Montana law requires developers of major subdivisions to reserve
11 percent of land for parks. Often, however, the land they set aside has been wholly unusable to, say, children wanting to kick around a soccer ball. Since the 1980s, developers have often offered up steep hillsides or narrow slivers of land on busy roads.
A recent request to count a small ditch as parkland mobilized Missoula City Council members - and in turn, Corday - to tighten up the rules. A resulting amendment to city subdivision regulations is expected to shore up the department's ability to provide the city with usable parks. It's designed to ensure land reserved for parks really can function as such, and council members appear poised to approve the change Monday night. If they do, it takes effect Tuesday.
With an amendment in place, the parks department will continue realizing objectives laid out in the 2004 Master Parks and Recreation Plan for the Greater Missoula Area. One goal of the plan - the Master Parks Plan for short - is that every Missoulian live within a half-mile of a quality neighborhood park.
“A park in the neighborhood is a great bonus,” said Ben Siegford, who has worked many hours to bring LaFray Park to the Emma Dickinson and Orchard Homes area.
The city of Missoula adopted its Master Parks Plan three years ago, and since then the parks department has been weaving the vision into law. In 2004, the department successfully asked council members to adopt an ordinance allowing small and unusable pocket parks to be sold to put money into functional parks nearby.
The following year, the department asked and the council agreed to require developers to pay fair market value when they opt to offer the city cash instead of parkland.
Corday said the changes already are making a difference on the ground, and the current push to strengthen parkland standards with an amended regulation also will go far. The update should prohibit unusable land from being dedicated as parkland.
The matter of a ditch being offered up as parkland erupted at a council committee meeting last week. An irrigation ditch runs through a subdivision called Maple Brook Estates, formerly Emery Acres, in the Target Range neighborhood.
During a review of the subdivision last year, council members decided to consider two treed areas on either end of the ditch as parkland. They decided not to count the ditch itself or a stretch of adjoining land.
Ward 3's Bob Jaffe contacted the parks department to see what could be done to avert similarly unsuitable parkland offers, and Corday, who had looked into the matter earlier, got to work on a regulation.
At a committee meeting last Wednesday, council members gave the updated regulation preliminary approval, which likely will be finalized Monday night during their regular weekly meeting.
The same day, however, the Maple Brook Estates developer approached the council again, asking that the ditch be counted since the connection was going to be designated as “common area” at the city's request and was also an agricultural resource.
The appeal prompted cries of a “bait and switch” from Jaffe and dissent from other council members.
“I don't see a ditch as a worthwhile piece of dedicated parkland,” said Ward 1 Councilman John Hendrickson.
Jaffe said it was the initial request to consider the ditch a park that prompted the regulation to be amended in the first place, and council members denied the request on a 10-1 vote.
Corday said even with the amendment, the council will retain discretion to count unusual parcels of land toward the required 11 percent dedication. Steep hills don't usually make good parks, for example, but Corday said it's possible that if a steep hill looks particularly good for sledding, it could count since it fits with the department's goal to offer recreation.
The amended regulation says this: “Unless the governing body (Missoula City Council) determines otherwise, the following areas within a subdivision will not count toward the parkland dedication.”
It then names riparian areas associated with irrigation or roadside ditches, detention ponds and landscaped boulevards, among other areas. Developers remain free to design landscaped boulevards, but they won't count as parkland unless the council decides otherwise.
“That 11 percent is so precious. It's such a tiny amount,” Corday said.
At last Wednesday's meeting, Ward 4's Jon Wilkins said while he likes a boulevard in his neighborhood, he never sees people socializing there.
If approved Monday, the proposed rule becomes law, and Corday expects it to put an enormous dent in the requests to count ditches and hills as parks. She said the other two rules stemming from the Master Parks Plan are already helping fill the coffers for public park purchases.
The ordinance allowing the sale of pocket parks will likely help build LaFray Park. That's in the River Road area, which has long suffered from a shortage of parks.
“We will be one of the first families there (at LaFray),” said Jeremy Flesch, who wants to take his 1-year-old child there.
If it receives necessary approvals, the parks department will sell a tiny piece of nearby land off Carter Court. It's considered a pocket park and those small parcels sometimes function more as extensions of people's backyards than as actual parks, Corday said. And they cost 30 percent more to maintain than do usable parks.
Corday estimated a sale could fetch anywhere from $50,000 to $60,000.
“That's a good chunk of money,” she said, and it would go toward developing LaFray.
At neighborhood charrettes, which Flesch attended, residents designed a park that reflected the history of the area and its needs now. They'll have flowering trees as a reminder of the original orchards there, and they'll have a small skatepark to serve the children who live there today.
The park is designed with plenty of green space, too.
“The excitement and input from members of the community goes a long way to making this park a reality,” Flesch said.
He said it's important to have a place where you can spread out on the grass and have fun with friends.
“I would expect to play catch, kick a soccer ball around, ride bicycles, play tag, (and) climb on playground equipment,” Flesch said.
Parks have been bolstered by the regulation requiring land be appraised, too. Previously, the Montana Department of Revenue determined the required amount based on sometimes outdated assessments.
Two appraisals have been completed since the rule to appraise proposed subdivisions took effect, and Corday said the cash that has come in has been roughly four times the money the city would have received in the past.
“It's huge. It's a significant difference,” Corday said.
Not all developers try to get around the requirement to provide parkland, though. Corday said Kevin Mytty understands the benefit of parks and dedicated two in the 215-home Pleasant View subdivision west of Reserve. One is 5 1/2 acres - the size of the University Area's Bonner Park. Knowing the list of parks needing city funds is long, he is paying up front to design the park and build a pond, Corday said.
Mytty could not be reached for comment, but it's likely he expects to make up some of those costs on the tail end. In other words, families often find homes near attractive parks more appealing and are willing to pay for them.
Some folks balk at paying, though. In a complicated transaction involving a land transfer, some residents of the Rattlesnake Valley were recently assessed a special tax to make improvements to Pineview Park. Various residents believe taxing neighbors to pay for a park is unfair, seeing that people from outside the neighborhood use the park, too.
Corday countered that without the tax - a special improvement district - the park wouldn't see improvements for a long time to come. Funds are scarce and needs are great.
With changes to city regulations, LaFray Park will begin taking shape this summer as the parks department puts in irrigation, grass, trees and trails to LaFray Lane and Johnson Street.
Siegford's children and grandchildren are grown and gone, but he's eager to see a park in the area.
“I would like it for the neighbor kids,” Siegford said.
Reporter Keila Szpaller can be reached at 523-5262 or at Keila.Szpaller@missoulian.com
Park and talk
The Missoula City Council will consider a revision to subdivision rules requiring donations of usable parkland by developers at its regular weekly meeting at 7 p.m. Monday in City Council Chambers, 140 W. Pine St.
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