A proposed 40-acre subdivision could replace former agricultural land near the Missoula Montana Airport with several housing types over the next 20 years if Missoula City Council approves the plan in October.
The Paisley Park Subdivision is designed to build 671 housing units, including single-family homes, duplexes, “mansion apartments” and traditional apartment complexes.
At a city council hearing on Wednesday, city officials said the project is designed to include different types of housing to create a mixed neighborhood of varying incomes.
“The idea is to have a mixture of lot sizes, of street types, of building types and uses and things like that spread out within a neighborhood,” city Land Use Supervisor Dave DeGrandpre said. “The main concept is to have a neighborhood.”
The Missoula City Council is slated to vote on the proposal, including annexing the land and rezoning the property, on Monday, Oct. 6, at 6 p.m. The Missoula Planning Board unanimously approved the plan in September.
The proposed development sits southeast of the airport and northwest of Hellgate Elementary School. The land, a large square block, was previously used for hay farming, but no longer carries water rights.
The area sits within the Sxwtpyen neighborhood and is near hundreds of other recently approved housing units. Existing streets like England Boulevard and Chuck Wagon road will extend into the development.
Because of its proximity to the airport, some sections of the development will have less density where planes generally fly over. DeGrandpre noted air travel will likely be an impact to some properties.
Roughly 4.5 acres of parkland is also planned to weave throughout the new homes and include trails that can connect to the city’s larger pedestrian network, DeGrandpre said.
The single-family homes will sit on the west end of the 40-acre parcel, according to Matt Hammerstein, a representee for the developer and a civil engineer for Woith Engineering.
Hammerstein told the council the western side of the development will be less dense, while the center of the development will contain duplexes and “mansion apartments,” or large homes that are divided into individual units like the Babs Apartments on the Missoula Hip Strip.
As of now, all development plans are for residential construction, but parts of the proposal allow for commercial use. Hammerstein said it could depend on an individual lot owner to decide whether to build a business.
“As the area builds out, if that demand does develop, someone could buy one of those lots at some point in the future and if they wanted to build something commercial there they could,” Hammerstein said.
Ward 3 Councilor Gwen Jones said a priority of the city would be to get commercial services in the Sxwtpyen neighborhood. The area sits within a pocket of mostly residential homes.
“Fingers crossed that we get commercial in some of those neighborhoods, that was a big theme with the Sxwtpyen plan,” Jones said. “We can try to do it on our end, but then the demand has to translate to it on the ground.”
The development could also bring an estimated 167 new school children to the area in the next 20 years, according to estimates from city officials.
Hellgate Elementary Superintendent Molly Blakely said at the hearing she has some concerns over how the development can make way for additional school buses. She said the area has been rapidly growing and raised safety concerns for students who walk or bike to school.
“I can’t imagine what this is going to do the Mullan backup that I see every morning at about 7:30 a.m. on my way for work,” Blakely said. “But that will be for the commuters to figure out.”
If approved, the development would start its first phase in 2031, according to the presentation on Wednesday. Public comment on the project can still be made at the Engage Missoula webpage before the Oct. 6 meeting.
Griffen Smith is the local government reporter for the Missoulian.
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