Buildings, Land Use, & Transportation

Implementation has begun for the strategies in the Buildings, Land Use, and Transportation sector.
Visit the Buildings, Land Use, and Transportation Working Group page for more information!

Given the buildings, land use, and transportation sector's vulnerabilities, we have developed the following goals and strategies.
Goals are presented in bold with their corresponding action items below it.

Balance competing land use needs in the context of population growth.

Consider, and ultimately incorporate, climate migration in population growth projections in growth policy and other planning efforts.
Ensure that city and county land use plans adequately protect habitat, open space, and agricultural land.
Encourage urban gardens and small-scale agriculture to preserve the ability to grow food in Missoula County.
Protect strategically important private lands with conservation easements and acquisition.

Reduce cooling costs by increasing efficiency of building stock.

Develop programs to implement and incentivize more energy efficient building practices (new and retrofits) that are accessible to all socio-economic groups, including weatherization and cool roofs.
Develop an educational campaign to increase consumers' energy efficiency, with a focus on cooling.

Reduce vulnerability of buildings to wildfire.

Adopt regulations and programs to address the home ignition zone (structure and surroundings), such as neighborhood ambassadors, Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) building codes, WUI zoning codes, and WUI standards in building, zoning, and subdivision codes.
Restrict and regulate new development in high wildfire hazard areas.
Levy impact fees and/or use other funding sources to fund fire protection related infrastructure (fire trucks, hydrants, responders, etc.)

Reduce development in the floodplain.

Prevent or restrict new development in the floodplain.
Work with federal partners on education and buy-out programs in floodplain areas where there is a history of repetitive loss.
Enhance FEMA floodplain maps with climate change projections to be used for local regulatory and educational purposes.

Address urban heat island effect and maintain and grow healthy, diverse urban forests that account for social equity considerations.

Create incentives and programs to decrease urban heat island effect, for example through building siting, shade and vegetation.
Develop and promote an educational campaign to build shared understanding of value of urban forests and encourage planting appropriate species, watering, and care.
Develop and promote an educational campaign to build a shared understanding of the importance of xeriscaping.

Ensure sustainable transportation options are part of land use planning and development.

Support land use regulations and incentives that encourage densities and mixes of uses that allow for and support a wide range of sustainable transportation options.
Pursue policies and prioritize funding to achieve transportation mode split goals in the Long Range Transportation Plan, considering population growth projections.
Strengthen public transit system to provide safe travel during heat and/or smoke events.
Pursue complete street policies and programming that incorporates urban forestry and stormwater management.

Do you prefer to think about strategies in terms of which climate impacts they respond to?

You can sort all buildings, land use, and transportation strategies by related climate impact below, as well as whether they have a mitigation benefit or strengthen resiliency in a different sector as well as buildings, land use, and transportation.