Update to Reserve-Scott Street master plan moves forward
Martin Kidston
(Missoula Current) Plans for a wide section of Missoula continue to take shape and on Monday night, the City Council stated its intent to update the area's master plan through a new land-use plan amendment.
In simpler terms, the effort will modernize the Reserve to Scott Street Master Plan initially adopted in 2016. Since then, the former Roseburg particle board plant has closed and the city already has annexed 93 acres of the plant's former property, with future annexations pending later this year.
A wave of residential development also has taken place along Scott Street. The old plan set the stage for that growth but now, the new plan looks to spread the range of development types across the entire 900-acre planning district.
The new plan will also include a market analysis to help guide future development.
“We're looking at conditions that have changed, especially since the sale of the Roseburg property and the new development that's happening around Scott Street,” said Josiah Brown, an urban designer with GGLO. “We'll be looking at how some of the newly annexed areas can be incorporated into the land-use plan through the zoning code.”
The new plan eyes a new road grid and support for different place types, including urban mixed-use high and low, parks, industrial, civic and urban residential high.
Brown said public input has included a desire for walkable neighborhoods, connectivity, vibrancy and other social offerings.
“People are looking for a range of uses and are pretty high on density to be developed in this area,” Brown said. “There's still a demand for industrial space. There's also a good deal of conflict between industrial uses and residential. Those are some of the things we're addressing.”
To minimize the conflict between residential and industrial uses, the plan concentrates the latter along the railroad while placing high-density residential to the north. A road system could also help disperse various uses.
Brown said the transportation infrastructure would include a major connector linking Scott Street to Reserve. Planned neighborhoods would also see new street grids while new truck routes would be established.
The road system would follow existing topography and land uses in the area, Brown said. A new interchange at I-90 is also under consideration.
“This has been a major organizing feature,” Brown said. “As it exists today, there's a lot of conflict with residential use and major truck traffic going through the area. One of our goals is to divide those two uses and really separate those conflicts.”
The updated master plan is expected to take around nine months to complete with adoption likely in October. The process was put in motion by a number of changes, with the sale of the Roseburg property foremost among them.
The property spans 235 acres, representing a large piece of the 900-acre planning district.
“That's a large focus of the master plan today,” said Annie Gorski, deputy director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency.