MISSOULA — The owners of a former mill seeking annexation into Missoula and a partnership with the city on redevelopment opportunities will have to wait until the outcome of several bills before the Legislature is resolved.
The City Council sent an annexation request by Roseburg back to committee on Monday night, saying one bill before the Legislature in particular could scuttle the company's redevelopment goals and the ability of the city to assist.
“It's very frustrating having that bill out there when we desperately need housing,” said council member Gwen Jones. “The Legislature knows it and the governor knows it, but there are bills like this that would really diminish the one tool we have to facilitate infrastructure and housing.”
Senate Bill 2, introduced by Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, would essentially render useless a city or county's use of urban renewal districts in generating tax increment financing. Both the city and county of Missoula have used tax increment to help fund public infrastructure, such as water and sewer, to aid in commercial and residential development.
Watch related coverage: Future of Roseburg property uncertain due to proposed state legislation
For the past two years, the company has worked with city officials to annex the property and enter the Scott Street Urban Renewal District. Doing so would enable Roseburg to request tax increment to help fund the infrastructure necessary for redevelopment.
But if the bill passes, those goals would be lost, according to Alan McCormick, an attorney representing Roseburg.
“There is real, solid opportunity here to help with housing stock, to help with mixed-use development here. It's going to take a partnership to help figure this out,” said McCormick. “Unfortunately, one of the most critical partnership pieces is making the one economic tool we have, work. If for some reason tax increment can't work, it may have to develop differently. We may lose out on some of the opportunities we have.”
Plans long in the making
Missoula County late last year approved Roseburg's request for a boundary-line adjustment. Doing so reconfigured the various parcels on the property into more marketable and usable pieces. With the lines now drawn, the company is seeking to annex its 235 into the city.
Roseburg representative Ellen Porter said the company has fended off previous potential buyers until the time was right. When the mill closed last year, the chance to envision a new use had arrived.
“We've been very protective of that property for many years,” said Porter. “We've been holding it tight as a complete parcel. Knowing that sooner or later all mills close, we envisioned being able to partner with the city, work with the city to make something nice on that property as opposed to having it piecemeal out. But SB 2 is going to definitely impede the partnership that we envisioned.”
With annexation pending, the Missoula Economic Partnership and Roseburg have teamed up to explore the property's needs and redevelopment potential. The city's new land-use plan identifies the property as an “ongoing planning consideration” area.
City water and sewer are near the site but don't yet serve the property. An east-west street connector is planned, along with a trail system. A potential interchange on I-90 has also been discussed in past planning efforts.
City planner Dave DeGrandpre said the property's slate of future uses is essentially blank.
“It recognizes that we don't exactly know at this point what the future is for the Roseburg site,” he said. “It's an area that's probably transitioning from heavy industrial to potential other uses, but we don't know exactly what those other uses might be.”
While MEP has partnered with Roseburg to explore the property's infrastructure needs, the Missoula Redevelopment Agency has partnered with the company to redraw the Scott Street Urban Renewal District once the city approves Roseburg's annexation.
But MRA Director Ellen Buchanan said SB 2 could dismantle the use of tax increment as a tool to aid in redevelopment. That would essentially reverse the Legislature's own actions from two years ago when it authorized the use of tax increment to build affordable housing.
“It's safe to say that bill would literally be the dealt knoll of tax increment use in the state of Montana,” said Buchanan. “It's the only economic tool we have. If it passes, the city would be hard pressed to amend the Urban Renewal District boundary. Roseburg would be hard-pressed to request annexation. The opportunity to annex 235 acres into the city and participate in how that's redeveloped to meet the city's goals would be lost.”
