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Residents urge preservation of neighborhood grove and press safety, housing concerns for Midtown Commons
Summary
During public comment at the March 23 Missoula City Council meeting, residents urged the city to keep a century-old pocket grove for community land trust housing and criticized the Midtown Commons plan for small green space, lack of affordable housing, and traffic safety problems; the mayor also updated the council on a mixed-rate community land trust project under construction.
Several residents used the council's public-comment period on March 23 to press the city on neighborhood preservation, affordable housing and traffic safety while the mayor provided an update on an ongoing land-trust housing project.
Susette Dusso described a century-old stand of cottonwoods she called "the grove," located in a residential pocket between Southgate Mall and Reserve Street, and urged the council to protect the city-owned parcel from commercial redevelopment. "We do not need to give one more inch of land to commercial in Missoula. What we need is housing and we need our grove," Dusso said. She recommended the city consider a community land trust or deed-restricted ownership so families would not need to buy the land beneath their homes and noted funding tools the city could use, including tax-increment and community development grants.
Katie Thompson, calling in on behalf of neighborhood concerns about Midtown Commons, said the proposed green space is "about half the size" of other pocket parks, criticized a perceived preference for amenities over open green area, and urged traffic calming (for example, speed tables) near a daycare and at several four-way intersections. Thompson also said the plan lacked senior, affordable and workforce housing elements.
Mayor Davis responded later in the meeting with an update on the Rivera homes project (Scott Street parcel), describing it as a partnership with development and nonprofit partners and as a mixed project of market-rate and deed-restricted community land trust homes. He said 89 units are planned and that some units will be available under deed-restriction for households up to 120% of area median income (about $94,000 for a two-person household). He encouraged interested households to apply and named private and nonprofit partners involved in the project.
No formal action on the grove or Midtown Commons was taken at the meeting; speakers' remarks were recorded during public comment. Councilors acknowledged the comments and the mayor identified an existing, city-partnered community land trust development as an example of the city investing in deed-restricted homeownership.
The council moved on to a public hearing and subsequent vote on municipal code cleanups during the same meeting.
