MISSOULA — Managing change at a countywide level takes a lot of planning.
And right now, Missoula County is in the midst of planning its blueprint for how it would like to see change managed, and there are many moving parts to that.
The Missoula County Comprehensive Plan is still in its early stages, but it will soon set the framework for future policy decisions.
A comprehensive plan serves as a blueprint for how the county wishes to manage change, similar to how the city of Missoula updated its land use plan two years ago.
"It comprehensively addresses a number of different topics, including transportation and services and facilities, housing, economy, and land use, right? Is a big part of what the growth policy does,” Izzie Varley, planning manager for Missoula County, said.
Varley says that with all those change factors, each section of the county will need to develop its own plan for how it specifically wishes to see growth managed.
WATCH THE FULL STORY HERE:
For example, in the Swan Valley, community members came together to create their own neighborhood plan.
The plan addresses almost all of the growth factors, ultimately aiming to preserve the land and culture of the Swan Valley.
Plans like the one residents of the Swan Valley created will have to be made for all the other communities in the county, ranging from Seeley Lake to Bonner to Clinton to Missoula to Lolo and Frenchtown.
It is important to note that the comprehensive plan has no legal teeth, meaning there are no regulations within the plan, just a guide for how future regulations may be put in place.
The county is currently in the beginning stages of reaching out to each community, seeking input on how they would like their area's plan to take shape.
Final adoption of the updated plan is expected to take place in late 2027.
