The Missoula City Council will decide in June whether to approve using $310,000 from the voter-approved 2018 Open Space Bond to help a nonprofit purchase a long-running, 8-acre vegetable farm in the Target Range neighborhood and keep it preserved as agricultural land for at least 75 years.
The nonprofit, called Trust Montana, is proposing to use the Open Space Bond funding to purchase Corner Farm, located on Tower Road. The farm used to be called Clark Fork Organics and was owned by current county commissioner Josh Slotnick and his wife Kim Murchison. The farm business is currently being operated as Trust Land Farm by local farmer Ellie Costello, but the property is called Corner Farm and is currently owned by Neva Hassanein.
Ellie Costello, a local farmer and owner of Black Bear Soups and Produce, cleans freshly harvested garlic bulbs at Clark Fork Organics farm in Missoula in 2023.
Hassanein is proposing to sell the property to Trust Montana, which would then place the property in a Community Land Trust. Trust Montana would use the $310,000 along with community donations to buy the property for its appraised price of $720,000. Then, Costello would be given a 75-year-ground lease to preserve it as local agriculture.
People are also reading…
The farm historically produces about 40,000 pounds of food in the form of organic vegetables per year, according city open space program manager Zac Covington.
“One of the most unique things about this project is the fact that, while not part of the application for the use of open space bond funds, the property is connected to a residential development that’s planned,” Covington told the city council’s climate, conservation and parks committee. “Providing for a little more attainable housing for the community, which is really unique, so the combination of protecting farmland while still providing for attainable housing and access to local food systems is very unique to the community. And I think that’s something that the Open Space Advisory Committee found really intriguing and was very supportive of the idea of protecting the farmland overall.”
Dawn Conklin, executive director of Trust Montana, said that only 8% of the land in Missoula County has soils that are well-suited for agriculture, as determined by the state. She also said that Montana Department of Revenue data shows that over 50,000 acres of agricultural land in the county has been converted to other uses since the mid-1980s.
Hassanein would use the proceeds of the sale to invest in the infrastructure for 12 climate-smart homes on the remaining 2 acres that have poor soil. The homes would be priced in the attainable price range, according to Hassanein, and homeowners wouldn’t have to pay for the land underneath the home because the land would be in a Community Land Trust.
“I will form a steering committee to organize a housing cooperative, which reduces home costs, and I hope to include several subsidized units for low-income households,” Hassanein has said in the past. “There will also be a farm store and café that will enhance the economic viability of the farming operation and connect Missoulians to the food we all need to survive.”
Several city council members said they’d like to hear more about the housing project that’s planned, but there wasn’t enough time at the meeting for Hassanein to answer, so she said she’d respond by email.
The land would not be open to the public, Covington said, but he noted that some of the 2018 Open Space Bond funds are earmarked specifically for land acquisition and agricultural land protection, even if the public can’t access that land.
“The project also protects riparian areas, wildlife habitat, and part of the FEMA 100-year floodplain located on the north end of the agricultural land,” Covington said. “While public access is not currently part of the project, protection of agricultural land is an eligible use of Open Space Bond funds per Montana Code Annotated and constitutes a public benefit.”
He said that the Open Space Advisory Committee got letters of support from the project from nine local organizations and 17 individuals. There was only one letter of opposition from an individual.
City council member Gwen Jones said she’s supportive of the project because there’s “less and less” agricultural land on the valley floor and the housing project would help address a community need.
In 2018, voters in the county approved a $15 million open space bond, and the city and county will split that money. This project would come out of the city’s portion, even though the land is just outside city limits. Covington said of the city’s $7.5 million, $3.5 million was set aside for land acquisition and preservation. Of that $3.5 million, he said, about $1.5 million has been spent so far.
The committee voted unanimously to set a public hearing for Monday evening, June 10 on the matter, during a full city council meeting.
David Erickson is the business reporter for the Missoulian.
