Jefferson County and state officials appear to be making progress on resolving the future of the Montana Development Center’s remaining campus in Boulder – but there’s still a long road ahead before the facility can be put to new use.
At a meeting in Helena June 10, according to county and Boulder city representatives who participated, Sheila Hogan, director of the state Department of Public Health and Human Services, reported that a survey of the MDC property would be completed by June 30.
Besides revealing property lines, local officials say, the survey will make clear whether and how the multiple land parcels that comprise the campus can be sold or otherwise transferred to a new owner – critical information for the state as it considers its options for the property.
The parcels were deeded to the state at different times over the years by different grantors, under diverse terms, creating a complex patchwork of ownership by various state agencies. Parcels that are not state trust lands may be bound by restrictions, imposed by the original grantors, on their future ownership and application.
Jefferson County is interested in finding a new use for the facility, which provided services to people with developmental disabilities for more than 100 years but has been mostly shuttered by 2015 legislation. It has hired a consultant, Kristian Richardson of Whitehall, to assess potential uses, which may include services for military veterans. It has committed to sharing information on those prospects with state officials within the next few weeks, according to City Councilor Drew Dawson.
For its part, the state promised at the meeting in Helena to provide blueprints and historical operating expenses for the MDC facility that would help state and city officials determine which applications might be feasible, according to Tom Harrington, co-manager of the Jefferson Local Development Corporation.
But Hogan and Rebecca DeCamara, administrator of the state’s Developmental Services Division, warned that, even if the surveys reveal a clear path to transferring the property, actually doing so could take another 18 months, or until late 2020, according to local officials.
“[State officials] were very cooperative, and very interested in working with local government to work out solutions,” Dawson said. “But this is not a quick process.”
In part, Harrington said, that timeline is a function of the time it would take for the state Land Board, which operates within the Department of Natural Resources, to determine the disposition of trust lands on the MDC campus. A land trade in 2005 enabling the establishment of the Elkhorn Treatment Center, a chemical dependency treatment facility in Boulder, took eight to nine months, according to Harrington. Transfers of MDC properties could take longer, he said, because they would include buildings.
Complicating matters, Harrington said, the state would have to value and dispose of the furniture, equipment, fixtures, and other property currently filling the MDC buildings.
Meantime, the City of Boulder has submitted a proposal to continue providing public safety services to the MDC, which includes the Intensive Behavior Center, a short-term treatment facility for 12 individuals with intellectual disabilities. The current contract, under which the city receives $37,000 a year to provide police services and $5,000 for fire protection, expires on June 30. The city’s new proposal seeks to sustain current fees, according to Dawson.
