Missoula County began operating Larchmont Golf Course in 1987. The county commissioners appoint the nine-member Larchmont Board of Directors, which advises the commissioners on matters related to the course. One commissioner also sits on the board.* The board also advises Summit Golf Course Management, which Missoula County contracts with to manage daily operations for the course. Ultimate authority over the golf course remains with the county commissioners. 

^{*Juanita Vero is the current commissioner board member; she abstained from the board vote on whether to support the proposal and did not contribute to the board’s letter to the commissioners regarding the proposal.}  

At a Dec. 16 public meeting, Economic and Lands Development Director Emily Brock presented a workplan and budget documenting the steps that would be necessary to pursue the proposal, the first of which would be to perform due diligence to determine if there are any “fatal flaws” – any legal, financial or geographical elements that would preclude development of Larchmont altogether.

Following public comment and discussion, the commissioners ultimately declined to pursue the “fatal flaw” process, and the County will not further pursue the proposal at this point. The commission instead directed Brock to move forward with an already planned analysis of county properties to determine whether there’s opportunity to divest any properties for affordable housing or other public benefit. Following this process, the County could revisit the proposal in the future if Larchmont were to emerge as an ideal potential property that would provide more benefit to the public if divested.

Members of the public can always submit comment by emailing bcc@missoulacounty.us or by calling 406-258-4877. 

In 2021, Larchmont had a net profit of $264,393, with approximately $112,000 of that going toward Missoula County’s general fund. Except for fiscal year 2019,* Larchmont has turned a profit each year over the past decade. The County receives a percentage of the net profits each year, which goes into the County’s general fund. The golf course is not subsidized by tax dollars or any other revenue stream.  

^{*The FY 2019 loss, indicated as $21,175 on Page 23 of the 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, was due to a year-end audit adjustment to the capital asset inventory category. The County still received $84,633 of the golf course’s net profits that year. The County was able to take that share of the profits, because the golf course had a large enough cash balance from previous profitable years to cover the deficit resulting from the year-end audit adjustment.} 

The proposal states that the development would provide a range of housing options and approximately 2,000 housing units, including: 

• 800+ attainable* single-family primary owner homes designated for residents of Missoula, utilizing Community Land Trust (CLT) model for permanent affordability  

^{*“Attainable” is defined by spending no more than 30% of monthly income on housing, i.e., if your monthly income is $4,000, you should spend no more than $1,200 on housing per month.} 

• 300-400 permanently affordable multi-family homes targeting residents who make less than 80% of area median income.*  

^{*In 2020, 80% of the median income was $56,700. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)} 

• 300 apartment homes targeting the senior living demographic