Opinion ID: 889830
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Rattlesnake Valley Plan

Text: ¶ 11 There is a long tradition of coordinated planning endeavors between Missoula County and the City of Missoula, particularly in the Missoula urban area. In 1961, the Missoula City-County Planning Board completed a master plan for the area. In 1975, the City and County collaborated again to create two sets of land-use planning guide-lines, one for the Missoula urban area and the other for rural areas. These guidelines were broad in scope and general in application. To address the unique characteristics of individual areas and provide more specific guidance for particular regions, the County and the City adopted various neighborhood plans over the years. These plans were subsequently added as amendments to the general growth policies. ¶ 12 One such neighborhood plan is the Rattlesnake Valley Comprehensive Plan, which applies to a 12-square-mile area of the Rattlesnake Valley consisting of County land and City land. The area covered by the plan is shown on the map included as an appendix to this Opinion. The proposed Sonata Park subdivision is labeled SITE on this map. The County and the City adopted the Rattlesnake Valley plan in 1988 and then adopted an updated version of it in 1995. The County and the City incorporated the 1995 version into the Missoula County Growth Policy in 2002, and reaffirmed it four years later in an update to the Missoula County Growth Policy. The 1995 version of the Rattlesnake Valley plan thus continue[s] to have full force and effect. ¶ 13 The Rattlesnake Valley plan was drafted through a public planning process. The 1995 update itself received extensive public review, including five public hearings. Numerous citizens participated in the process. By its terms, the plan is intended to reduce the problems associated with unplanned and uncoordinated growth. The plan is a policy document which provides the City, the County, other agencies and districts, and citizens with a coordinated guide for change over a long period of time. It addresses a number of questions that had been the focus of much community discussion for several years, including which areas are best suited for future development, which areas are best suited to remain relatively unchanged, and what role and responsibilities Rattlesnake Valley shares as part of the larger Missoula community. The plan lists various goals and guiding principles under the categories of air and water quality, open space and natural resources, transportation, and neighborhood character and quality of life. The plan then lists the recommended policies and actions with respect to each of these categories. ¶ 14 On the subject of land use, the plan explains that Rattlesnake Valley ranges from rural to urban. The upper valley is comprised of heavily forested lands and limited residential development, including some small-scale ranches. The middle valley contains some established neighborhoods, with densities ranging from two to six dwelling units per acre. But more than half of this area is sparsely settled or used as pasture land. The lower valley is occupied primarily by residential construction. This area contains the highest densities in the valley (six to eight dwelling units per acre) and is closest to services and existing roadway and pedestrian networks. ¶ 15 Given these features, the plan does not recommend one development density threshold for the entire valley. Rather, it states that development should be at a scale which is compatible with the development patterns of existing Rattlesnake neighborhoods and the natural ecosystem which underlies and surrounds the entire study area. To that end, the plan recommends different densities for different parts of the valley. The desired densities range from six to eight dwelling units per one acre (in the very southern portion of the valley) to one dwelling unit per five to ten acres (on the west and east hillsides). Of relevance to the present case, the Sonata Park landconsisting of 34.08 acres on the west hillsidestraddles two density zones: one dwelling unit per five to ten acres, and one dwelling unit per two acres. This translates to seven or eight units on the 34.08 acres. The plan states that [a]ll subdivision, zoning and rezoning requests should substantially comply with the land use recommendations of this Plan.