County starts process to donate 10 acres for NWGF self-help build housing
County Commissioners voted during their Aug. 12 meeting to start the process to donate about 10 acres of county-owned property to NeighborWorks Great Falls for the development of affordable housing at 2nd Avenue Northwest and 22nd Street Northwest.
The land was gifted to the county by the Roman Catholic bishop of Great Falls in 1977 to be developed into baseball fields or other public used.
The baseball field use was discontinued sometimes between 1995 and 2004, according to the county planning department, and has been vacant since.
Commissioners approved a resolution determining the parcel is no longer required for county business and can be transferred to NWGF under a state law provision allowing for the donation of public property for the development of low-income housing.
NWGF is planning to develop 25 single-family homes on the property, building the homes while the property is in the county with a plan to annex them into the city once completed, in their mutual self-help housing program, which is regulated and funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
It’s a process they’ve used in previous mutual self-help build neighborhoods in Merriweather Crossing, Thaniel, Black Eagle and Castle Pines.
To date, NWGF has produced 185 homes through the program in Cascade County, and each homeowner in the program has to contribute 30 hours per week for 12-16 months of sweat equity to qualify, according to Sherrie Arey, NWGF director.
The program requires the participants to have acceptable credit, two years of dependable income, sweat equity including help from family and volunteers, a rental history is preferred and income limits exist based on family size.
Keith Nelson, NWGF’s construction director, said there were misconceptions about the program and under the federal rules, “low income” is 80 percent of median income.
For 2025, median income in Cascade County, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is $90,800.
The 80 percent mark of that is $50,900 for one person. For a two-person household, it’s $58,150; for three people, it’s $65,400 and for a four-person household, it’s $72,650, according to the HUD data.
Houses built through the self-help build program in Thaniel, the northwest corner of the city, are currently appraised around $380,000, according to Cadastral, the state’s property records system.
The resolution that commissioners approved on Aug.12 directs county staff to prepare the required resolutions defined in state law for donating the property for housing and agreements with NWGF for the property transfer.
NWFG has been meeting with the county about the proposed project since August 2023, when they discussed the options for creating affordable housing under state law and reiterated their request in January 2024, according to a February letter from Arey to commissioners.
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The specific proposal was discussed briefly during the commission work session on Aug. 6. Notice to interested agencies and adjacent property owners was sent on July 24.
In April, commissioners, county staff and a city planning staffer met with Arey to discuss the proposed plans and feasibility of the development. The meeting was posted on the county calendar.
Arey wrote in her February letter that that she was following up on NWGF’s request from the previous year to “urge the County Commission to take action on the donation of county land for a vital housing development. NeighborWorks Great Falls is eager to move forward. We look forward to working with the county to facilitate this donation and advance our shared goal of expanding a[affordable housing and addressing the current housing crisis in our community.”
The letter details two projects NWGF is proposing, including the one addressed during the Aug. 12 meeting, which is a 10.6 acre property at 2nd Avenue Northwest and 22nd Street Northwest with a current 2024 tax appraisal of $88,778.
NWGF is also looking to acquire a county owned property at 1624 17th Ave. S.W. to add it to the single-family housing pipeline.
“By donating county land for this project, we can collectively make a significant and lasting impact on the lives of our fellow community members,” Arey wrote.
Deputy city planning director, Lonnie Hill, said in an email that city planning staff had some preliminary discussions with NWGF about annexing the property for housing.
He wrote that utilities would need to be extended, as with all annexation requests, and the property will have to be brought up to city standards.
“The big lift on this project is identifying what roadway improvements would be required and how to meet the city’s stormwater regulations, as there is not currently stormwater infrastructure adjacent to the property. The closest stormwater pipe runs along Central Avenue West,” Hill wrote.
In emails with city staff, USDA employees confirmed that the proposed process for building the homes while in the county, then annexing the property into the city, as NWGF has done with four previous mutual self-help projects, was eligible for the federal funding.
In an email, Mark Juras from the city public works department, wrote that the project will require the extension of water and sewer mains and provided preliminary cost estimates for “planning purposes only, “as costs will vary depending on the specific proposal and feasibility of extending city infrastructure to the property.
Water service extension is an estimated $255,000 and sewer extension is an estimated $236,400.
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“These costs exclude all soft costs such as design, contingencies, application or review fees, reimbursements for existing infrastructure, inspection fees, connection fees, elc. They also exclude other public infrastructure obligations such as surface improvements to adjoining right of ways to city standard streets,” Juras wrote.
During the Aug. 12 commission meeting, a number of area residents spoke in opposition to the development with some saying they didn’t want low-income people in their neighborhood, that the houses would lower the values of their homes and that neighborhood kids play in the field since they don’t have a park in the area.
Scott Mader lives nearby and said that 25 units is too many and would require too many improvements.
“We have no park if you took that away from us,” he said of the currently vacant property.
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George Tolliver, a nearby property owner, said that he moved to the neighborhood for country living and no development.
“Low income people would not really be good for the neighborhood at all,” he said and that he didn’t want to be annexed into the city.
The only property being considered for annexation into the city is the 10 acres owned by the county that NWGF is planning to develop.
Janna Parsons owns an adjacent property and said she supports NWGF but had concerns about this specific property, particularly the drainage and that septic systems in the area don’t function as designed.
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Commissioner Joe Briggs said he understood area residents wanting open space, but the proposal would turn an unused property into housing.
The agreement with NWGF would include annexation into the city, which would address drainage and infrastructure, Briggs said.
To those who hadn’t seen a mutual self-help build neighborhood, Briggs suggested they take a look.
“They’re quite nice,” he said, and every bit what one expects in a “middle class neighborhood.”
