Growth Policy 5-Year Review

UPDATE: This project has been completed. Thank you to those of you who provided your input and engaged in conducting the review. The finalized Review Report is available here on this page under 'Review Materials'.

The Report on the 5-Year Growth Policy Review was presented to Planning Board on October 5th, 2021, and to the Land Use and Planning Committee of City Council on October 27th, 2021. Links to those meetings, including video, are provided below, as well as the times in the meetings when the presentation, and then discussion of the item, began.

Planning Board:

Presentation starts: 14:59

End of presentation/discussion starts: 1:00:00

Land Use and Planning (LUP) Committee:

Presentation starts: 38:45

End of presentation/discussion starts: 1:15:00

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Every five years, cities are legally mandated to review their Growth Policy and determine whether it should be changed or updated. The City has conducted its first review of the 2035 Our Missoula Growth Policy, and wants to hear your thoughts!

WHAT IS A GROWTH POLICY?

The Growth Policy is the foundational policy that cities use in Montana to implement land use strategies (such as Issue Plans like the Long Range Transportation Plan) and regulations (think zoning and subdivision regulations). The policy is generally responsible for guiding planning for future urban growth over the next 20 years. To learn more about the Growth Policy, visit the Important Links tab on the side of the page.

WHY THE REVIEW?

State law requires that every 5 years, cities review their growth policy, and consider whether it still accurately reflects their community's vision. Missoula is experiencing a variety of challenges and pressing issues (let us know what you think is the most pressing in the Quick Poll tool at the bottom of the page). This is an opportunity to step back, and take stock of how the Growth Policy is holding up in the face of recent change and challenges.

WHAT IS INVOLVED IN THE REVIEW?

The basis for reviewing the Growth Policy is described here in the Growth Policy itself, and consists of 9 evaluation criteria:

1. Changes in the legal framework regarding Growth Policy or its implementation;
2. Significant changes in existing conditions and projected trends;
3. Changes in the circumstances upon which the goals and objectives are based;
4. Changes in community goals;
5. Degree to which meeting goals and objectives have been met;
6. Completion of implementation strategies;
7. Deviation from implementation timetable;
8. Public input suggesting the need to make changes; and,
9. Knowledge of specific and identifiable amendments that would improve the Growth Policy’s usefulness, so that it better serves the public.

The process for this review is described in the Lifecycle tab on the right side of the page.

NOTE: The review is NOT the same thing as an update. The city is not currently engaged in any efforts to update or change the Growth Policy. However, this review has produced a variety of recommendations for what a future update could include. (See Appendix A, under the Review Materials tab.)

WHAT DID THE REVIEW FIND SO FAR?

The Community Planning division of CPDI (Community Planning, Development and Innovation) with additional support and guidance by a City Functional Working Group (see the Who's Listening tab) published the following materials to help guide this process (see Review Materials on the right hand side of the page).

Review Report

This is the City’s initial assessment of the Growth Policy, based on the review criteria listed above, and concludes with a determination on whether updates to the Growth Policy are warranted. (Spoiler alert, the determination is that, yes, it does!)

Report Supplemental Materials (Appendix A-G)

These documents include a recommendation for future updates to the Growth Policy, and supplement the evaluation contained in the report.

All of these documents, the Review Report and Supplemental Appendices, can be found in the Review Materials tab on the right side of this page:

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

The purpose of this Engage Missoula page is to provide access to the initial review, and a forum for submitting and viewing community feedback. Given that the Growth Policy is a complex document and utilized for various purposes, we anticipate that the input we receive on this will be wide-ranging, and will include everything from specific, detailed comments to sweeping, general opinions. All comments are welcome; the purpose of this review is to step back, take stock, and reflect. We look forward to hearing your thoughts- here is how to participate.

Please submit comments by October 22nd in order to be incorporated into the final draft of the Review Report.

Several tools are available on this page for commenting. Provide your thoughts and comments in the following ways:

Comment and Input

Leave a comment. Give us feedback on whether you think the city is still on the right track towards meeting our overall Vision, and if not what you want us to be considering.

Ideas

Do you have ideas that are inspiring and/or innovative that should be addressed in the City’s Growth Policy? Leave them here! Write a description, link to an article, upload a picture.

Map

Drop a pin in this interactive Land Use map and let us know what places we should be taking a closer look at in the City.

Attend a meeting

See Key Dates for date and venue of upcoming public meetings

Contact us directly

See the Who’s Listening tab on the right hand side of this page.

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH MY COMMENTS?

Hearing thoughts and comments from the community will help in the following ways:

• They will help to establish project goals for the comprehensive code reform project on which we are about to embark
• They will help to provide focus for how the Growth Policy update should interface with the comprehensive code reform project
• They will inform the general list of items to cover in an eventual growth policy update