The west side's 164-acre question

Morning. It's headed for 91 and sunny today, so squeeze it — Saturday finally breaks the heat with the first real thunderstorms in weeks. On tap: Tuesday the commission takes a last vote on 164 acres of west-side housing, the term-limit ballot fight we've followed all week is officially settled, and a failed berry crop has bears shopping the foothills for your garbage. Coffee up.

The commission takes final adoption Tuesday (Aug. 25) of the zoning for a 163.9-acre parcel off Baxter Lane, near where Cottonwood becomes Harper Puckett on the city's northwest edge. The plan zones the land a mix of R-5 (high-density, mixed-use) and R-3 (medium-density). For scale: it's the largest of three annexations on one night's agenda, and bigger than the other two put together several times over.

This is the growth debate in one parcel. Density on the edge is exactly what the city's plan asks for — more homes, closer to services, instead of another ring of sprawl — and it's exactly what nearby residents tend to fight, on traffic, wetlands, and the pace of it all. Final adoption is the second and last reading of the ordinance, so Tuesday is the night it's real or it isn't.

What's next: the meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 121 N. Rouse, with public comment on the record; the full agenda and packet are posted.

Baxter isn't the only growth item Tuesday — it's a whole night of it. The commission holds a work session on downtown building heights (item K.1): talk, no vote, on whether to change the maximum height in the B-3 core district and how tall buildings should step down where they meet lower-scale neighbors. That's the quiet fight that shapes every future skyline argument downtown, and this is the early, low-drama stage to weigh in.

Also up for final adoption on the same agenda: a small 1.17-acre annexation on Story Mill Road zoned R-1 low-density, and a 5.13-acre parcel on Maus Lane zoned M-1 light manufacturing. Four parcels, one Tuesday.

• The ballot fight we've tracked all week is over — for now. A district judge granted an injunction Wednesday keeping Reps. Llew Jones and Steve Fitzpatrick on the November ballot, and the Montana Supreme Court refused AG Knudsen's emergency bid to knock them off before Thursday's certification deadline, faulting him for waiting so long to raise it. Knudsen can still appeal; the names go to the printer either way.
• It's a rough year to be a bear: FWP is calling 2026 one of the worst on record for wild-berry failure — a late frost wrecked the huckleberry crop, driving bears to lower elevations. Hungry bears are working town for garbage, bird feeders, pet food and fruit trees — 250 black-bear calls in two months in the Missoula region alone. Bring the trash in and knock the fallen apples off the lawn.
• Fairy Lake Road, the Bridgers' most teeth-rattling approach, reopened this summer after a $2.5 million rebuild — fresh gravel, real drainage, reshaped shoulders. Your Subaru's oil pan sends its thanks.
• A wildfire that sparked southwest of Ennis on Monday pushed evacuation warnings onto nearby homes before crews held it to 12.5 acres and lifted the warnings by Tuesday midday. No injuries — a fast save on a nervous afternoon.

Mostly sunny and 91° Friday — then the pattern finally cracks: showers and thunderstorms roll in Saturday afternoon (high near 88) and hang around into the night, easing to spotty Sunday. It's the first real rain in weeks, so let the yard drink. Patchy smoke may sneak back Friday night, which is what that orange sunset will be.

MSU's Community Cat Walk fills downtown at 11am — the spirit march down Main that unofficially rings in the school year. Free, loud, and very blue-and-gold.

Friday (Aug. 21): Band of Drifters at the Murray Bar, listed for 9pm — honky-tonk to close out the last quiet Friday before campus wakes up.

Saturday (Aug. 22): Cannery District Summerfest, listed 3–8pm and free — live music, food and vendors in the old cannery blocks off Oak.

Saturday–Sunday (Aug. 22–23): The Bozeman Renaissance Festival returns to the fairgrounds, 10am–6pm ($18–$32), in its third year of turkey legs and chain mail.

Sunday (Aug. 23): Jacob Rountree & the Somethings at Bozeman Hot Springs, listed 7–10pm — folk rock you can hear from the soaking pools.

The Gallatin's down to about 413 cfs at Gallatin Gateway — late-August bones showing, water low and warm. Fish early: hot afternoons keep FWP's heat closures switching on and off all summer, so check the live restrictions map before you wade in. The upside riding in on Saturday's storms — cooler water and a small bump to the flow.

The town's about to refill. Roughly 4,700 students move into the MSU dorms Sunday and Monday (Aug. 23–24), and classes start Wednesday (Aug. 26). Translation: pad your timing on Kagy and 11th, and make peace with the espresso line south of Main for a while.

The commission takes the final vote Tuesday on turning 164 acres off Baxter into medium- and high-density housing. Room the valley badly needs, or too much too fast on the west edge? Reply with one sentence — add "print it" if we can share yours.