Missoula UDC Adoption

In the NewsZoning Code Reform

Oct 9

Written by Dacie Doucette

Missoula Rewrites Its Zoning — Unanimously

Missoula’s City Council voted unanimously to adopt a new Unified Development Code (UDC) — one of the most significant zoning overhauls in the city’s history. Cascadia Partners supported the multi-year effort alongside Metta Urban Design.

The new code replaces use- and density-based zones with a form-based framework. Close-in single-family neighborhoods can now accommodate eight or more units per lot under a scaled floor area ratio (FAR) system. Minimum parking requirements are gone. The full range of middle housing types is permitted in all residential zones. Standalone residential is allowed in mixed-use zones.

A unanimous vote is a meaningful signal in any city. In Missoula — where housing pressure has been building for years and the politics of growth are complicated — it reflects the depth of the process that got the code to the finish line. Cascadia’s work spanned analytics, public engagement support, recommended standards, and code formatting.

Read the Sightline article →

This article was written by Dacie Doucette, founder of Hunch Theory Web Design & SEO, a Portland-based web design and digital marketing company.

The idea was simple: to help business owners take the guesswork out of web design and make their online presence something they’re genuinely excited about. I work closely with passionate business owners and community leaders, turning their vision into reality with sites that not only look great but also connect with their customers and help their businesses grow.

I bring a mix of marketing theory, intuition, and my creative touch to every project.

https://hunchtheory.com

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Spatial Planning + Placemaking

Conceptual planning, test-fits, streetscapes, and master plans that make places walkable, vibrant, and inclusive — with the design and economic analysis to show they can actually be built.

Visioning + Long-Range Planning

Comprehensive and general plans that frame alternative futures, surface trade-offs, and set a direction the community owns — not one it inherits from a process it didn’t trust.

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Growth modeling, fiscal impact analysis, and policy evaluation that let communities test alternative futures before committing — decisions made with eyes open to uncertainty, not in spite of it.

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Site feasibility, pro forma, public-private partnership structuring, and development strategy for public-sector clients navigating the gap between what a place could be and what the market will currently support.

Zoning Code Reform

Code audits, zoning updates, form-based codes, and design standards written for adoption and legal review — not just policy aspiration. Pro-forma-driven analysis that tests whether new standards produce the outcomes they promise.

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Housing needs analyses, production strategies, and middle-housing policy calibrated to local markets and state statutory requirements — so plans produce housing, not just goals.

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Urban forestry, parks and open space planning, climate action, and environmental equity analysis — treated as a land use problem alongside core planning practice, not as a separate sustainability track.

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1. Road-Tested Futures

We structure work around alternative futures rather than a single recommended path, stress-testing strategies against market, regulatory, and political conditions before clients commit. Scenario planning, feasibility analysis, and housing needs assessments form the analytic foundation — so decisions get made with eyes open to uncertainty, not in spite of it.

2. Visually Striking Storytelling

Sophisticated analysis is only useful if non-technical audiences can engage with it. We translate quantitative findings, policy choices, and design ideas into plain-language narratives, diagrams, and renderings that a council member, a property owner, or a neighbor can see, debate, and act on — without simplifying the substance underneath.

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Two convictions drive our practice: a plan only matters if it can be acted on, and planning works best when it’s grounded in a real place. Every plan, policy, and analysis we produce is anchored to specific places — drawing on local form, history, and patterns of use so ideas can be visualized, debated, refined, and built. Grounding the work spatially is what makes spatial planning more than a label.

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A plan is only as good as its adoption rate. We are clear-eyed about the financial, regulatory, and political obstacles to realizing equity and sustainability, and we build those conditions into the work from the start — pro forma stress-tests, code drafts written for legal review, strategies calibrated to what the market will actually support and build.