A subdivision that has been on and off the drawing board since 2011 is moving forward again north of East Helena.
The Lewis and Clark County Commission has granted preliminary plat approval to Grey Rock, a 33-lot subdivision at the northeast corner of Canyon Ferry Road and Valley Drive, the East Helena Monitor reported Oct. 14. The commission's Sept. 1 minutes show the vote was 3-0. The application, from Grey Rock Development Co. and Brad Moe, had been tabled at an Aug. 20 meeting.
"They are planning to construct 31 single-family residential homes," county planner Lindsay Morgan said, according to the Monitor. One of the 33 lots already has a mobile home and garage on it, and another will hold a community wastewater treatment system. "They plan to build affordable stand-alone homes," Morgan said.
The commission also approved two variances. One lets a lot take access from Valley Drive instead of an internal subdivision road. The other lets the wastewater treatment lot go beyond the county's standard length-to-width ratio.
A 15-year road
Grey Rock first won preliminary plat approval in 2011, the Monitor reported. That approval was extended in 2014 and again in 2017 before it expired in 2020. The developer resubmitted in 2024, and the county repeatedly found the application incomplete or insufficient until the middle of this year.
That long history matters for water. Grey Rock's engineer, Tony Prothero, told the county planning board the project got its state Department of Environmental Quality approval before District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock, in October 2014, struck down a 1993 rule that had let residential subdivisions drill multiple wells without permits.
Because of that timing, the Monitor reported, the subdivision's wells aren't held to a combined 10 acre-feet limit. Instead, each multi-user well is limited to 10 acre-feet on its own. Grey Rock plans a mix of multi-home and single-home wells, and Prothero said the individual wells will likely use about 1.5 acre-feet for household use and irrigation. He said the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation had authorized all of the wells.
Supporters and skeptics
The approval drew mixed reactions from local candidates.
Dru Koester, the Libertarian candidate for Senate District 41, which includes the Grey Rock site, welcomed the project. "Something that would surely help the situation would be to increase the supply of houses to meet the demand," she wrote in an email to the Monitor. "Grey Rock Subdivision promises to do just that — give more homes to people in our area." Addressing worries about water in the closed Upper Missouri basin, she argued that residential use is a tiny share of the state's water use.
State Rep. Mary Ann Dunwell, whose district sits just south of the site, criticized the water arrangement. "I wish the commission had said no to approval unless the development connects to City water. It's not that far away," she wrote. She also questioned whether the homes would end up truly affordable.
The Monitor said it asked founder Brad Moe about design plans, expected home prices and a start date but hadn't heard back as of Oct. 14. No builder has been named.
A preliminary plat is not the finish line. Before Grey Rock can record a final plat and sell lots, the developer has to meet the county's conditions of approval and get state sign-off on the water and wastewater systems. After 15 years of approvals, extensions and resubmittals, nobody is promising a quick start, but the project is closer to construction than it has been in years.
Why it matters for Contractors
Thirty-one single-family homes on the edge of the Helena valley is a solid run of work if Grey Rock moves to construction. The first jobs will be underground: well drilling and pump work for the multi-home and single-home wells, a community wastewater treatment system, internal roads and utility runs. That means work for drillers, excavation and site contractors and wastewater specialists. After that come foundations, framing, roofing, plumbing, electrical and HVAC for the homes. If the developer sticks to its stated plan for affordable stand-alone homes, builders who can control costs will have an edge. With no start date announced, contractors interested in the project will have to wait and keep checking with the developer and the county.