City Commissioners voted 4-1 during their Dec. 2 meeting to annex about 24 acres and assign R-10 mobile home park zoning for the IX Blessings development on the east side of the city.

Commissioner Shannon Wilson voted against the project citing concerns about the financial model of the developer owning the land under the manufactured homes and leasing it to residents.

The city planning board voted unanimously in October to recommend annexation and zoning for the planned 154-lot development at 4600 7th Ave. N. on the east end of Great Falls during their Oct. 14 meeting.

The developer said they’re offering this housing type to expand affordable housing opportunities in the city with a range of site sizes that will accommodate standard and larger manufactured homes, which will be installed on a concrete slab foundation engineered to meet the requirements specified within the geotechnical soils report.

All manufactured homes installed in the park will be no older than 10 years at the time of installation, according to the developer.

City planning board recommends approval of proposed mobile home park

The development includes roads, as well as a park area with basketball and pickleball courts, a playground and a fenced dog park that will be privately maintained. Sidewalks are planned to connect the existing path from Heren Park.

Development construction is planned in two phases starting with the area west of the extended 44th Street North and the second phase for the area east of 44th Street North, according to city planning staff.

Under the annexation agreement, IX Blessings will construct or reimburse for all required public improvements, including:

• looped 8-inch water main that connects to the existing system, with fire hydrants
• sewer mains will be extended to serve all residential pad sites and developer will reimburse the city for 7th Avenue North lift station improvements
• stormwater facilities will comply with city requirements
• roadway and frontage improvements include reconstruction of 7th Avenue North, including curb, gutter, stormwater improvements, boulevard sidewalks and landscaping

The city’s recently adopted stormwater master plan includes a conceptual regional pond location that overlaps with portions of the IX Blessings development, so staff included language in the annexation agreement that allows the development to be modified if future engineering confirms a regional pond on IX Blessings property is feasible and agreeable to both parties, according to city staff.

If that doesn’t work out, city staff would evaluate other conceptually identified locations, including Heren Park or the parcel to the east.

Mobile home park proposed for east end

IX Blessings is still required to submit detailed plans that address all on and off-site stormwater conditions, including existing run-on between Beaverhead Court, Clearwater Court and Heren Park before infrastructure permits will be issued.

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 the 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.”

152-unit housing development proposed for east side

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.

Andrew Finch, city transportation planner, said they’d received no complaints about traffic from the school or parents, but recognize that the neighborhood has some concerns so they could discuss the area with the school district to determine if improvements are needed or could be made.

City approves annexation, zoning for 163 housing lots on east side

Zach Backes, a IX Blessings partner, said that their goal is affordable housing and the purchase of manufactured homes is a good middle ground between renting and buying a single-family home.

For the most part, Backes said the homes in the development will be permanent fixtures and homeowners can sell them similarly to site built homes.

He said they aren’t the first team to look at the east side property, which is vacant, undeveloped and being used as horse pasture.

“Others have attempted and failed,” Backes said, and they believe the highest and best use for the property is light structures not on permanent foundations such as the manufactured homes.

Backes said that they’re planning on less density that the code allows to balance the neighborhood with costs.

He said that if they were to sell the land with the manufactured homes, it would triple the cost, making it less affordable.

There is geological risk in the area due to soil conditions, but the developers are accepting that liability and have the responsibility to maintain and repair foundations as needed, Backes said.

City planning board supports annexation, zoning for 67-lot single family housing development

Jake Clark of the Great Falls Development Alliance said that the project meets a demand and the specific housing type was called out as a need in their housing demand studies.

Several residents who live near the development spoke in opposition with concerns about traffic and potential risk to those who purchase a manufactured home but don’t own the land under it.

Commissioner Rick Tryon moved to approve the annexation and zoning, with Mayor Cory Reeves seconding.

Tryon said he was going to vote for it and thought it was a good project even if some objected to it.

He said the commission can’t make a decision based on whether it’s a good financial model. In this case, a developer purchased the property and was doing what’s allowable under city code and laws.

City approves annexation, zoning for 163 housing lots on east side

“Whether people want to live there or not is their decision,” Tryon said, while again raising his concerns with the process that requires commissioners to come up with their own findings to deny a land use action.

Commissioner Susan Wolff said she had a family member who had purchased a mobile home but eventually couldn’t afford the land under it, so she understood the concerns, but that wasn’t up to the commission to decide.

“People have the choice to move there or not,” she said.

Commissioner Joe McKenney said the commission can’t micromanage people’s decisions and they can decide whether to live in the development, which adds another housing choice and is a “good addition to our community.”

Commissioner Shannon Wilson said she knows everybody has good intentions and she was happy with the engineering and traffic reports, but she was concerned with the potential for homeowners being driven out in the future if land rental costs increased significantly.

Annexation requested for 67-lot single-family housing development

It’s a situation allowable under state law and while some bills were considered in the last session to address it, “the Legislature has failed us,” she said.

She said they were putting low and moderate residents at risk of losing everything, to which Tryon responded, “we’re not doing any such thing.”