The city planning board unanimously voted to recommend annexation and zoning for a proposed 154-pad manufactured home park at 4600 7th Ave. N. on the east end of Great Falls during their Oct. 14 meeting.

The proposal for IX Blessings development includes annexing about 25 acres and assigning R-10 mobile home park zoning for the establishment of 154 manufactured home pads.

The project will next go the City Commission for final consideration.

The applicant is Caleb Morey of IX Blessings and his representative on the project is TD&H Engineering.

The development has been named The Lariat and would be on lots located southeast of the intersection of 7th Avenue North and 42nd Street North.

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After construction, the required water and sewer main infrastructure would be owned and maintained by the city, but stormwater infrastructure would be privately owned and maintained.

The property is currently vacant, undeveloped and being used as horse pasture, according to the project narrative provided to the city by TD&H.

The proposal includes a minimum of two off-street parking spaces per unit and parking will be limited to off-street so roadways remain open to emergency vehicles at all times, according to TD&H’s narrative.

Additional guest parking will be provided throughout the development.

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Several area residents said they were concerned about increased traffic from the proposed development.

The development is projected to generate about 1,100 average daily trips and 100 peak-hour trips and full build out, according to city, and those projections fall below the city’s threshold for a formal traffic impact analysis.

Staff completed a traffic analysis to address concerns, evaluating traffic conditions along 7th Avenue North, 42nd Street North and adjacent streets, finding that “the local and collector street network has sufficient capacity to accommodate the additional daily and peak-hour volumes generated by the development.”

Staff also evaluated potential conflicts with Morningside Elementary School, which is northwest of the development on 7th Avenue North, observing peak school drop off and pick up times were between 8-8:30 a.m. and 2:45-3:15 p.m., “which does not significantly overlap with the development’s projected traffic peaks. The study found no adverse impact to school operations or pedestrian safety, particularly given planned sidewalk and frontage improvements along 7th Avenue North,” according to the staff report.

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During the Oct. 14 planning board meeting, several area residents said that they were concerned about traffic and safety around the school that would be negatively impacted by the proposed development.

In an Aug. 5 letter to city planning staff from GFPS Superintendent Heather Hoyer that was included in the agenda packet for the meeting, she wrote that historically the district hasn’t had a large population of students within local mobile home parks.

The proposed entrance for the development is near the school drop off zone, Hoyer wrote, and may impact walking routes for students and asked the developers to be mindful of that and requested city assistance with crossworks.

During the Oct. 14 meeting, Sara Reynolds, city planner, told the board that the traffic cameras they used for counts didn’t record any drop-offs near the proposed entrance for the development.

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In an Oct. 14 email to The Electric, Jackie Mainwaring, assistant GFPS superintendent, said that the district had not received any complaints about traffic since opening the charter school in August 2024.

Mainwaring said that as the district planned to open the charter school, the Morningside community shared concerns about parking and potential for increased traffic. The district opened another parking area in the back of the school to accommodate the increased student population, she said, which reduces the need to park in front of the school.

The CORE/Morningside principle has also been explaining and reinforcing drop-off and pick-up procedures, she said.

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The CORE school has 313 enrolled students as of Oct. 14, which is about 100 more than were enrolled previously, but many of the neighborhood students elected to stay at the school when it became the district’s first public charter school.

The development agreement requires frontage improvements along 7th Avenue North, including curb, gutter and sidewalk installation, according to city staff.

“These enhancements will improve pedestrian connectivity, correct existing ADA deficiencies at key crossings,
and better organize vehicle flow near Morningside School,” according to the staff report.

Pedestrian sidewalks will be provided on both sides of 44th Street North and along the south side of 7th Avenue North.

The proposed home will be placed on and anchored to concrete slabs which will be designed to support the structures that are proposed, according to TD&H.

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Morey said during the Oct. 14 meeting that their goal is an estimated monthly housing payment of $1,700 for the house, lot and utilities, buying the home with a $3,000 to $5,000 down payment. Residents would not own the land under their homes.

Morey said that they recently set a similar modular home at 2226 7th Avenue North and that they’ve developed or renovated other units around Great Falls in recent years.

He said city code allow them to build 10 homes per acre, but they’re planning about 6.2 homes per acre, in what he called a “fantastic alternative to an apartment” to have some space and a yard.

Morey said “people have an opinion that people who need affordable housing do bad things,” but they’ll have a manager on site and plan lighting to increase safety without disrupting the existing neighborhood.

“We want a place for families,” he said.

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The development proposal includes open space/park space for residents to include a half basketball court, pickleball court, children’s playground and a gazebo. One area is planned to be a fenced dog park.

The proposal includes a park area along the south edge of the development with multiple access pathways installed connecting to the adjacent Heren Park pathway system.

Jake Clark of the Great Falls Development Alliance spoke in favor of the project as housing “production has not kept pace with demand.”

He said a higher density residential project is good for areas that are within walking distance of a school and public park to encourage people to walk more and drive less.

Clark said the proposal makes use of a challenging site that other developers had passed on due to the soils.

The majority of the property is currently a county enclave within in the city so city services are operating in the area but the property doesn’t generate any tax revenue for the city.

Tony Peres, a local real estate broker, said that he wasn’t against the project, but was against the location since he believed it would impact property values for existing homeowners and there will be a cumulative impact to traffic from developments in the area.

“I would like to see you in a different location, but not my neighborhood,” he said.

Michael Gorecki, planning board member, said that he grew up in a house that bordered the Highwood mobile home park and now lives near Riverview Elementary School.

He said when the large apartment complex was proposed across the street from Riverview, he thought it would be “so bad. My concerns were not justified as much as I thought they would be.”

The apartments added some traffic, but it wasn’t detrimental he said, and looking at the overall picture, the proposal was “not outside” of the mix of housing types already in the area.

David Cantley, planning board member, said that the project serves a “valuable need” in the community.