Commissioners adopt Y Infrastructure Plan as growth‑policy implementation step

Missoula County commissioners voted to adopt the Y Infrastructure Plan as an implementation element of the county growth policy, a move county staff said will guide infrastructure investments and funding strategies for a designated growth area known as "the Y."

Andrew Hegemeier, the county’s Community and Economic Development director, summarized the plan’s multi‑year process, outreach and unanimous Planning Board recommendation. He told commissioners the plan is intended to help the county understand infrastructure constraints, identify funding sources and set a roadmap for how the Y could accommodate projected growth.

Key public concerns addressed in the presentation included traffic impacts (the plan’s modeling accounts for tourism and school bus traffic), the prospect of consolidating school or fire districts (county staff said district organization is up to those entities but recommended county coordination), and groundwater availability. Hegemeier said the county can legally acquire sufficient water rights to support projected growth but recommended an additional groundwater study to determine whether the physical supply in the ground is adequate. "If we found that there is not enough physical water to support that level of growth, we have a couple of options," Hegemeier said, including studying alternative water sources or reducing the area’s carrying capacity.

After public comment and a motion to adopt the final resolution, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve the plan, which will be incorporated into the Missoula County growth policy as an official county policy document. Staff said adoption is intended to keep the county proactive in planning for long‑term growth and to create a framework for funding and implementing needed infrastructure.