<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0lcmp2_17Q4Xnpr00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0lcmp2_17Q4Xnpr00" width="920" height="610" ></figure>A large neighborhood built around parks and intended to be affordable for middle-class people is planned off Jackrabbit Lane and West Cameron Bridge Road in Belgrade.The neighborhood would be called The Foundry, offered by Bozeman-based Venture West Development, and would include about 556 attached and detached homes on lots less than 1/2-acre each, spread out over 36.186 acres.The largest homes may be 2,000 to 2,300 square feet, according to a recent presentation from the project team to city officials. Many of the homes would be smaller for affordability and profitability, team members indicated. “The average working-class resident of Belgrade cannot afford to buy what is currently being built and what is being sold,” said project team member Chris Fernandez, of DAHLIN Architecture Planning Interiors. “It's either apartments or townhomes or $750,000 up to $1,000,000, and so what we're trying to do with this ... is change that paradigm.”More information about housing sizes will be available at a later date, as the development team is revising those.The homes also would be smaller in order to provide a product that’s in short supply – homes sized for the increasing number of two-person households and households with one or no children, Fernandez added.One way the development would be beautified is that home faces would be showcased and garages mostly tucked away when possible.The homes would come in a variety of shapes and orientations – nine housing typologies are planned, according to the project team. For example, there are attached townhomes with garages accessible via alleys; duet alley-loaded homes; alley-loaded cottages; cottages without garages; narrow, alley-loaded homes; wide-shallow, front-loaded homes; standard front-loaded homes; and standard front-loaded zipper homes.The project also calls for 8.15 acres of parkland that would be dedicated to the city. The developer plans to invest $3 million in park improvements before dedicating the land to the city. There would also be about 8.5 acres of open space owned by the HOA.Much of the parkland in the proposed development would be elongated so it’s visible from many people’s homes.“[We’re] starting with open space, starting with our parks and building a neighborhood from there,” said Troy Scherer, an architect on the project, speaking during the city planning board’s last meeting.A long park in the south of the development would be geared toward younger people and families with children. It would include a parking lot so parents could easily get their kids there, Scherer said. This area also would include athletic fields to the west, a dog park to the east, and a large shelter in the middle for gatherings.An elongated park further north, in the central east-west corridor, would be geared toward older adults and older children, he said.“There's a couple of shade pavilions, a larger older-kids playground, and then [we’re] building in a lot of room for future amenities,” Scherer said.There’s plenty of space there for a concert venue, food truck court, or other amenities, he said.A trail would be built around the perimeter of the neighborhood and loop inside; that would total about 2 miles of continuous trail, according to Todd Waller, principal of Venture West Development. Waller said integrating parks and associated walking trails is a way to encourage people to be physically active.“So it creates a true neighborhood for families and for individuals in different stages of life,” he said. “It focuses on trails, walkability to amenities, and outdoor living.”Parkland would be featured prominently at the entrances to the neighborhood. More than half of the main east-west thoroughfare, Foundry Way, would be fronted by parkland.“Your main entrance to your neighborhood is about three-fifths parkland,” Scherer said.” So your experience of entering in is houses set back from the road, playgrounds, open space, a climbing boulder – an experience of a place that isn’t slammed to the back of the sidewalk.”Two-thirds of the southernmost street’s frontage will be parkland, he said.“We intentionally set up this experience of entering this neighborhood and arriving home,” Scherer said. “I always think about that every time I present a project. What's it like to come home? What's it like to arrive?”The two major north-south roads would be bordered by 50% open space.“So, one side of those roads is almost completely open space, north-south,” Scherer said. “So again, that street section feels wider, it feels more open, it feels more comfortable.”A 30-foot buffer that includes a trail network is planned for the neighborhood’s western and northern boundaries, he added.There is a 5.266-acre lot in the development’s southeast the developer called “a placeholder,” that is tentatively planned to include 138 apartments. Waller told city councilmembers earlier this month that the market is oversaturated with apartments at the moment, so it could be years before apartments might be built there.The project calls for about 17.587 acres of commercial space – three to eight lots. The commercial area is intended to bookend the residential area to enhance walkability. Waller envisions eateries and artisans’ shops and said a Gallatin County distillery is interested in having a presence there.“Let’s create an environment where people can walk to, spend a day,” Waller said.The development is proposed to have an internal road network dedicated to the city, city-provided water/sewer service, and alleyways that would be owned by the HOA. Trash would be hauled to Logan Landfill.A traffic impact study; environmental assessment; fire protection plan; covenants, bylaws, &amp; articles of incorporation; and more are available at https://tinyurl.com/5bc6tpef.In order to make the master-planned community conform to local zoning law, the city is in the midst of adopting an ordinance to create a new zoning district with the applicable allowances for setbacks, heights, reduced parking, smaller single-family lots, and more. The city planning board has advised the council to move forward with the new zoning district.On Dec. 1, city councilmembers voted unanimously for the zoning district ordinance in the first of two readings. The second reading might occur next month.The council set a public hearing on the project for the council’s Jan. 5, 2026, meeting.</div></body>

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A large neighborhood built around parks and intended to be affordable for middle-class people is planned off Jackrabbit Lane and West Cameron Bridge Road in Belgrade. The neighborhood would be called The Foundry, offered by Bozeman-based Venture West Development, and would include about 556 attached and detached homes on lots less than 1/2-acre each, spread out over 36.186 acres.

Developer plans 556 homes off Jackrabbit Lane

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A large neighborhood built around parks and intended to be affordable for middle-class people is planned off Jackrabbit Lane and West Cameron Bridge Road i

Developer plans 556 homes off Jackrabbit Lane

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