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Missoula Council adopts $1,025 street‑tree mitigation fee for developers
Summary
Missoula City Council unanimously adopted a $1,025 per‑tree fee allowing developers to pay the city to procure, hold, plant and provide two years of maintenance for right‑of‑way street trees under a new UDC option.
Missoula City Council on May 11 unanimously approved a resolution adding an option to the Unified Development Code that lets developers pay the city’s urban forestry program $1,025 per tree for the city to order, hold and plant the tree and provide two years of care.
The fee covers nursery ordering, storage until the proper planting season, installation, two‑to‑three months of summer watering via a water bladder, a formative prune after roughly two years and replacement under warranty if the tree dies. Morgan Valiant, associate director of the ecosystem services division, said the option is already used informally for sidewalk projects and that codifying it will improve tree survival and speed developers’ ability to finish projects and obtain certificates of occupancy.
"The recommended fee that we have in front of you today is $1,025," Valiant told council, explaining the fee pays for procurement, holding and two years of maintenance rather than shifting early planting risk to homeowners.
Councillors asked practical questions about how the option works. The city will issue temporary certificates of occupancy when planting must wait for the proper season, Valiant said, and the fee includes seasonal staff time and routine equipment costs. He also said urban forestry maintains lists of prohibited species and size classes and that landscape plans submitted with a development will be reviewed by the urban forestry team.
Climate Smart Missoula’s executive director Amy Sllenberg urged adoption, saying the program would help ensure not just planting but care. "So getting to this resolution is exciting," she said during the public comment period.
Council President Cheryl moved adoption of the resolution, which references article 6.2.01‑A of the Missoula Unified Development Code. The motion passed by unanimous roll‑call vote.
The new option is voluntary; developers may continue to plant and maintain required trees themselves under existing code provisions. Adoption formalizes the city‑run planting pathway and the $1,025 fee that funds planting and two years of guaranteed care.
