Cascade County Commissioners voted unanimously during their Nov. 28 to finalize a rezoning of about 140 acres off Stuckey Road owned by the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana.

Commissioners approved the Little Shell’s request to rezone the property from suburban residential to urban residential.

They had approved their intent to change the zoning in October.

County approves Little Shell property rezone

The impetus for this rezone was to do a boundary line adjustment between properties owned by the Little Shell and the Cowboy Association to establish a private road access, according to the county planning office.

These two properties were zoned differently: Cowboy Association property zoned urban residential, and the Little Shell property zoned suburban residential-1. Since they had to go through the rezone to get the property to urban residential classification, they included two other surrounding properties they own as well, according to county planning.

City considering Little Shell project annexation

The county planning board reviewed the rezone request during a September meeting and recommended that commissioners approve the rezone. The areas that were rezoned are in yellow in the map below.

Little Shell Chairman Gerald Gray told The Electric that they don’t have plans for the rezoned 140 acres, but it gives them better access to the property they already own in the area.

County officials said future development of that property would require going through other county processes.

During the Oct. 24 commission meeting, several area landowners spoke in opposition of the rezone.

Little Shell Tribe seeking annexation for grocery cold storage

The rezone allows for a higher density of housing, which several area landowners said worried them. They said they bought their properties for the rural environment and most in the area were on septics and cisterns, which wouldn’t support higher densities.

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Several property owners said during the meeting or in written comments to the county that though the Little Shell representatives said they didn’t intend to build housing on the 140 acres, the rezone would be the first step in that process.

No one spoke in opposition to the rezone during the Nov. 28 commission meeting and the Great Falls Development Alliance spoke in support.

The tribe annexed several properties into the city in that area over in recent years and over the summer, the county planning office issued a zoning permit for a powwow arbor with a location/conformance permit on one of the tribe’s other parcels in that area.

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In March 2023, City Commissioners approved annexation of 3.684 acres at 1301 Stuckey Road and assigned M-2 mixed use transitional zoning.

In a building permit application submitted to the city, that tribal leaders signed and dated Oct. 24, 2023, the tribe is requesting approval to install infrastructure, including water, sewer and utilities, as well as build a private road for “future development of homes on the property,” at 1301 Stuckey Road.