Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use Plan topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Missoula adopts 2045 land use plan after major public input and council amendments
Summary
After months of public engagement and a series of staff and council amendments, Missoula City Council unanimously adopted the Missoula 2045 land use plan and place‑type map, moving the project to the code‑reform phase where zoning changes will be developed and debated.
The Missoula City Council voted unanimously Dec. 16 to adopt the Missoula 2045 land use plan and place‑type map, concluding an 18‑month planning process that staff said included roughly 1,000 public comments and more than a hundred outreach events.
Ben Brewer, planning supervisor in the Community Planning Division, told council the adoption draft reflects analysis required by state law and community feedback and will establish policy direction for a forthcoming Unified Development Code. The adoption motion incorporated staff‑recommended changes and committee amendments, and council considered multiple additional amendments on topics from parking policy to sensitive‑lands analysis timing and climate actions before final passage.
Nut graf: Councilors and community groups framed the adoption as a necessary step to address housing affordability, equity and climate resilience while stressing that detailed zoning and code reform will determine how the plan’s vision becomes law on specific parcels.
Key elements and debate: Staff said the plan is a policy framework (not zoning) and that several staff‑recommended edits corrected place‑type map errors (notably in the West Broadway/airport area) to avoid unintentionally precluding housing where existing zoning allows it. Council accepted a staff package of corrections and then handled individual amendments: a parking‑policy change to move prescriptive parking rules to the code phase (amended to explicitly include transit considerations); a Councilor Jones amendment to accelerate a comprehensive analysis of impacts on sensitive lands (moved to a less‑than‑one‑year priority); and several climate‑related amendments that shortened implementation timelines. Council also clarified civic‑place‑type language to make it explicit that privately owned “civic” parcels may allow residential or commercial development depending on context and adjacent place types — a change staff described as clarifying rather than substantive.
Public comment ran long and included appeals from East Missoula residents who asked for more local outreach and from numerous neighborhood groups and nonprofits (Common Good Missoula, Climate Smart Missoula, Pro Housing Missoula) offering both praise and suggested edits. Staff said in several places they relied on Missoula County’s prior planning work for extra‑jurisdictional areas such as East Missoula and reiterated that the land use plan does not itself change annexation policy or zoning until the code update phase.
City next steps: With adoption complete, staff will begin the more detailed Unified Development Code and rezoning work necessary to implement the plan, a process staff and council acknowledged will require further public hearings, technical analysis, and likely additional amendments. Several councilors stressed that adoption does not conclude public engagement but ushers in a multi‑year code reform process.
