In early August, Missoula developer Scott Cooney presented a preliminary concept draft to the county commission. Produced by WGM Group in Missoula, it mapped out 826 dwelling units - more than half of them of the multifamily variety - on 112 acres of land above the log yard that Cooney bought from Stimson Lumber Co. last year.
Maureen and Ken Peers heard about it a week or two later.
“We've got to be the oldest ones out here, so we just decided our time isn't worth much, we'll get this together and walk it around and see what people feel,” Maureen Peers said.
Her husband is a member of the Bonner/Milltown Community Council and the Bonner Development Group, both of which have clashed with Cooney over redevelopment issues.
Ken Peers first learned of Cooney's draft in the BDG newsletter. But Peers said he's acting as a West Riverside resident alarmed by the prospect of such high-density housing.
He and Maureen recruited two neighbors, picked a Saturday in early September, and staged a walking campaign to spread the word. They traveled door to door along all nine streets of “The Flat,” or West Riverside, distributing 91 maps of Cooney's plan, as well as fact sheets and survey cards.
They got 57 responses mailed back by the Oct. 1 deadline, which they figured was pretty good. Almost none (2 percent) of the respondents supported a plan for 826 dwelling units. Only 4 percent said they wanted to see any multifamily dwellings. Cooney's draft proposal called for 479.
“This is good strong information that the people out here do not in any way or form want high-density growth in this area. That's pretty much what it's all about,” Ken Peers said.
But it was all based on a misunderstanding, Cooney said. The high-density housing plan “was a site plan, specifically for the purpose of water rights transfer - nothing else.”
A significant part of the undisclosed purchase price Cooney paid Stimson was for water rights to roughly 200 acre feet of water. He said he has a specific time frame to transfer those rights.
“In doing that, we have to justify how we get to that number, so we go backwards and say, OK, 200 acre feet - a dwelling unit takes so much water. We backed into it that way,” Cooney said.
It's all part of applying for a public water system, a process that takes 18 to 24 months “at a minimum,” he said. To assure adequate water sources for any development, a preliminary site draft has to be submitted.
At the commissioners' meeting on Aug. 5, Cooney explained his efforts to have the company houses he purchased across the river in Bonner listed on the National Historic Register. Commissioners Jean Curtiss, Bill Carey and Larry Anderson were updated on the progress (“or lack of progress,” as Cooney puts it) of his negotiations to buy the Stimson lumber mill site.
And they listened to and observed his ideas on the West Log Yard, including an aerial map delineating how 826 dwelling units might fit. Cooney also said he was seeking state help to clean up the entire area, a Class 3 landfill that has been used since the 1970s to store logs for Champion International and, later, Stimson Lumber mills.
The commissioners noted any housing development would require a zoning change after the cleanup, and left it at that.
The preliminary concept plan was as preliminary as it gets, said Cooney.
“We had WGM drop a little paint-by-number map justifying our Š acre feet of water,” Cooney said in a phone interview. “I didn't want any effort put into it because it's so premature.”
He said he has repeatedly told residents he won't develop any formal plan without their input.
“We do not have a proposal,” he said. “We haven't done any planning. We haven't selected a planner. We haven't even paid our fees for the (WGM) plan yet.”
“He can say what he wants. But it's the only plan he's got out, and he did take it to the county commissioners,” Ken Peers pointed out.
The draft sets aside 28 acres for 479 multifamily units, 16 to 24 to the acre. Forty-five acres are for single-family homes of variable densities, while 20 acres on the mountain to the north are for a dozen “exclusive overlook homes.”
There's also a 12-acre riverfront park, a 4.5-acre central park, and two acres for a community garden in the plan. The central park would be lined on three sides by commercial/office space with multifamily units above.
The Peerses pointed out that a 23-acre section lining West Riverside Drive is designated for 210 homes, more than twice the number that exist in the same-sized area across the street.
“I bought a home in Bonner to get away from the overcrowding and congestion in Missoula,” wrote one neighbor in the Peers' survey. “Turning my neighborhood into a gigantic subdivision is not something I want to see.”
Others worried about road infrastructure, septic and wells, schools and home values.
“I do not support any residential housing,” one said.
“I would support more business development over residential,” wrote another. “I do not support residential development like (the) Canyon Creek development near Airway Blvd.”
That's the kind of input Cooney said he's courting. He doesn't have free rein - whatever happens on his land will have to meet county and community planning standards.
“I need to point out, we are taking the high road with what we're doing. There is a demand for Class 3 landfills,” Cooney said. “There's no question we could have trucks going in there tomorrow and making money and getting our money. Do I think it's the highest and best use? No, I really don't.”
To counter what he called “likely inaccurate and incomplete” information circulating through the community, Cooney sent out mailers last week explaining his reasons for developing the offending concept plan. He invites the community to a neighborhood potluck and brainstorming forum on Oct. 19 at the Hellgate Lions Club barn in West Riverside.
“If you don't offer your ideas, realistically, how is the development to be guided?” the flyer inquires.
“We're going to get people together and start building consensus,” Cooney said. “We've got suggestions anywhere from putting a big grassy field there to the whole gamut. Some people want one-acre lots. We'll go through all these things - OK, what's this going to cost? How are we going to come up with money for a grass field? Here are the pros and cons.”
Some want to see one-acre lots. One-acre lots are million-dollar homes, he said.
“So how are we going to address affordable housing in the community? How are we going to address senior housing? Those are the things I want to talk about.”
Cooney said he envisions a community where residents can walk or bike to high-paying jobs at a variety of businesses on the Stimson mill site. He champions putting an electric car in every garage.
“I want to bring back the victory garden. I want to make this community so it can stand by itself, so it's not dependent on Missoula,” he said.
He also wants to remove the fence and high, weed-infested berm that has ringed the log yard for 30 years or so.
“The berm needs to come down. It shouldn't have ever been put up. It isolates the community. It's like a big fence, and I want to get the fences out,” he said. “I want to see bumper stickers: ‘The (Milltown) dam came down. Let's bring the berm down.' ”
Cooney has invited Paul Horton to the potluck next Sunday. Horton helped develop Climate Solutions, a nationwide nonprofit that champions community and sustainable, green building and community.
The Peerses plan to be there, and they'll present Cooney with the results of their survey.
“I believe, since we've gone through with this, he will look now at something a whole lot less,” Ken Peers said.
“Maybe in retrospect we got a little too excited a little too soon,” Maureen said. “We could have just sat back, but by the same token, what if one of the dump trucks would have shown up out there? The Flat would have said, ‘What's going on?' ”
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