Commissioners indefinitely postpone Fire Bucket Meadows subdivision to await groundwater testing

Missoula County commissioners on Thursday indefinitely postponed action on the preliminary plat for the Fire Bucket Meadows subdivision to allow the applicant to gather additional groundwater data, including drilled-well pump tests.

Patrick Swart, planner with the county's Planning, Development and Sustainability office, summarized a prolonged review process that included repeated public hearings, a contracted hydrogeology report, and requests from staff and neighbors for more testing after concerns about groundwater availability and impacts to adjoining wells. The applicants proposed drilling wells incrementally and returning with data rather than drilling all four test wells before a preliminary-plat decision.

Elena Evans of the Missoula Valley Water Quality District explained the technical reason for extra testing: "There are ways in which you can drill a well and start to gain information about the conductivity and the transmissivity of a system that could potentially provide information around whether or not that aquifer unit is prolific or pumping at high rates that could potentially sustain another, you know, four houses." She said pump tests and monitoring of neighboring wells are essential to determine whether the aquifer can sustain new homes and to characterize potential impacts.

Applicant representatives said they contracted a geophysical firm (Willow Stick Guardian) to model subsurface features to help locate test wells and offered that service to some adjacent property owners; staff and neighbors said the geophysical survey is a guide and not a substitute for drilled wells and pump testing.

Neighbors urged exhaustive testing and monitoring across seasons. Gordon Schmill, whose property abuts the site, asked that any pump testing include neighbors' wells and be timed to capture lowest seasonal groundwater levels. Commenters also raised runoff, road safety and traffic concerns.

After discussion the board adopted a motion at the applicant's request to indefinitely postpone a decision on the preliminary plat to permit additional water-quality and quantity testing. Commissioners said data gathered will be submitted to Missoula County agencies, including Missoula Valley Water Quality District and Missoula Public Health, for evaluation. The public hearing will remain open; staff will schedule a future hearing when sufficient data are available to proceed.

County staff emphasized that the procedural delay shifts the timetable for any final plat decision and that drilling and pump tests must be designed in coordination with county water-quality staff to define what constitutes sufficient water quantity and what impacts would require mitigation.