BILLINGS — The Billings City Council gave developers the green light to build the long-debated 55-acre Barber Farms subdivision on the city's West End.
The high-density housing development will include single-family homes and 360 rental housing units along Central Avenue between 44th and 45th streets west.
Back in November, the city council said no to an earlier version of the project.
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"The developer came and said, I wanted to build a property and with housing and the roads and whatever. And after awhile, he got the drift that the council... didn't like it. So he actually pulled it away and went, I'll come back another time. So he came back," Billings City Councilman Mike Boyett said Tuesday.
Boyett said the revised plan makes the development work.
"That allows for single-family homes around the perimeter of the property so that they match the property surrounding it. I think that was a win also," Boyett said.
Neighboring homeowner Steve Zabawa said he is against the project, arguing the location is not compatible. Surrounding neighborhoods started a petition to stop the plan.
"We were able to get 85 percent of the people that could actually protest within 150 foot on all four sides of this piece of property, and they signed up to protest it, which is very highly unlikely," Zabawa said.
"All home ownership, and they want to drop 360 rental units in the middle of our homeowners here, and we just don't think it's the right place," Zabawa said. "You're dropping a whole town in the middle of here, and it's a rental property on the low end, and we feel it's not compatible at all."
Taylor Kasperick with Performance Engineering, the developer, said the project will be built out over time.
"After further coordination with staff, this project will be built out over 10 to 12 years, meaning that the potential impact of this project will be seen over time... not all at once," Kasperick said.
In a letter sent to the mayor and city council members, the owners of the land wrote that Billings needs more affordable housing and the proposed plan for Barber Farms Subdivision provides that.
Boyett said growth in the area is inevitable.
"The state of Montana is requiring that we increase the 20,000 units in Billings in 20 years. That's our mandate," Boyett said.
