Contacts - Building From The Best
Diane Snyder
Director - Northern Rockies Regional Program
406-587-7331, x.3010
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Kathy Borgen champions causes that help protect, care for, and nurture a love of our planet. She is also passionate about the work of the Institute
Building from the Best Northern Rockies
Building from the Best of the Northern Rockies
Visionary architects and developers are designing and building a new West that honors the region’s traditional designs and patterns of growth. They are incorporating energy efficiency and environmentally friendly materials. They are creating walkable, affordable communities where stores and homes are in proximity, and where the community itself can participate in the planning of these projects.
In 2007 the Institute published “Building from the Best of the Northern Rockies,” culminating a two-year effort with a team of planners, developers, architects and citizens to identify “best development practices” that enhance communities and protect the environment. The book illustrates these practices and promotes an alternative vision for growth by featuring good, innovative urban and rural developments in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. It also suggests policy reforms that will remove barriers to applying best practices and provide incentives to implement them.
The Institute is promoting adoption of these best practices at rural design workshops where county commissioners, planning board members, developers and other land-use decision-makers learn how to create communities that are great places to live and conserve natural values like open space and wildlife habitat. Respected architects and builders help participants draw up plans for small town and rural developments.
Building from the Best salutes the talent and expertise of developers, designers, architects and planners who are committed to quality and sustainability and contribute to a vision of a West with healthy landscapes, resilient economies and vibrant communities.
Stories
Among the Best of the Northern Rockies
“Building from the Best of the Northern Rockies,” published in partnership with Montana State University, presents dozens of case studies in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho that demonstrate innovative ways for communities to grow and build without sacrificing their best natural, cultural and architectural assets. Below are excerpts from selected case studies in the book.
BODO - Front Street, downtown Boise, Idaho - This four-square-block revitalization project took a former brownfield site that included dilapidated buildings and numerous storage tanks and transformed the neighborhood into a regional destination with uses and amenities that foster pride of place in downtown Boise. The developer opened an abandoned public street and enhanced it with street trees, benches, celebratory signage, new lighting and decorative paving to improve the district. New amenities include a nine-screen movie theater, restaurants, a 186-room motel, offices and retail stores, as well as a 360-space parking garage. All were integrated into existing structures and appropriately scaled to ensure preservation of historic character.
Developer/Owner: Brix and Company
Butte Community Trail, Butte, Montana - This 20-mile trail system was conceived by the community with the goal of creating a public amenity through mine remediation. As part of the larger economic development plan and reclamation strategy, the trails meander through Butte, along Silverbow Creek and to the nearby community of Rocker. The converted rail corridor has paved and graveled trails with interpretive signs documenting historical sites and reclamation projects. By linking a constellation of historic sites throughout the city, the trails engage community members in their rich history and local character.
Developer/Owner: Butte-Silver Bow Local Government
Mountain Line Transfer Station, Missoula, Montana - The Missoula Urban Transportation District's primary goal is to contribute to s a seamless, safe convenient and accessible transportation system for the community. In addition, it wanted to create a transit system that is easy to use, cost effective and accessible to employment and other services. The Pine Street Transfer Station is located in the central business district with easy access to the Missoula County Courthouse, Missoula Police Station and Caras Park. With access limited to bus traffic, the station maximizes efficiency and cost effectiveness, and its inclusion of food services, magazine sales and a phone center helps promote community interaction and sense of place.
Developer/Owner: City of Missoula Redevelopment Agency
Architect: L'Heureux Page Warner
Contractor: Garden City Builders
Cedar Street Bridge, Sandpoint, Idaho - This project sought to replace an abandoned bridge over Sand Creek in downtown Sandpoint, Idaho, with an environmentally responsible, mixed use pedestrian shopping bridge. Inspired by the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Venice, Italy, the 70-foot wide shopping bridge contains 26,500 square feet of solar-heated retail space. After five years of work, the bridge became an instant landmark, bringing people to the downtown and pride to the community. The construction process used selective wood-harvesting to obtain heavy timber from dead trees found in stands across Montana, Idaho, and Washington. The bridge has an interior sun space enclosed by 4,500 SF of southern glazing, which in turn results in radiant-energy that in turn makes the concrete a passive heat battery in the winter.
Owner/Developer: Scott Glickenhaus
Architect: Jonathan Stoumen
Valley West on the outskirts of Bozeman, Montana is a 310-acre planned -unit development that was conceived to reflect the lot arrangements and street and block patterns of the city's historic neighborhoods. Lots are relatively small, narrow and served by alleys. Wetlands, watercourses and critical lands are integrated into an interconnected network of open space, parks and trails. The project demonstrates the best practice of including diverse housing types-apartments, row housing, condominiums, duplexes and single-family homes in the development.
Developer: Aspen Group
Planning/Architecture: Intrinsik
Engineer: Morrison-Maierle
McCauley Butte Master Plan, Missoula, Montana - The McCauley Butte subdivision less than nine percent of its 300-plus acres on the Bitterroot River for residential development. The 1.5 miles of wetland, riparian areas and hayfield adjacent to the river have been set aside from development, and a conservation easement gives up the development rights to McCauley Butte, preserving in perpetuity one of the community's most cherished views and wildlife habitats. More than 60 acres of the development remain in hay production, and a 300-animal sheep-grazing program works to mitigate noxious weeds.
Owner/Developer: Northern Lights Development, LLC.
Architect: MacArthur, Means and Wells Architects, P.C.
Planning: Professional Consultants Inc.
Orchard Gardens, Missoula, Montana - Orchard Gardens is a sustainable and affordable community that demonstrates the potential of green architecture to contribute to sense of place. Thirty-five housing units and a community barn surround the community gardens and a commons area. Metal roofs and industrial roof ventilators, in combination with vertical siding and the clustering of buildings, create an agricultural feel to the entire complex. All recyclable materials generated by the construction were identified and distributed.
Owner/Developer: homeWORD
Architect: MacArthur, Means and Wells Architects, P.C.
Contractor: McMahon Construction and Sirius Construction
Hebgen Basin Zoning District - Hebgen Basin Zoning District encompasses 13, 280 acres of ecologically rich habitat at the edge of Yellowstone National Park, In response to development proposed in the 1990's, community citizens came together to revise and update a comprehensive land use plan and zoning ordinance to help preserve the unique landscape. Working together for two years, the community designed a conservation-oriented land use plan and regulations to permanently protect important habitat.
Planning: Gallatin County Planning Department and Residents of Hebgen Basin
Facilitation: Sonoran Institute
Rocky Boy's Reservation Master Plan, Montana - Tribal leaders of the Chippewa Cree recognized that they needed a master plan to organize diverse yet noncompetitive land uses for their reservation's vast acreage, which supports a large population. Working with the architecture school at Montana State University, they created a plan that concentrates development in villages, each with its own character, while preserving and enhancing open grasslands, agricultural fields and mountains for cultural and recreational activities.
Planning and Design: The Community Design Center, School of Architecture