MISSOULA — Efforts to restore a stretch of Grant Creek have presented advocates with a complicated puzzle of funding sources, ranging from a federal grant to the contributions of neighboring landowners who will reap some benefit from the finished project.
While the net of funding and partnerships took years to piece together, members of the Missoula City Council on Wednesday made the project official by authorizing the mayor to sign a construction contract with J&J Excavating, which came in as the low bidder for the roughly $2.5 million project.
The project's initial budget was $1.8 million.
“We cut down the cost as much as we could,” said Andy Schultz, city engineer for utilities. “Our budget was based on costs from 2020 when 30% design was completed. We've seen a tremendous cost increase since then. We're at risk of losing the (grant) funding if we can't come up with the remainder.”
The American Rescue Plan Act provided the project around $910,000, and the remainder will come from a number of other sources. That includes $500,000 from the county's trails bond, along with city funding and $580,000 from impact fees placed upon new development in the greater Mullan area.
“When we set up the special impact fee, it identified 10 projects that were part of the overall Mullan BUILD project,” said Jeremy Keene, direct of Public Works for the city. “Those impact fees can only be used on those projects, and Grant Creek was one of them.”
The Grant Creek project will restore the creek's flow and reduce the floodplain, leaving neighboring properties set for development. (Courtesy photo)
The project was set to begin several years ago after Missoula County and the city applied for and received funding for the Mullan BUILD project. But the award was less than expected and the Grant Creek project was again removed from the project list.
But since then, a Grant Creek working group formed by the Clark Fork Coalition has helped keep the project alive. The county again sought funding for the work and this time, it was awarded roughly $1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Earthwork will begin in March.
“The overall design was informed by recommendations of the Grant Creek working group,” said Schultz. “They pulled out this section of the creek and provided recommendations, knowing this portion of the project was forthcoming.”
Schultz said the design was peer reviewed by the River Design Group. The project will realign the creek to a more natural channel and provide a 200-foot floodplain on either side, along with another 200 feet of riparian habitat.
The creek was moved from its historic channel years ago to make room for agricultural operations. But the current floodplain is overly broad, limiting other land uses. Restoring the channel will ready much of that land for development.
Already, Mountain Line plans to build its new bus facility on one of the properties. The agency is one of three landholders who will benefit from the restoration work. Together, the three property owners have provided $263,000 to the project.
“We're going to free up land from floodplain restrictions to use for development,” said Schultz. “It's going to restore a highly impacted section of Grant Creek. It's going to create an amazing public green space.”
