The commission had denied the project in January, 2014, citing concerns about fire department access, impact on the school district and traffic safety. In his decision, Judge Huss said the commission’s ruling “lacked substantial evidence” for the 54-acre property, but did instruct Gateway Village developer David Loseff to pay the school district $750 for each lot at the end of each phase, plus $23,740 for the cost of a failed 2015 levy.
Noting the subdivision would be high quality, Loseff told the bozemandailychronicle, “There is obviously a huge need in Big Sky where 80 percent of the workforce has to live outside the community because the area is landlocked and infrastructure constrained,” Loseff said. “But you also have a growing population in the information technology sector at Four Corners. We’re conveniently situated between both of them.”
Loseff had originally intended the property to contain 191 sites, but the judge limited it to 96 manufactured or modular homes. He also said Gateway must have 15 or fewer wells, and said the eastern edge must include 20-foot setbacks for the homes and be lined with eight-foot tall trees. The county’s insurer had agreed to pay the $650,000.
Big Sky is located less than an hour from Yellowstone National Park. ##
(Photo credit: Big Sky, Montana)
