With Roseburg in play, city embarks on update to northside master plan
Martin Kidston
(Missoula Current) Citing new opportunities around the recent closure of the Roseburg mill, the City of Missoula plans to create a new master plan for the North Reserve/Scott Street Urban Renewal District.
The area encompasses roughly 800 acres, including 235 owned by the former particleboard plant. By the end of this year, the city's consultant will unveil a vision for the area to include housing, commercial and new connectivity.
“The goal is to complete a comprehensive and detailed master plan that reflects the needs and opportunities for 2026, and sets us up for implementation over the next 10 to 20 years,” said Annie Gorski, deputy director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency. “It's the single largest opportunity in the city and likely for years to come to add housing, new employment centers, and key multi-modal connectivity in this broader area.”
MRA last week awarded a $497,000 contract to GGLO to begin the work. The firm has done other plans across the Pacific Northwest including the MRL Triangle in Missoula.
The city in 2016 adopted the original master plan for the North Reserve/Scott Street URD. That plan divided the region into residential to the east and commercial to the west. At the time, the sprawling Roseburg property split the two as an “industrial blob” and created challenges to long-term planning.
But the plant closed in 2024 and Story House – a film and television production company – purchased 47 acres. Roseburg also petitioned to annex a portion of its property into the city, which the City Council approved earlier this month.
The plant's closure now creates new opportunities to reinvent the entire district.
“It's a different day in Missoula in 2026 than it was in 2016,” said Mark Sindell, lead planner in urban design for GGLO. “You really want a vibrant place that represents Missoula's culture and environment. There's immense opportunity here.”
Portions of the original 2016 master plan are slowly coming to fruition, particularly the residential development envisioned along Scott Street. A number of projects have recently been completed while public-private development remains under construction.
“Many of the goals in the original plan have been implemented in the eastern edge of the district,” said Gorski. “We calculated there to be around 600 units of housing since 2016 that's been both completed and planned.”
But little has changed on the western edge of the district near North Reserve.
“We need with this 2026 plan to do some more planning there, look at opportunities and connectivity,” she said. “The Reserve Street side needs updating.”
MRA set an ambitious timeline to complete the new master plan, hoping to have it reviewed and adopted by the close of 2026. It's also possible that additional portions of the Roseburg property could be annexed into the city to propel redevelopment.
“There's always external pressures and barriers that show up out of the blue,” said Sindell. “Time is of the essence. I think it's a good call to try and do this in nine months.”