As Chris Chitty led a group of about 20 people down Missoula’s California Street this week, he noted how the neighborhood just southwest of the Old Sawmill District transitions from commercial to residential.
Unlike some Missoula neighborhoods, the blocks tucked between South Russell Street and North California Street allow multifamily housing and a handful of small businesses among single-family homes.
“It all kind of works,” Chitty said of the mix. “With compartmentalized [zoning] districts to separate uses … you don’t have the ability to have corner stores, or live within walking distance of work. Not everyone wants that, but some do.”
While Chitty, a builder and ProHousing Missoula member, is used to “slogging it out in the trenches of zoning,” most people don’t think about the rules that help make neighborhoods what they are, he said. ProHousing is trying to change that as the city undergoes a major update to its growth policy and development regulations.
About two dozen people gathered at McCormick Park Wednesday evening for ProHousing Missoula’s third event to spread the word about the city’s code reform process and provide introductory information on zoning’s effects on housing. The city is updating its growth policy to reflect current affordability, equity and climate challenges and modernize its convoluted development code, according to the “Our Missoula” project website.
“This is a once-in-a-generation zoning code reform,” said Jana Richter with ProHousing Missoula. “This will really set the scene for what we’re able to build, where we’re able to build it, and how land is used in Missoula for quite a few years.”
ProHousing Missoula is a group of organizations and individuals — including housing nonprofits, builders, developers, and environmental groups — with an interest in the city’s code reform that’s advocating for a pro-housing policy.
The group started the park events earlier this summer to provide local residents with information on the code reform and enable them to tell the city how they feel about it, said Richter, who works for the North Missoula Community Development Corporation. Each event includes a walking tour of the surrounding neighborhood led by Chitty.
“We wanted to work together to build more community power and knowledge around zoning code, especially with the city’s once-in-a-generation code reform process, and find ways of creating a broad coalition of folks who have an interest and a stake in the future of affordable housing and connected communities in Missoula,” Richter said.
On Wednesday, over free pizza and drinks, Missoulians consulted each other, ProHousing members and city staff on what comments to include in postcards to City Council.
City community engagement specialist Ashley Brittner Wells answered questions about the three future growth scenarios the city has been collecting feedback on over the last two weeks at open houses and online.
City staff are trying to attend community events to reach more people in different ways to educate residents about land use and why it’s so important and impactful, Brittner Wells said. It’s never too late for people to get involved, and Brittner Wells is available for the community to talk to about the code reform, she said.
“It’s an exciting and important project and we want to hear from people,” she said.
The Wednesday event was the first time Madelaine Millar had heard about the city’s Our Missoula project. The 25-year-old said she found out about the event through ProHousing Missoula’s Instagram account and wanted to learn more.
“I kind of had a sense that zoning was important, but I had no idea about the zoning code update,” Millar said. “I was interested to have an impact on what Missoula looks like in the next 30 years and make the the most of the opportunity.”
At the two previous ProHousing in the Park events, at Kiwanis and Franklin parks, organizers received a lot of questions about why certain Missoula neighborhoods have seen more development than others, Richter said. The Northside, Westside and Franklin to the Fort neighborhoods have borne the brunt of development because of looser zoning regulations and cheaper land in those areas compared to the University District or Lower Rattlesnake, they said.
Other attendees questioned why more people can’t build accessory dwelling units or similar infill projects, which Richter said highlights the variety of barriers to development.
“There are some different things folks just really don’t think about when they think about what it takes to develop housing and the costs associated with that,” they said. “We’re trying to break those things down and talk about what other cities have done, like reduced or eliminated parking minimums or reduced setbacks.”
To residents concerned about changes like allowing four-plexes or six-plexes affecting “neighborhood character,” ProHousing emphasizes that Missoula is already changing, and making it easier for people to find affordable housing options should take priority, Richter said.
“Maybe not everybody is going to have the view of Mount Sentinel they used to have,” they said. “But if we can create more care-centered neighborhoods with access to resources, prioritizing if people can survive here and do so affordably, that should be the center of our solutions.”
Renters looking to break into the housing market are not the only Missoulians advocating for change.
Robin Abeshaus, who has owned a ranch-style home in the Lewis and Clark neighborhood for 30 years, dreams of the property holding three or four houses, which is not allowed under current zoning standards. During Wednesday’s walking tour, Abeshaus told the group she supports higher density in her neighborhood to support more small businesses. Abeshaus said she wants to be able to walk to a coffee shop or restaurant, and more residents should be able to do the same.
“I care a lot about the housing situation,” she told Montana Free Press. “I come in contact with a lot of people struggling with housing. I feel lucky we were able to get our house when we did.”
Abeshaus, who is almost 65, said her house is too big to age in, but she doesn’t want to leave Missoula. Her fantasy of splitting up her lot to hold multiple smaller houses would allow Abeshaus to remain in her neighborhood, she said.
While it’s likely that some of Abeshaus’ neighbors, along with other Missoulians, would be concerned about allowing a six-plex on their block, any changes would be incremental, she said.
“Things are already different now than 30 years ago,” Abeshaus said.
Earlier this year, ProHousing Missoula sent a letter to the City Council and mayor requesting that the new zoning code focus on the following: allowing diverse, abundant, affordable housing; compact, walkable and human-scale neighborhoods; shared responsibility for development among neighborhoods; and stronger financial and regulatory support for deeper levels of affordability.
Richter emphasized the importance of spreading development across all neighborhoods to help catch up with the city’s housing deficit. Residents worried about development in their neighborhood should consider that spreading growth around will mean no one neighborhood will see a huge change overnight, they said.
Increased housing supply will help the market, but it will not address the need for subsidized housing for lower-income residents, Richter said. ProHousing’s letter says the reformed code should create incentives to develop permanently affordable housing by decreasing fees or implementing a density bonus.
The city’s Equity in Land Use report supports that proposal, stating that while it is common for lower-income households to not be able to afford new housing in most cities, Missoula has a dire affordability challenge. Zoning reforms could help make new housing affordable for some, but other policies and programs are needed to help most households earning below the median area income, according to the report.
The report describes how zoning has contributed to Missoula’s housing affordability crisis by constraining multifamily housing to fewer neighborhoods.
Missoula’s first zoning code, adopted in 1932, included four districts, mostly intended to separate business and industrial uses from residential areas, according to the report. Nearly 75% of residential land allowed multifamily residential buildings. In the latter half of the 20th century, most new neighborhoods were zoned to allow only single-family homes, and some areas that previously allowed duplexes or multifamily housing no longer do, according to the report.
As of 2022, about 64% of Missoula’s residential land allows only single-family homes or duplexes, with 44% restricted to single-family homes.
The report analyzed the cost of building homes in each zone and found that houses in single-dwelling-only zones are affordable to rent or buy for 10% to 15% of Missoula families. Affordable is defined as no more than 30% of income.
New housing in zones that allow the highest density and lowest minimum feasible rents or prices is affordable to about 30% to 40% of Missoula households, leaving 60% to 70% of households unlikely to be able to afford new market-rate housing, according to the report.
For Chitty, the builder with ProHousing Missoula, purchasing his fixer-upper house for $169,000 in 2008 allowed him to run his business out of the living room, something he wouldn’t have been able to do in the current market.
“Access to housing is opportunity,” he said. “It’s not just the visceral need of shelter. It’s how people grow wealth, opportunity and options. When you shut people out of that, you shut them out of the economic engine.”
By reserving a high share of land for housing that’s unaffordable to most residents, Missoula’s zoning code has contributed to and perpetuates segregation along lines of class and race, according to the Equity in Land Use report. It also excludes lower-income households from neighborhoods with high economic and educational opportunity.
Concentrating new development in lower-income neighborhoods puts those areas at higher risk of displacement and gentrification, meaning residents get pushed out as new development increases the cost of living, according to the report.
Along with the problems outlined in the Equity in Land Use report, a review of the city’s code completed in May identified issues with the city’s development requirements.
The code diagnostic found that the current rules limit housing diversity and present barriers to infill development and housing equity, capacity and affordability. Additionally, the codes don’t support the city’s transportation and climate policies and are difficult to navigate, the review found.
On June 10, the Missoula City Council approved guiding principles for code reform informed by the code diagnostic. The principles include making codes easier to understand and better organized, increasing housing capacity throughout Missoula, providing incentives for affordable housing, allowing for more diverse housing choices and uses throughout Missoula, and mapping zoning districts to support equity, sustainability and resilience.
“I really feel strongly we’re on the right path with this,” Ward 4 council member Mike Nugent said during a June 5 meeting. “We’re on track to meet the goals we set out to make the code more understandable and make it easier to use for the people in Missoula of all walks of life.”
Opportunities for the public to provide input on the project will continue throughout the year as the city drafts the updated policies and codes. In September, Missoulians can weigh in on a preferred growth scenario based on feedback on the three options presented in July, said Brittner Wells, the city’s community engagement specialist.
The scenarios included a range of possible changes, with the first scenario implementing Legislative requirements, the second scenario adding some additional housing density and loosened parking requirements, and the third scenario offering the most increased density across zones and allowing corner stores in urban residential areas.
Missoula needs about 27,000 new housing units over the next 20 years, and under current rules the city’s residential zones can accommodate only about 60% of that, according to the city.
Scenarios two and three would create ideal housing capacity, while only the adopting-legislative-changes scenario falls short. The latter two scenarios encourage smaller, more affordable homes and create the most opportunity for housing outside of lower-income neighborhoods that are already experiencing development, according to the city.
ProHousing members advocated for the third scenario, promoting development of diverse housing types across the city and more walkable neighborhoods.
Input on the preferred scenario, which will be included in a draft land use plan published in September, will help inform proposed changes to the growth policy and codes that City Council will consider early next year, Brittner Wells said.
Residents who want to learn more can attend ProHousing Missoula’s last park event at 6 p.m. on Aug. 20 at Bonner Park. Richter encourages people to get involved to understand what’s at stake in the code reform process and to counter narratives that people are afraid of development.
“We know many people are open and welcoming to changes in Missoula if that means their neighbors can comfortably stay here and build community here,” they said. “We’re encouraging people to come out and let their voice be heard, to better connect the dots between issues a lot of folks bring up in conversations about affordability — how neighborhoods are structured, climate, and other issues that are hot topics for people. Connecting those back to zoning and making those clear to people has been an important part of this work.”
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