MISSOULA — About a year ago, Frenchtown residents began speaking out against a proposed Town Pump off Frontage Road.
Several months ago, they petitioned the county to rezone the area after collecting a supermajority of residents’ signatures.
If rezoned, Town Pump would be restricted in how it can develop land it owns near the interchange.
The Missoula County commissioners are hearing public comment both for and against the proposal.
On Tuesday, they held a special meeting to continue taking testimony on the zoning petition.
The commissioners allowed 35 minutes each for proponents and opponents of the proposal.
If approved, the zoning change would prevent construction of a proposed Town Pump.
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Proponents spoke first, with Dan Sampson, director of construction and development for Town Pump, addressing residents’ concerns raised at a previous meeting.
“While these traffic issues exist today, whether or not Town Pump develops, we are working with our engineering teams and the Montana Department of Transportation to mitigate any impacts generated by traffic entering our facility,” Sampson said.
"Another hot topic item was concerns about water and septic impacts, so we have done our homework on that," Sampson said. "All underground storage tank systems must be permitted through the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Fuel systems today are much different than the systems of yesteryear, such as you've seen in whitefish."
Debbie Lester, Frenchtown School Board Chair, went first for the opponents, stating that the school board unanimously supports the zoning petition.
“That town pump doesn't help the school out a bit. The way school funding is, we get more funding with more students,” Lester said.
Fellow residents of Frenchtown followed her.
"Commissioner Strohmeyer highlighted that if residents of Frenchtown didn't want to see things like storage units, which was that issue in that case, quote, the mechanism to make sure that does not happen is zoning, end quote," one resident said.
Graham Coppes, the attorney representing the petitioners, finished.
“Obviously, no process is gonna have 100% consensus. You all know that better than most. But getting to where we are today, I think it's always important for us to look at, we don't want perfection to be the enemy of good,” Coppes said.
The commissioners will hold another meeting May 28 to continue taking public comment on the matter.
