No formal action is needed as this is an information item. If City Council has any concerns or suggestions on the direction staff is taking with the process, providing input at this meeting will help staff with next steps.

The Montana Land Use Planning Act (LUPA) was passed by the Montana Legislature in 2023 and is aimed at fostering the well-being of Montana's residents by implementing comprehensive land use planning (See Senate Bill 382 attached). The Act emphasizes coordinated and planned growth to ensure adequate housing, public services, and infrastructure. The legislation underscores the importance of broad public participation in the development, adoption, and amendment of land use plans, zoning regulations, and subdivision regulations. The intent is to create a framework that facilitates data collection, analysis, and inclusive decision-making to guide development in alignment with the overall land use plan, ensuring the protection of citizens, property, and the environment.

Billings Planning Division staff has been working since mid 2023 to become familiar with the new law, communicate with other cities in Montana that also are subject to the new law, develop a scope of work that would include consultant support to implement the new law, and begin preparing elements of the law, like a public participation plan. There has been some high level discussion with City Council about the new law at a few meetings, but nothing in depth. It is important to note that staff does not have all the answers to this process even after extensive work and planning to launch the effort. There are still unknowns and issues we will have to work out as we move forward. Since the law was passed, a lawsuit also has been filed to challenge it and the Legislature has been monitoring the implementation efforts of communities across the state to understand the challenges and strategies being implemented to carry it out.

Staff at this Work Session is presenting an overview of the new law and also next steps it and the City Council must take to begin active implementation. The current deadline to operate under the new law is May 2026. Staff has provided a detailed presentation (attached to this memo) to walk the City Council through the background and initial steps to launch implementation in the next month. This is just the beginning of a multi-year process that the City Council, staff and the community will be involved in.

Please note that the presentation attached references Sections of the new law (Senate Bill 382 attached) so that Council is able to see where the various implementation elements are coming from out of the law. For example, Section 5 noted on slide 5 of the presentation is referring to Section 5 of SB 382 that describes what communities the law applies to. This is done throughout the presentation.
 

The implementation of the Montana Land Use Planning Act will ultimately affect the entire Billings community at some level. However, this informational presentation is to provide the City Council with the staff plan to implement the new law and understand the steps and process involved to move ahead with action steps. Public input may be received at this meeting, but the real public engagement for this process comes as implementation starts.

There are no specific alternatives for this item as it is a new state law that Billings must eventually put in place. For this Work Session, this item is for information only.

The City Council budgeted $200,000 in FY24 to fund implementation of the Montana Land Use Planning Act. Staff also recently applied for an additional MT Department of Commerce grant for $30,000 to further supplement this effort. While the City resources for this effort appear to be adequate for this multi-year implementation, staff expects that when it puts out the RFP for consultant services to help with implementation it will have a sense of the overall budget to complete this work. The City also is moving ahead with the West Billings Neighborhood Plan and Heights Neighborhood Plan updates and also has integrated elements of the Montana Land Use Planning Act requirements into those projects to be proactive and strategic about the deliverables and implementation for the larger effort, especially in areas of land use, housing and public participation.