails, an estimated 1,620 to 2,270 units of single-family and multi-family housing, a “town center” with a grocery store and other commercial buildings, and space for a new school.

Matt Mellott, the lead developer with Grass Valley Holdings, told Montana Free Press the group took on a big 20- to 25-year project in part because the area lacks infrastructure, requiring a larger-scale development to afford building out water and sewer systems.

“From what we know now, we have the right pieces for delivering housing at an attainable level,” he said. “I’m optimistic, but it’s difficult to do this. We have a lot to contend with to deliver housing in a place that normal people can buy.”

Mellott estimated the market cost of the houses at $475,000 and average rents at $1,800. Along with ideally reducing the cost, concentrating development helps preserve other areas as greenspace, he said.

A Wye-area resident, Mellott told the planning board that residents’ and employees’ frequent drives to and from Missoula add to traffic and emissions. As a transportation corridor, economic center and residential area with limited services, the Wye has demand for “town center” services like grocery stores and restaurants that would limit trips into the city, he said.

The county’s 2019 update to its growth policy designating part of the Wye as a “planned neighborhood” and changes to its zoning code in 2022 created the opportunity for the Grass Valley Gardens development, Mellott said.

“We have heard you and have tried to design a project over the course of the last three years that meets the vision and takes the code and enacts it and tries to make a dent into the housing availability, housing affordability,” he said. “And not just that, but to actually make a place that you would want to live.”

Comments from agencies and the public submitted ahead of the meeting voiced some concerns about the project’s impact on water supply, infrastructure, traffic, agricultural land and the Frenchtown School District.

The developer has been in contact with the Frenchtown School District, and the project master plan includes the potential to dedicate land to the district for a new school building, said Jamie Erbacher of WGM Group, representing the developer.

The land was historically used for grazing, is not irrigated and produces about one cutting of hay per year, Erbacher said. As part of the long-term plan, the developer is working with the Community Food and Agriculture Coalition and other groups to regenerate the soil and develop the permaculture farm included in later phases, she said.

Test wells on the site have shown that there’s plenty of groundwater for the development and new wells won’t affect others in the area, said Bruce Anderson, WGM hydrologist.

The sewer system built as part of the first phase will be self-sustaining but able to connect to a larger system when its available, Erbacher said.

A traffic study found the first stage of development will exacerbate backups at several intersections where traffic during peak hours is getting worse even without the new subdivision. The study called for improvements at the intersections of Deschamps Lane and Old Highway 10 West, Old Highway 10 West and West Broadway, and the U.S. Highway 93 and North I-90 ramps.

The developer will collaborate with the county and the Montana Department of Transportation on plans to mitigate the traffic increases. The forthcoming Wye Infrastructure master plan will provide additional plans to tackle the overall increase in traffic in the area.

The Missoula Metropolitan Planning Organization, which provides regional transportation planning services, commented that the subdivision will also increase traffic entering Missoula on Reserve Street, other I-90 interchanges, West Broadway and Russell Street. The organization voiced concern about the Grass Valley Gardens project moving forward before the infrastructure plan is complete.

Jennie Dixon, Missoula County planner, said the project falls within the Wye targeted economic development district, which should create opportunities for infrastructure development to serve the Grass Valley Gardens subdivision and the larger Wye area.

In 2020 and 2023, Missoula County implemented two targeted economic development districts around the Wye to allow the collection of tax increment revenue to help pay for needed roads, water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure. As improvements are made in the district and property taxes go up, the difference in tax revenue is collected in a fund for further investment in the district.

The planning commissioners were supportive of the initial project as well as the long-term plan while recognizing the challenges of building in the area.

Dave Loomis praised the project’s mixed-use design but said the county has a lot of filling in to do at the Wye to address transportation needs.

Commission President Sean McCoy, who owns a farm, said if developed, the project’s central farm could produce a lot of food for the area and advocated for establishing the agricultural piece of the project sooner rather than later.

Given the region’s housing market, McCoy commended the developer’s plan to make housing as affordable as possible.

“The objective of affordability is not only admirable but what is needed in this time,” he said. “The ability to bring that forward given the level of gentrification in community and state is going to be a challenge.”

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