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5/30/2025
“Missoula This Week” is reported and written By Katie Fairbanks. Send your Missoula news and tips to kfairbanks@montanafreepress.org.
A proposal to annex Roseburg Forest Products’ property into the city and plan for the site’s development is in “predictable limbo” because of uncertainty surrounding federal funding availability, according to Missoula officials.
“It’s safe to say, due to a whole lot of circumstances outside of city, county control, the nature of this project needs to be rethought,” Ellen Buchanan, director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, told ԹϺ. “And that’s what we’re doing. We’re in active meetings, and we will do what’s best for all parties to the degree possible.”
Since the Oregon-based company closed its Missoula particleboard plant last May, it’s worked with the city to annex the 235-acre property. Roseburg intentionally kept the property intact to help facilitate its development into a good addition to the community, said Roseburg representative Ellen Porter during a January city council meeting.
Story House, Inc. recently purchased 47 acres of the property that includes the former wood products facility with plans to redevelop it into a film studio. The site is served by a well and a septic system. Roseburg’s remaining 190 acres are largely devoid of infrastructure but include a petroleum pipeline easement, a large berm and steep slopes that somewhat limit developable area, said Jeff Smith with engineering firm WGM Group, during the January meeting.
Roseburg and the city planned to annex the site into the nearby North Reserve-Scott Street urban renewal district, which would make certain infrastructure projects eligible for tax increment financing. The Missoula Redevelopment Agency, which oversees the renewal districts, would then revise the North Reserve-Scott Street master plan to include the site, Buchanan said.
In late January, the Missoula City Council paused the annexation over concerns about legislation that would affect tax increment financing. At the time, Roseburg representative Alan McCormick said if TIF can’t work, development may look different than envisioned and take longer.
Senate Bill 2, which would have changed how local governments can tax properties within tax increment financing districts, failed. The changes would have removed the incentives for cities and counties to create the districts, Buchanan said. Senate Bill 117, which passed, does not have the same “absolutely disastrous impact,” she said. The bill changes local government’s property tax limitation but shouldn’t affect how TIF districts work, said Dale Bickell, the city’s chief administrative officer.
Although concerns about state legislation have passed, changes at the federal level are now affecting decisions about the Roseburg property, Buchanan said.
“We’ve always known that to get infrastructure in there, it would take a significant federal grant using the [urban renewal district] as a match for that,” she said. “Now all the infrastructure funds and grants are completely up in the air, and nobody’s got a crystal ball. Interest rates have not stabilized, and construction costs remain high.”
To spur development, the 190-acre property needs utilities, roads and improved access, potentially from a new Interstate 90 interchange, Smith said Tuesday during an appearance on KGVO’s Talk Back Missoula radio show. A new interchange could help relieve congestion at the Orange Street and Reserve Street exits, Smith said. Further planning and discussions between local, state and federal transportation agencies are needed before any plan moves forward, he said.
Buchanan said a new interchange would cost $100 million or more.
“The best we could bring to the table as a city is a significant match for a federal grant application, but right now there are none,” she said. “Even if we aren’t going to do an interchange, just the sheer amount of infrastructure needed to develop at a density needed to solve and address housing needs, employment center needs, industrial needs is certainly out of reach for just a local funding source.”
Roseburg and its partners are exploring alternatives, such as developing in the county, annexing in phases or annexing property with easy access to city services, Buchanan said. The city will work with Roseburg to determine what’s in the best interest of the city, county and the company in terms of how to best use the land, she said.
If or how the property is annexed will affect revisions to the North Reserve-Scott Street master plan, as the site won’t develop in the same way if it’s not in the urban renewal district, Buchanan said.
Story House CEO Sean Higgins told MTFP the company is neutral about annexation and will cooperate with the city’s plans.
If the annexation moves forward, it would go back to the city council for consideration, Buchanan said. Revision to the North Reserve-Scott Street plan would also be a public process, she said.
Public Notice
The city is holding a second workshop next week to get public input on redevelopment options for the property north of Montana Rail Link Park, which includes the Johnson Street homeless shelter.
A consultant team led by design firm GGLO will present redevelopment scenarios for the site based on feasibility analysis and community input from the first workshop in March.
“We had great turnout at our first event and received more than 500 survey responses,” said Michael Hicks, the project lead with the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, in a press release. “The community showed a strong preference for a range of rental and entry-level housing options, including apartments and ‘missing middle’ units, like townhomes.”
Attendees will be asked to highlight preferences within each option and provide feedback on the scenarios. The goal is not to pick one option over another but to provide guidance to consultants, Hicks said.
The Missoula Redevelopment Agency board in December approved a $327,575 contract with GGLO to conduct community outreach and plan redevelopment options for the property. The master plan is not intended to determine the future of the Johnson Street shelter but focuses on the future development of the entire eight-acre property.
The open house is Wednesday from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Floriculture Building at the Missoula County Fairgrounds. Residents can follow updates about the planning on the project’s , where a survey will be posted in early June.
5 Things to Know in Missoula
The Missoula County commissioners on Thursday approved a letter to Montana’s congressional delegation asking them to support funding to improve the Highway 200 corridor through East Missoula. Last spring, through the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods program. Commissioner Dave Strohmaier said the grant program is under review by the new administration. The letter asks Congressman Ryan Zinke and Sens. Tim Sheehy and Steve Daines to preserve the project under current law or move it to a new program. The project would improve safety, connectivity and economic development opportunities in East Missoula, . The project would improve Highway 200 from Van Buren Street to Tamarack Road by adding bike lanes, crosswalks, sidewalks, boulevards and lighting. It would also add a roundabout at the Interstate 90 interchange and widen the railroad bridge to create more room for vehicles and pedestrians.
Missoula County Public Schools is accepting applications for an open trustee position through July 10. Applicants must be registered voters and live in Election District “C,” which includes the attendance area for Hellgate Elementary School in the Sxʷtpqyen area west of Reserve Street. Kate Gammill, who was appointed to the seat in February, resigned on Tuesday. The school board will appoint an individual to fill the seat until the May 2026 school election. The board will interview candidates during its July 15 meeting. Application information is available on the .
Woody Street between West Spruce and West Pine streets is closed through July to accommodate construction at the Mountain Line downtown transfer center’s passenger island. The transfer center building will remain open during regular hours. Bus service will continue on normal schedules, but buses will be relocated on Woody Street. Routes 2, 3, 7, 9, 11 and 14 will line up on the west side of the street, facing Pine Street to the south. Routes 1, 4, 5, 6 and 12 will line up on the east side of the street, facing Spruce Street to the north. Access to parking in the Woody Lot on the south side of City Hall will be through the north driveway off Woody Street. Drivers should not access the parking lot via the police department lot off Ryman Street for safety reasons.
Missoula Housing Authority is discontinuing its waiting list for its affordable housing properties to help speed the application process. This change does not affect waiting lists for subsidized housing programs, including Housing Choice vouchers. When staff would pull names from the housing waitlist, often information was months or years old, and those people were not looking for housing anymore or had changed addresses, according to the agency. The housing authority will now advise people of the current vacancies and allow them to apply for those units, if eligible. Anyone who was on the waiting list should have received a letter inviting them to apply for open vacancies, and those interested can check the for available units.
Organizers are holding a Missing and Murdered Indigenous People awareness walk through downtown Missoula on June 6. The walk begins at 2 p.m. at the Missoula County Courthouse and ends at the Missoula Art Museum for the opening of “Outrage: Missing and Murdered Indigenous People in Montana” by Irish artist Brian Maguire. At the museum, organizers will raise a red MMIR healing lodge, and several people will speak on the issue.
Happenings
A new exhibit, “Far From Home: An Internee Experience at Fort Missoula,” opens at the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula on Saturday. The exhibit allows visitors to connect with individual internees who were wrongly imprisoned at Fort Missoula in the 1940s. Construction on the restored barracks building was completed in 2024 and will include hands-on reproductions of items used by internees. The building is one of two original barracks the U.S. Department of Justice used at Fort Missoula during World War II to hold 1,200 Italian nationals and more than 1,100 Japanese Issei men from 1941 to 1944. “Far from Home” complements an existing gallery exhibit, which houses a comprehensive history of internees at Fort Missoula. The museum will hold a ribbon-cutting at the exhibit at noon and provide refreshments.
Five Valleys Land Trust, Missoula Mountain Bike Coalition and Run Wild Missoula are hosting Marshall Madness, a free summer kickoff event, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Marshall Mountain Park. The event includes guided runs, hikes and rides on new trails, bike jousting, a bike skills clinic, a dunk tank, live music by DJ Ivanoff, food trucks and Big Sky Brewing beer. Attendees can participate in a “cash dash” to win $100 and have a chance to win other raffle prizes from local businesses and organizations. Free loaner bikes will be available. A free shuttle service to the event from Missoula College, 1205 East Broadway, begins at 10:30 a.m., and the last shuttle back to Missoula leaves at 3 p.m. Event and shuttle schedules are