Missoula commission and commissioners approve Buck House growth-policy amendment and rezone after debates over floodplain, sewer and Highway 93 safety

A divided Missoula County planning process ended with the Planning & Zoning Commission recommending approval — and the County Commissioners adopting — a growth-policy amendment and zoning map change for an 83-acre property at 4285 Highway 93 South, a parcel long used for gravel, salvage and equipment storage and containing a closed Class 3 landfill and extensive floodplain. The applicant and their consultants argued the change would cluster any future development into a small footprint and protect about 90% of the site as agricultural, working lands and resource/open space; county staff recommended denial, citing transportation safety and the wide range of uses allowed under a Commercial Center designation.

County planner Kathleen Arthur outlined the staff position, noting the site contains both 100- and 500-year floodplain, has shallow groundwater, and lacks public sewer; those environmental and infrastructure constraints, Arthur said, limit development potential and raise public-health and safety questions if higher-intensity uses were later pursued. "Public sewer and water is currently not available to the…