Guilhemotonia Family Transfer (Mullan Rd)

Project Description

Sebastian Guilhemotonia is requesting to use the family transfer exemption from subdivision review to divide their 1-acre property, located at 7580 Arroyo Lane off Mullan Road, into two tracts (Lot 11A: .4-acres; Lot 11B: 0.6-acres). Sebastian intends to gift Lot 11A to his father, Phillipe Guilhemotonia, and keep Lot 11B as his primary residence.

Subdivision Regulations and Exemptions

Missoula County’s subdivision regulations promote public health, safety and general welfare by ensuring any subdivision of land in the County’s jurisdiction provides for adequate light, air, water supply, sewage disposal, parks and recreation areas, ingress and egress and other public requirements. Many requests to divide land must go through the subdivision process to ensure these requirements are met, but certain types of land division are exempt from subdivision review. Landowners can apply for one or multiple subdivision exemptions when their development plans meet the state and local requirements for the applicable exemptions.

Being granted these exemptions means the property owner does not need to go through the standard subdivision review process to divide their property. These requests require administrative review by planning staff and, in some cases, may require approval by the county commissioners to ensure the applicant is not evading these regulations.

• Family Transfer Exemption
  Landowners can request a family transfer exemption when they intend to divide their property to gift or sell the newly created parcel(s) to an immediate family member.

View subdivision exemption criteria.

What is a family transfer?

Montana law specifically allows landowners to divide land and gift or sell one parcel per immediate family member (like a child, parent or spouse), without full subdivision review.

Requests for family transfers must always come before the commissioners. Missoula County considers dozens of family land transfers every year. It’s not rare — other counties across Montana regularly process these applications too. It’s not a loophole — it’s in the law for a reason: to help families live near each other or pass down land. It does not skirt regulations — the process requires surveys, documentation, fees and approval by county commissioners.

The landowner and recipient must be real people, not LLCs or corporations. It can only be used once per family member per county.

Project Timeline

County commissioners hearing: Thursday, May 28, 2 p.m.

• In-person location: Sophie Moiese Room, Missoula County Courthouse Annex, 200 West Broadway, Missoula
• Virtual option: Residents can attend the meeting via Microsoft Teams. To join the call on your phone, call 406-272-4824, Conference ID 467 457 758#. To join the meeting on your device, follow the links on the agenda that will be published at http://missoula.co/bccmeetings

Public Comment

Submit public comment by Wednesday, May 27, by using the comment tool below. Let us know what you think by logging in or creating an account and submitting your comment below.

Project Lead

Katy Reeder, 406-258-3707

Important Links and Documents

Guilhemotonia Family Transfer Application

Planning, Development and Sustainability webpage