A new housing proposal in Great Falls is generating concerns for some people in the neighborhood. The IX Blessings Mobile Home Park is planned to be built at 4600 Seventh Avenue North. The proposal states: "Preliminary design for the Mobile Home Park includes 154 mobile homes, streets, sidewalks, and park space." Click here to read our first report.
Brock Cherry, the Development & Planning Manager for the City of Great Falls, jokes that Neighborhood Council 4 typically doesn’t receive a lot of action.
He’s referring to the zones in which the city of Great Falls is divided for city politics. Neighborhood councils field issues, listening to their residents in their designated zones before approaching the city with recommendations or suggested action.
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Council 4 makes up the north-eastern limits of the city, from 36th Street North to 10th Avenue South to 57th Street South.
On Thursday night, Neighborhood Council 4 held their regularly scheduled meeting. The only difference was the over one-hundred in attendance.
So why all the clamor?
The neighborhood council is seeking a decision on a recommendation to annex a lot of 154 manufactured homes at 4600 7th Avenue South. The total plot of annexed land would total just over 24 acres.
The council presided over the agenda item, inviting city planners, lot developer, project manager, and the public, many of whom were disgruntled, to the meeting.
Nine Blessings is the interested developer looking to repurpose the lane. The company is based in Missoula, and has a solid track record of property development in the state.
They made an effort to dispel the notion the land would be turned into a “trailer park”, instead selling the idea that the manufactured homes, priced at about $100,000-$140,000 a piece, would be developed into a well-lit, walkable community, complete with a dog park, basketball courts, and pickleball court.
City code allows for 10 properties to be built per square acre. Nine Blessings say they’re shooting for only six per acre.
Still, neighbors aren’t particularly happy. Many concerns arose over taxation, safety, traffic, maintenance costs, homebuyer equity and more.
“There's some folks that still probably oppose this,” says Brock Cherry.
Residents complain traffic already comes to a complete gridlock in the area during school pick-up and drop-off. In addition the nearby Loy Elementary school, residents say, is already near capacity.
Realtor and concerned neighbor, Tony Peres, says the homes being built on slabs provides the land little opportunity to grow.
“You can do improvements to the home and basic remodels inside the home, but there is no expansion,” he says. “They depreciate in value from the moment you purchase them.”
This is because, Peres says, the homeowner isn’t purchasing the land. He also notes, the land is possibly the worst within city limits. The area is a natural wetland.
“Many developers have looked at it to build and to develop into residential homes, but that land does not support it,” he says.
Peres added a warning to the developers, that should they move forward with the project, he expects longterm maintenance costs due to buckling foundation to outweigh profitability.
Other realtors and staff with the Great Falls Development Alliance spoke out in favor for the project. Great Falls is 6500 homes short of providing a sustainable market. Many view this injection into the home buying market as welcome.
The homes would cost roughly $200,000 less than the median sales price of a home in Great Falls.
Developer group, Nine Blessings say, if the city signs off on the annexation, they’ll break ground in Spring of 2026, with a goal to complete the project within two years.
An initial motion to recommend the city approve the annexation was dismissed after disagreement amongst the council. The motion will be revisited at the next council meeting on August 28th. The Council also hope to obtain more clarifying information from both the city and developers in the meantime.
A planning board public hearing is tentatively set for 3 P.M. on September 9th at the Civic Center. The City Commission’s final decision is scheduled for October 21st. The public is asked to remain a part of the conversation, by emailing the city and speaking with local planners.
The council says information learned at these public meetings will directly impact their recommendation to the city moving forward.
Click here to read more about the proposal (PDF).
IX Blessings is based in Missoula; click here to visit the website.
