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In the news: The changes to the city’s zoning and subdivision regulations supported by the city council on Monday largely dealt with bringing the city into compliance with state law. Similar to Whitefish, the city will take a more in-depth look at the regulations toward the end of the year to fully implement policies from the new land use plan. “As part of MLUPA, we were required for subdivision rights and zoning regulations to comply with these policies that essentially changed the whole way we address subdivisions and zoning in the past,” Mulcahy said. “There was a series of bills that affected things like parking; single-family zones are now duplex zones; multifamily is now permitted in commercial zones; and mixed uses are allowed in commercial zones as a by-right, permitted use.” “In both instances, we primarily stuck to just implementing MLUPA and the 12 to 15 House bills and Senate bills that address land use planning in these documents,” he added. “So pretty much what is in front of you is just bringing these into compliance with MLUPA.” As the city crafts a system to keep its residents involved in the development process, staff Monday night also discussed the challenge of balancing public participation with the hard truths of the law. “The very clearly stated purpose of the law is to front-end load the public comment,” Justin Breck, the city’s contracted attorney, said. “That couldn’t be more clear and the Montana Supreme Court has said unequivocally this is complete and adequate public participation by any and all measure.” “They’ve litigated it plenty,” Breck added. “The state has been very clear. They even added another statute to supplement it and satisfy the court. Where it’s going to get litigation are cities that try to put back things and add more public comment and go contrary to what the law’s stated purpose. That’s where litigation will take place, and I’m quite sure those things will lose.”
Columbia Falls City Council Approves New Land Use Plan, Zoning and Subdivision Regulations DEQ Hears from Public on Flathead Lake Club Sanitary Facilities Farm Bankruptcies in Montana Spike Amid Economic Turmoil Flathead Warming Center Connects Record Number of Guests with Long-term Solutions Columbia Falls City Council Approves 421-Unit Residential Development on Former Aluminum Company Land Kalispell City Council Adopts New Public Participation Plan Opinion: Bigfork is Being Quietly Dismantled Whitefish pursuing grant for railroad overpass on East Second Street Kalispell City Council moves forward on housing board, development standards along Parkline trail Proposed development regulations near Glacier Park International Airport up for review by Flathead County Planning Board Flathead Valley cities feel financial strain of land use law Flathead County says it gets to appoint Planning Board members in lawsuit response Habitat for Humanity proposes 95-home development in North Kalispell Columbia Falls will hire in-house city attorney
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