Commissioners approve nearly $7.9M TIF reimbursement for Grant Creek Crossing; environmental and traffic concerns raised

Missoula County commissioners on Feb. 12 approved using tax-increment financing to reimburse public infrastructure for the Grant Creek Crossing targeted economic development district (TED), authorizing public reimbursement for work the developer will privately finance.

Community and Economic Development staff described the request as a delayed reimbursement arrangement: the developer will build infrastructure — including a traffic signal at Reserve and Schramm, water and sewer extensions from the expressway, buried electric lines, and an internal road — and the county will reimburse those costs as property tax increment is generated. "They're privately financing this," Andrew Hagenmeier said in the staff presentation. "Once that vertical development occurs, then we start collecting property taxes ... that will allow us to start reimbursing the development team."

Flana McLarty summarized revenue projections for the TED: the district base-year taxes were about $71,000 in 2024, current taxes about $168,000, and staff estimates the increment could be roughly $1,200,000 annually once phase 1 is complete in about five years. The request presented for public discussion was approximately $7.9 million in reimbursement for public infrastructure improvements.

Public comment underscored environmental and neighborhood concerns. Brian Chaffin, executive director of the Clark Fork Coalition, noted that Grant Creek is listed as impaired for nutrients, temperature and sediment and asked the county to consider stream-bank stability and stormwater best practices consistent with a recent Vision and Strategy for Restoring Grant Creek memorandum of understanding. "We recognize that this is a hearing for an application for public funding," Chaffin said, "but since that infrastructure is gonna impact the creek ... we thought I'd bring those concerns to the commission."

Nearby residents and volunteers asked for more public engagement on long-term TIF impacts, traffic modeling and school-district effects. Kevin Davis and others asked whether subsequent project phases will produce additional TIF requests and sought copies of the traffic study that supported the proposed signal at Schramm and Reserve.

Jeff Smith, the project engineer, said the traffic-signal permitting process included outreach to the Montana Department of Transportation, a traffic study submitted about a year ago, and several rounds of review with MDT and the city. Staff and the presenters reiterated that permitting, MDT review, MS4 stormwater rules and other site-level regulatory mechanisms will apply when the developer seeks building permits and that environmental mitigation and green infrastructure could be negotiated later in the development and permitting process.

A commissioner moved and the board approved a motion recorded in the minutes to use $7,902,322 in TIF funds for repayment of public infrastructure improvements in the Grant Creek Crossing TED. The motion passed with commissioners voting 'Aye'.

County staff said the TED structure and delayed reimbursement reduce county risk because no reimbursement occurs until vertical development generates increment; they also said the TED creates opportunities for future funding for habitat and infrastructure enhancements if revenue becomes available.

Next steps include permitting reviews, coordination with MDT and iterative design for stormwater and stream crossings as the developer progresses toward vertical development and the point at which reimbursement would become eligible.