Maintenance of Common Areas in Missoula Development Park

Missoula County is currently accepting offers for Missoula Development Park Redfern 2/Calistoga Park located off East Harrier in Missoula, MT. The property is designated as a common area but will likely be rezoned upon transfer to a third party to I-1 Limited Industrial. Offers will be accepted until an acceptable offer is received with an executed buy-sell agreement. According to state law, the county commissioners may not sell land for less than the appraised value (MCA 7-8-2513).

Redfern 2/Calistoga Park

• Lot size: 4.47 acres
• Appraisal Value: $155,000
• Property does not have legal access from East Harrier
• Amended Appraisal Report

If you have questions or would like to place an offer, email Land and Economic Development Specialist, Flanna McLarty, at fmclarty@missoulacounty.us or by mail at:

Flanna McLarty

200 W. Broadway

Missoula, MT 59802

Offers for "Park 4" and "Park 8" of the Missoula Development Park were accepted through Aug. 2, 2024.

Missoula County commissioners accepted an offer for Missoula Development Park "Park 6," at their public meeting on June 27, 2024. Missoula County was unable to accept previous offers for Missoula Development Park “Park 4” and “Park 8” because the offer price was lower than the appraised value. According to state law, the Board of County Commissioners may not sell land for less than the appraised value (MCA 7-8-2513). Missoula County issued a new Notice of Intent to Sell for “Park 4” and “Park 8,” following the same procedure as the original notice, with a new deadline of Aug. 2, 2024.

View images of these parks under "Photos" and learn more about them in the document labeled "Development Park Notice of Intent to Sell" on the right-hand side. If you would like to place an offer for one or both of these parks, email Land and Economic Development Specialist Flanna McLarty at fmclarty@missoulacounty.us or mail her at:

Flanna McLarty
200 W. Broadway
Missoula, MT 59802

If anyone submitting an offer did not agree with the appraised value, they could submit an appraisal by a disinterested certified general real estate appraiser with their offer. The appraisal had to be in line with the intended use for the property.

Missoula County commissioners accepted an offer for Missoula Development Park "Park 6," at their public meeting on June 27, 2024. Missoula County issued a new Notice of Intent to Sell for “Park 4” and “Park 8,” following the same procedure as the original notice, with a new deadline of Aug. 2, 2024.

Missoula County was unable to accept pervious offers for Missoula Development Park “Park 4” and “Park 8” because the offer price was lower than the appraised value. According to state law, the Board of County Commissioners may not sell land for less than the appraised value (MCA 7-8-2513).

The Missoula Development Park is a 446-acre area Missoula County developed between 1991 and 2017 for industrial use. Located just west of Missoula between Interstate 90 and the Missoula Airport, the City of Missoula annexed it in 2018.The common areas have remained in County ownership since annexation, with maintenance responsibilities falling to the Property Owners Association (see the Property Owners Association Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions under the “Documents” section).

The POA no longer has enough dues-paying members or board leadership needed to properly maintain the common areas. This has led to the common areas, including parklands, sidewalks, trails and stormwater facilities, falling into disrepair.

Rather than exercise its ability to put a lien on the properties within the Development Park (see the Property Owners Association Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions under the “documents” section) to pay for deferred, cyclical and long-term maintenance, the County proposed to:

• Address deferred maintenance to the stormwater system by ‘un-parking’ and sell common area parklands 4, 6, and 8 for private development. These parks were up for sale, and offers could be made to Flanna McLarty until 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, 2024.
• Transfer ownership and maintenance responsibility of the common area stormwater parklands 3, 5, 7, 9A, 11 and 12 to the City of Missoula.
• Transfer ownership and maintenance responsibilities of common areas Airway Boulevard, Expressway Boulevard and Butler Creek to the City of Missoula.
• Transfer ownership and maintenance responsibilities of common areas Redfern 2 and Canyon Creek Park parcels to third parties, preferably to the adjacent Canyon Creek Home Owners Association or AT&T.

For this project to be completed, a majority of the voting members of the Missoula Development Park Property Owners Association needed to agree that the transfer of common area was allowable. After a vote to "allow Missoula County to transfer common areas in the Missoula development park to third parties," where all voting interests were mailed a physical ballot using addresses on record with the State of Montana Department of Revenue, of the 81 ballots returned, 72 voted "FOR" the transfer of property by Missoula County (89%), and nine voted "AGAINST" the transfer of property by Missoula County (11%).

Therefore, Missoula County intends to proceed to transfer common areas in the development park to private individuals and/or entities. The first to be addressed will be Parks 4,6, 8, Redfern 2 and Canyon Creek Park.