Planning staff recommends the Zoning Commission recommend approval of the zoning text amendments to the City Council and adopt the findings of the 10 review criteria.

In February 2021, the City Council adopted a new zoning code and zoning map for the entire city. The Council directed staff to continually monitor the new code to ensure the text of the regulations was working as intended and any corrections or housekeeping changes could be made. The Council also directed staff to monitor the implementation to consider any substantive changes to adjust the code, so it continues to provide support to the development goals of the adopted Growth Policy and general policies of Billings.

Planning staff brought forward a bundle of code corrections and amendments last year (June 2022). Those amendments were approved by the Council. Planning staff has been working on more substantive amendments to the code based on staff experience implementing the new code, information from professionals who use the code, and from the Council in its reviews of zoning applications. These substantive amendments include adjustments to the Neighborhood building and siting standards, the sign code, the Planned Neighborhood Development (PND) process, open space requirements for PNDs and multifamily developments, zoning at annexation as well as the right to rebuild residential structures in mixed-use and commercial zone districts. These adjustments are not indicators of a "broken" set of regulations. Just as a new car or truck has a break-in period, so do new codes and regulations. As a completely new code, the need to monitor for glitches or "pain points" is important. These adjustments are just part of breaking in a new code. Planning staff believes this set of amendments should be the last significant adjustments needed for a few years. Planning staff and the City Council should re-visit the zoning and other land development codes regularly and when a new Growth Policy is adopted.

The City Council took action to initiate these amendments for review, public hearings and adoption at its meeting on April 24. The City Council's action was to begin the process of public review and adoptions. The City Council will act on the specific amendments once the Zoning Commission provides a recommendation and once the Council holds a public hearing. The number of amendments requires these to be brought forward in phases. This first phase included changes to the Neighborhood Districts building and siting standards, the code section on fence materials and the sign code. The City Council took action on these first amendments at its May 22, Regular Business Meeting. The Council approved the first phase of the amendments on June 12. The Council then considered the second phase of amendments on July 24, after the Zoning Commission hearing and recommendations from July 11.

Planning staff has worked with several stakeholders over the last several months to craft the draft amendments. At the May 2, 2023, hearing on the first set of amendments, the Zoning Commission asked for the next two phases to include one discussion meeting and then a public hearing meeting. The discussion meeting is intended to provide the Zoning Commission the opportunity to better study the amendments and ask questions of staff and make suggested edits prior to the public hearing. This is the public hearing for the third phase amendments. This phase of amendments includes the following:

• Updates to Administrative Relief provisions Section 27-1614 – Provide uniformity between administrative relief provisions for all zone districts including incorporation of landscape and off-street parking relief provisions
• Landscape Plan clarifications for residential (one and two family) lots Section 27-1618 – Amend the administrative provisions for a Landscape Plan to clarify plans are not required with building permits for one or two-family dwellings on individual platted lots.
• Housekeeping amendments to correct errors, provide clarity and fix conflicts with cross-references in other city codes
• Special Review criteria Section 27-1623 – Amend this code section to allow the Council to require updates to existing sites or structures when considering a special review use. 
• Zoning at Annexation Section 27-1615 and 27-800 – Allow an administrative process to determine the most appropriate zone for smaller parcels with existing county zones identical to a city zone district, or when the most appropriate zone change process for a parcel of more than 10 acres is not the Planned Neighborhood Development (PND) in Section 27-800.
   

Administrative Relief
Section 27-1614 of the code allows Planning staff to grant minor relief from some code requirements such as setbacks, height, build-to-zone ranges, door and window requirements and other adjustments for new construction where a physical limitation exists that prevents an owner from following the code exactly. Administrative relief is intended to be a small adjustment to the code to fit existing circumstances. It is not a substitute for a formal variance and when a request exceeds the small amount allowed, a variance is required. Similar to variances, the Planning staff must find the request is to make an adjustment that maintains the intent of the requirement, does not adversely affect adjoining property and conditions may be applied to the approved request. The code has two additional "administrative relief" options that are not included in the process outlined in this section: Landscaping waivers and waivers of maximum (and minimum) off-street parking. The proposed draft amendment would allow all requests for administrative relief and waivers to be processed similarly ensuring there will be uniform application of criteria and standards. The draft ordinance is attached. 

Landscape Plan
Section 27-1618 of the Administrative Procedures section of the code specifies how and when landscape plans shall be submitted for approval. Typically, these plans are submitted along with a building permit, a master site plan, a zoning compliance permit (county), or special review application. The first set of housekeeping amendments in 2022, clarified the street frontage landscaping required for single and two-family lots in Section 27-1203. A similar clarification and amendment is required in Section 27-1618, to ensure conformity throughout the code related to landscape plans for residential developments. Unless the development of one or two-family homes is covered by a master site plan approval (unit ownership, condominiums, townhomes), landscape plans are not required. Each lot is still required to provide one street tree for each 40 feet of street frontage, but these are not required to be shown on a building permit or zoning compliance permit for lot development or re-development. There are also inconsistencies between Section 27-1200 and 27-1618 that will be resolved with this amendment. The draft ordinance is attached.

Housekeeping Amendments
Small corrections and adjustments are still coming to light as we work with and apply the new zoning code. These adjustments will bring more clarity and reduce confusion for builders, architects, engineers, lawyers and planners as we apply the code to new projects and buildings. These housekeeping amendments include changes to the zoning regulation as well as adjustments to other parts of the city code that have incorrect references to the zoning code. The draft ordinances are attached.

Special Review Criteria
Section 27-1623 includes criteria for decision makers including the types of issues or areas where conditions may be imposed. The current code does not specify that deficiencies in existing site development can be addressed through the special review process. For example, a site may have some but not all the required street frontage landscaping, the type of planting required for a buffer yard, less than the required off-street parking for the existing or proposed use, or a sign type or sign area that is nonconforming to the code. These deficiencies are not mentioned in the special review criteria, but improvements could have a beneficial or mitigating impact on the proposed special review use. The amendment will add language to the decision criteria so the Zoning Commission and Council can consider upgrades to existing sites for new uses requiring special review. The draft ordinance is attached.

Zoning at Annexation
Section 27-1615 and 27-800 govern how zoning is changed and applied at the time of annexation to the city. The City and County now only have a handful of zone districts that are identical - Heavy Commercial (CX), Light Industrial (I1) and Heavy Industrial (I2), and the Public zone districts (P1-3). Some properties close to the city limits also have other "urban" zone districts applied to match the existing development pattern such as Neighborhood Residential 1-3, Mixed Residential 1-3 and Mixed Use zone districts. All of these properties can be annexed with the existing zoning in place and do not require a change to the zoning. During the past two years, the city has also annexed parcels that are inappropriate to apply the Planned Neighborhood Development zone change process because of the size, location and intended use of the property. These properties include a 20-acre parcel added to the Billings Operations Center on Midland Road and a few others. There were other annexations that were required to submit a zone change application even though the city zone district choice was obvious - an annexation of an N4 County zoned parcel surrounded by N3 City zoning. These situations are not uncommon. The current code does not consider these situations. The proposed amendment will set parameters when a zone change application is not required, when a landowner may choose to not go through the PND process, and what happens when an annexation is approved, but the zoning is not. The draft ordinance is attached.
 

Planning staff published a legal ad, posted the final draft ordinances to the city's webpage and is contacting the stakeholders groups with the time, date and location of the public hearing. Planning staff has not received any comments in writing or by phone call from interested persons.

The Zoning Commission may take one of the following actions:

• Recommend approval and adoption of the findings of the ten review criteria for all or some of the amendments included in Zone Change 1034; or,
• Recommend approval with specific changes to the one or more of the draft ordinances included in Zone Change 1034; or
• Recommend denial for one or more of the ordinances included and adopt different findings of the ten review criteria for those ordinances included in Zone Change 1034; or,
• Delay action on the zone change for up to 30 days.

In case of a tie vote on the text amendment zone change, the application will be delayed for 30 days until the next Zoning Commission meeting. The Zoning Commission must forward a recommendation with findings to the City Council.

Adoption of code amendments may affect the Planning Division budget. Municode is the official codification company for Billings. Every amendment to the code has a fee that has usually been assessed and paid for by a Department or Division. However, the City Code is not particular to one Division or Department. It is utilized by many City staff and is designed to benefit and protect all City residents. It is appropriate and accurate for the cost sharing of codification costs for zoning code updates through the general fund.

Before making a recommendation to the City Council on the proposed Zoning Code Amendments, the City Zoning Commission shall consider the proposed findings of the ten review criteria.

1) Whether the new zoning is designed in accordance with the growth policy;
The proposed Zoning Amendments are consistent with the 2016 Billings Growth Policy Statement and Growth Guidelines:Growth Policy Statement: Growth Guidelines:

• Essential Investments (relating to public and private expenditures to public values)

• Place Making (enhance, maintain, preserve and improve existing public places):

• Community Fabric (attractive, aesthetically pleasing, uniquely Billings)

• Strong Neighborhoods (livable, safe, sociable and resilient neighborhoods)

• Home Base (healthy, safe and diverse housing options)

• Mobility and Access (transportation choices in places where goods and services are accessible to all)

• Prosperity (promoting equal opportunity and economic advancement)

Since the growth policy is a general guiding document that contemplates the overall vision and growth of the community, these amendments that better tailor the regulations to meet local needs are not contrary to the document. The code amendments address the parts of the code that have created challenges or are too general. These amendments will allow the code to be adjusted to meet the community goals and match the expectations of the City Council, community developers, neighborhood builders and citizens. The proposed code amendments will allow the city to better meet the needs of all its residents, businesses and visitors now and into the future. These amendments will integrate nicely into the existing a code, and when working as a whole, will meet the intent of the growth policy.

2) Whether the new zoning is designed to secure from fire and other dangers;
The zoning amendments will not change the code in a way that will create safety concerns related to fire and other dangers. Once integrated, these amendments will not prevent the code from providing adequate building separations and density limits to provide security from fire and other dangers. Considering the nature of these specific amendments, this criteria does not directly relate to most amendments, more specifically, do not relate to administrative relief actions, landscape plans, special review criteria or zoning at annexation. The alteration of the code still allows for appropriate setbacks and site requirements to ensure security of fire and other dangers.

3) Whether the new zoning will promote public health, public safety and general welfare;
Public health, public safety and the general welfare will be promoted by the proposed zoning code amendments and the existing code as a whole. These amendments do not drastically alter the originally adopted code which was found to have met the criteria for promoting public health, safety and general welfare. The proposed adjustments to the special review criteria to allow existing site developments to be improved to meet the new code, and zoning choices at annexations will help promote public health and safety by allowing appropriate conditions and options for approval. The amendments work in coordination with the code as a whole to ensure the minimum standards for health, safety and welfare are being met.

4) Whether the new zoning will facilitate the adequate provision of transportation, water, sewerage, schools, parks and other public requirements;
Transportation: The amendments proposed for phase three do not have any specific relationship to the transportation network or impacts related to transportation.
Water & Sewer: The proposed code amendments should have no effect on city water and sewer services as the amendments are not directly related to utilities like water and sewer.
Schools and Parks: Schools and parks should not be effected by these code amendments.
Public Safety Services: Public health and safety should be improved by the code amendments to allow future site improvements for special review uses, and eliminate cross-reference errors in traffic regulation and fire prevention codes.

5) Whether the new zoning will provide adequate light and air;
The proposed zoning code amendments, as does the current zoning, provides for sufficient setbacks to allow for adequate separation between structures and adequate light and air. The portions of the zoning code that pertain to adequate light and air are similar to criteria 2 and 3 which specify setback requirements, height requirements, and other siting requirements.The amendment that is most related to this criteria is the proposed amendment to Administrative Relief. The current code could allow a zero side or rear setback. It was not the intention of the code writers to allow this via administrative relief. An owner could still request this through a variance but not as an administrative process.

6) Whether the new zoning will effect motorized and non-motorized transportation;
The proposed zoning amendments will not directly effect motorized transportation. The proposed amendments may have a minor effect on non-motorized transportation. The amendment includes a housekeeping update to the city code on bicycles and in what districts it may be allowed to ride on a public sidewalk. The current code references cite old zone districts that no longer exist. The amendment specifcally replaces these old districts with the new districts.

7) Whether the new zoning will promote compatible urban growth;
The zoning amendments will promote compatibility with urban growth through adjustments to add certainty and flexibility, without compromising the intent of the new code. The zoning code as a whole, is compatible with the City's growth policy and vision for the community as it grows. These amendments should integrate nicely and continue to provide residents and builders with predictability.

8) Whether the new zoning considers the character of the district and the peculiar suitability of the property for particular uses;
All the amendments have been considered in a way that continues to carry out the intent of the zoning code as a whole and considers how administrative options, special review uses, and annexation options can provide certainty and integrate in existing built environments. Generally, these amendments are consistent with existing fabric of both commercial and residential neighborhoods. 

9) Whether the new zoning will conserve the value of buildings;
In general, the code amendments should conserve the value of buildings throughout the City and the amendments do not alter the code in a way that would decrease values.

10) Whether the new zoning will encourage the most appropriate use of land throughout the City of Billings.
The code amendments when working with the code as a whole encourage appropriate and compatible uses, design and siting of land in Billings.