The city planning board voted 5-1 during their Feb. 13 meeting to recommend approval of a rezone request for a 92-unit multifamily residential project off Bay Drive.

The board reviewed a request to rezone about 4.46 acres at 805 2nd St. S.W. from R-1 single-family suburban. It was most recently a mobile home court that had up to 14 mobile homes at one time, according to city staff, but is currently vacant.

The approval came after Julie Essex, planning board member moved to the deny the request, but no other members seconded the motion, which died. She said she was worried about spot zoning.

Staff said they didn’t believe there was a spot zoning issue but would further review a case referenced by Essex before the request goes to the City Commission.

Bay Drive apartment project up for city board review

The property owners, Craig and Robert Stainsby, are requesting the zone change to M-2 mixed use facilitate a property sale to develop a 92-unit multifamily residential project, dubbed Bay View Apartments, next to Garden Home Park, off Bay Drive. The development team is local, according to the Woith Engineering, the local firm helping design the project.

Staff is recommended approval of the rezone.

The request does not include the single-family residents at the southeast corner of Bay Drive and 2nd Street. Southwest, according to the staff report.

The first phase of the proposed project would be a three-story 36-unit building along the western side of the subject property; the second phase would be a three-story 42-unit building in the center of the property; and the third phase would be seven two-unit townhomes on the eastern portion of the site, near the Missouri River, according to the staff report.

City board to consider 92-unit housing project off Bay Drive

The infill project would use existing city infrastructure and services, rather than further stretching those resources by expanding the city limits, according to multiple city officials and many in the development community.

All of the units would be market rate, meaning no government subsidies to create low-income housing, according to the development team.

The second and third phases of the proposed project are in the Special Flood Hazard Area, or 100-year floodplain so the applicant will have to meet requirements of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency and city floodplain development regulations, according to staff.

City considering $1.2 million in federal funds for affordable housing rehabilitation

The rezone was initially scheduled to before the planning board in December, but was pushed to gather more data in response to some neighborhood concerns.

Woith Engineering, a local company, is part of the development team and has worked on multiple other housing developments and projects in the community and statewide.

The developer’s team presented at the Nov. 8 Neighborhood Council 2 meeting but those in attendance said that not enough of the neighborhood was aware of the project so the council voted to discuss the project at a special meeting on Dec. 6. Area residents attended that meeting and expressed concerns about traffic and safety, but the council did not take action and is scheduled to discuss the item again during their Feb. 13 meeting.

City OKs code change for multifamily housing [2023]

Several area residents submitted written comments to staff in opposition to the project over concerns about traffic, the effect of too many people living on the river, drainage, stormwater and that apartments will decrease their property values.

During the Feb. 13 planning board meeting, area neighbors voiced their concerns, including how students get off the bus in the area, traffic, crime, utilities sidewalks, the River’s Edge Trail and more.

Lonnie Hill, a city planning on the project, said that they have to make a land use determination under the law and that how students get off school buses is not part of that process. He said if that is a neighborhood concern, it would be best to raise that at a neighborhood council to address the issue.

Kirby Berlin, who lives near the proposed project, said that he was opposed to the project and had a list of 100 area neighbors who were also opposed.

He said it’s a very stable neighborhood and residents want to know their neighbors.

Berlin said that apartments bring new noises, distractions and transitory people.

He said he was concerned about the property values of the houses in the neighborhood and that they would be reduced if apartments were nearby. Berlin said he wanted the city to conduct a study on what the project would do to area property values.

Brooke Corry said that apartments are transitional and she’d prefer single family homes on the lot.

She said that she supported the project, but was opposed to rezoning the property for apartments.

The Great Falls Development Alliance submitted comments in support of the project and data indicating that apartments don’t generally reduce neighboring property values.

Several area residents suggested that apartments drive up crime in an area.

City reviewing public safety needs, resources after levy failure

According to Great Falls Police Department data, that is not true.

Capt. John Schaffer provided data to the GFDA in December.

He pulled crime data around three of the most recent large apartment complexes completed in the city, ARC Apartments on Division Road, Talus Apartments, south of Benefis and Rockcress Commons, at 23rd Street South and 22nd Avenue.

Talus and ARC are market rate apartments running $1,000 to $1,800 per month for one to two bedrooms.

Rockcress Commons is a NeighborWorks Great Falls development with income restrictions to ensure affordable housing, with rents from $875 to $1,204.

“Bottom line is there is minimal activity in and around these three apartment complexes compared to others that are subsidized. These apartments do not attract a criminal element,” Schaffer said in his email.

ARC Apartments weren’t operational on Division Road in 2022 and there were three calls for service at Smelter and Division that year, all three crashes.

In 2023, there were 16 calls for services around ARC Apartments, with four of them being crashes at Smelter and Division, according to GFPD data.

That averages one call for service per month at ARC, Schaffer said, and one call every 121 days at Talus with three calls for the year and one call every 23 days at Rockcress with a total of 14 calls at that complex for 2023.

“The Great Falls Police Department uses crime data such as this to deploy our resources. Based on this data, we would not be asking our officers to patrol these apartment complexes in order to prevent crime,” Schaffer said.

Neighbors said that 10th Avenue Southwest was part of the River’s Edge Trail and the project would increase traffic beyond the neighborhood’s capacity.

Andrew Finch, city transportation planner, said that the road was not the trail and that he had contacted Google to get the map corrected, but the road is part of the bike route.

Ryan Smith has family who live in the neighborhood and he said he supports the project as infill of a blighted neighborhood.

He said it would be an anchor development to the neighborhood and have a positive economic impact on the small businesses in the area.

Several residents said they were concerned if the land was rezoned, what would stop something else being built on the property in the future.

The developer included land restrictions in their voluntary development agreement that were allowable in the M-2 district but they wouldn’t consider. Those include:

• off-site liquor sales
• vehicle services
• warehouse
• animal shelter
• educational facility, K-12 or higher education
• instructional facility
• telecommunication facility, concealed, unconcealed co-located facilities
• bus transit terminal
• heli-pad
• parking lot, principal use
• parking structure
• railroad yard
• taxi cab dispatch terminal
• contractor yard, Type I and Type II

Brock Cherry, city planning director, said that the city can’t restrict land uses on a property that are allowable in a zoning district, but a property owner can do it voluntarily.

Julie Essex, planning board member, asked if she should consider an email from the county planning board director about the flood plain.

Lonnie Hill, city planner, said that in the city limits, this rezone is a land use action and then the project would go through all the subsequent steps for permitting and appropriate requirements, which would include FEMA floodplain requirements and permits.

Hill said that the current property owners aren’t the developers and it’s common that they enter into a contract to work through the process. He said the city has a different process and often rezones property before putting an applicant through what can be a time consuming and costly permitting process without knowing if they’d have the appropriate zoning for a project.

Area residents filed a formal protest against the rezone, meaning under state law, the zone change would need a favorable vote of two-thirds of the present and voting City Commissioners.

Staff from multiple city departments have been involved in the rezone application and will also review building permit applications if the rezone is approved and the project moves forward.

City reviewing development process [2023]

The cost of utility connections, all site improvements and the off-site trail connection will be paid by the applicant.

The developer is proposing two access points onto Bay Drive near the location of an existing access for the mobile home court that will cross a strip of city parkland property that is between the proposed housing property and the right-of-way of Bay Drive. Staff is supportive of the continued use but before a building permit is issued, the property owner must enter into an agreement with the city for the installation and maintenance of proposed improvements to the city’s property that will be used for access, according to the city staff report.

The developers have also indicated they will create a voluntary development agreement for commitments that go beyond the requirements of the M-2 zoning district to include a bicycle and pedestrian connection to the existing path in Garden Home Park, stormwater management improvements and a lower density project than allowable in the district.

Such agreements aren’t typical with rezoning requests but it will be finalized and signed by the applicant before City Commission action, according to staff.

City board recommends approval of next West Ridge housing phase [2022]

The applicant is also asking for a boundary line adjustment to reconfigure the property to create a 1.27 acre lot for the first phase and a 3.19 acre lot for the second and third phases. The boundary line adjustment is administratively reviewed by city staff and the rezone request applies to the entire property.

Staff wrote in their agenda report that the city’s 2013 growth policy update supports the rezone to facilitate development of apartments and townhomes.

“Specifically, the growth policy lists multiple social policies regarding housing, such as encouraging a variety of housing types and densities so that residents can chose by price or rent, location and place of work. Further, the environmental and physical sections of the growth policy prioritize infill development,” according to the staff report.

Existing infrastructure surrounds the property and the city maintains Bay Drive and 2nd Street Southwest.

Demand for new housing high in Great Falls area; costs slow development [2022]

The property is located within the primary impact area of the Missouri River Corridor Plan. The area includes lands  with “strong relationships to the river that are most central to the corridor plan. The plan identifies appropriate riverfront uses that reinforce the vision for the Missouri River corridor. The listed uses within the plan include two to four story rental apartments and town houses,” according to the staff report.

One goal of the plan is to remove barriers, one of which was identified is the lack of mixed-use/multi-use zoning districts or options in local regulations appropriate for riverfront redevelopment, according to the city.

In response to that plan, the city adopted mixed-use transitional zoning along Bay Drive in 2005.

City code doesn’t require a formal traffic impact analysis for this development, but staff conducted an analysis based on the public interest in the project.

City to review budget; Tryon drops push to move library funds to public safety

A traffic analysis typically looks at existing traffic conditions, projected impact of the proposed development and recommendations related to those potential impacts.

Existing traffic volumes are generally low in the area. Huffman Avenue and Bay Drive are wider roads built to urban road standards that direct traffic to higher-capacity roads. Tenth Avenue Southwest and 2nd Street Southwest are local roadways that generally carry 200 to 1,200 trips around Great Falls, depending on the neighborhood, according to the staff traffic analysis.

Staff placed traffic counters in the area that record vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian traffic and are equipped with cameras that record the activity at the counter.

The proposed development is projected to have a peak-hour trip increase of 9-14 per hour, or less than one trip every four minutes during rush hour, and “should have little noticeable impact on area traffic, as the roads have sufficient capacity to allow for the increase and remain uncongested,” according to the staff report.

Apartment project for Dick’s RV Park is off [2023]

Huffman Avenue and Bay Drive are wide enough to accommodate parking and two-way travel, according to staff. Second Street Southwest and 10th Avenue Southwest have typical travel lane widths with wider boulevards that are usually free of parked vehicles, further contributing to the safe use of the roads, according to the staff report.

According to the staff traffic analysis, the current and projected conditions are below:

The staff traffic analysis also looked at travel speeds on the impacted roads and found that 85 percent of the drivers traveled 26 miles per hour or slower on 10th Avenue Southwest and 23 miles per hour on 2nd Street Southwest, with a lower average speed. The projected increase in trips isn’t expected to increase speeds, according to the staff report.

Staff also does not anticipate a negative impact on bicycle traffic in the area, but a 10-foot shared bicycle-pedestrian path is recommended between the proposed development and the end of the River’s Edge Trail in Garden Home Park. Because of utility conflicts and concerns about stormwater conveyance, the city traffic analysis recommends that the city should defer construction of a sidewalk along the property’s 2nd Street Southwest frontage until the street itself is brought to full city standards.