The Planning Board and Staff recommends the City Council adopt the amended City Subdivision Regulations, as amended in the attached ordinance and per the summary of changes provided in this memo. The amended ordinance reflects both legislative changes and local changes provided by City Planning, Engineering, Parks and Fire Department staff. The City Council also provided some edits during its First Reading of the ordinance at its meeting on October 14. City Council voted to update the wording for road widths. This update is reflected on page 45 of the attached subdivision regulation ordinance (A track changes version of the changes is also available on page 52 of the Draft Subdivision Regulations attached to this memo).

The Planning staff, after consultation with other departments and divisions of the city, many meetings and listening sessions with the development community, and many meetings with the City Council is bringing forward the proposed updated subdivision regulations for the City of Billings (City).

The Planning Division has diligently worked on updating the subdivision regulations to incorporate recent state legislative amendments and to align them with new documents and policies within the city. In addition, staff is proposing general document updates, including electronic submission requirements.

During the last 10 months, staff have consulted with other divisions within the city. Those divisions include City Engineering, City Fire Department, City Police Department, City Parks, Transportation Planning and the Alternate Modes Coordinator, and Zoning Coordinator. Staff also has taken comment and made changes per public input from the development community, and made amendments per City Council suggested edits.

The new subdivision regulations have three main drivers for the update:
1. Changes required by State Statutes because of legislative changes/updates
2. Moving regulations from zoning to subdivision regulations for consistency and a single point of reference
3. Changes /additions to the subdivision regulations requested by City and County Departments.

• On February 13, 2024, staff made a presentation to developers and engineers for their input on the proposed subdivision update. That meeting was held in the Billings Library Community Room.
• On March 12, 2024, there was a discussion meeting with the Planning Board where further input from the board and members of the public was received.
• The Planning Board held a public hearing on March 26, 2024, at which time the Planning Board delayed the subdivision regulation updates 60 days so that further stakeholder input and clarification of the regulations could be provided to the Planning Board.
• During the delay, Planning Department, City Engineering, City Parks and County Public Works held two public meetings to further discuss the proposed updates and additions to the subdivision regulations on April 23 and May 7.
• On May 29, 2024, the Planning Board held another public hearing regarding the Subdivision Regulations Update. Member Dennie Stephenson motioned to recommend approval of the Subdivision Regulations Updates 2024. Member Jim Ronquillo seconded the motion. The Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend the Subdivision Regulations Update 2024 to the City Council (and County Regulations to the County Commissioners). 
• Planning Staff presented the City Subdivision Regulations to the City Council on June 3 and July 1 Work Sessions.
• On July 25, 2024, Mac Fogelsong sent an email to City Council regarding lighting and road width proposed to be in the Subdivision Regulations. During the August 5th City Council Work Session, these items were further discussed. 
• A public hearing was held on October 14, 2024. City Council voted to approve the Subdivision Regulations on an 8-3 vote with an update to the wording for road widths. This update is reflected on page 45 of the attached ordinance. City Council also directed staff to look at the term "property" in the road widths section of the regulations. City Legal, Planning, Fire and Engineering staff met and discussed this at length prior to resubmital of this memo for Second Reading. It was determined that it was better to reference City staff review of road width proposals per the proposed language in the regulations and not to try and define property as it is used throughout the subdivision regulations and is better to be left as is.
• A Second Reading of the proposed Subdivision Regulations will be held October 28th, 2024.

 

The public and other key stakeholders have had multiple opportunities to participate in the subdivision regulation amendment process. Here is a timeline of meetings from most recent provided below:

October 14 City Council Public Hearing and First Reading of Ordinance
Staff gave a brief overview of the proposed subdivision changes. Staff then moved on to the questions that had been brought up by City Council at the previous meeting of August 5, 2024. Those included lighting, road widths and Traffic Studies. Traffic studies were addressed as requested and there were no other questions about those. There were a couple of questions regarding road width and what was being proposed. A couple of edit recommendations were presented and those were acceptable to council members. The final item of discussion was street lighting. There were some questions to staff about timing of installation and could installation be delayed. Staff explained that the developer has an option to obtain final plat without installing all infrastructure using a financial guarantee for infrastructure installation. There were other questions about lighting and discussion of benefits of lighting in residential neighborhoods. There were a couple of edits requested by council members for further clarification in the subdivision regulations that will be presented at the second reading.

The public hearing was open, one member of the public stood in support of the proposed subdivision regulations, specifically the proposed requirement for lighting in residential neighborhoods. Another member of the public stood to speak about the proposed subdivision regulations and their opposition of the proposed lighting in residential neighborhoods.

A motion was made to approve the subdivision regulations with the minor wording additions proposed by council; the motion was seconded. There was some discussion about the proposed regulations and then a vote took place on the motion. The motion passed with 8 council members voting to approve the motion and 3 council members voting to deny the motion. The updated wording edits are reflected on page 45 of the attached ordinance. 

August 5 City Council Work Session 
Staff gave an overview of topics brought up at the July 1st Council Meeting: streetlights and street widths. Staff reviewed these topics showing alternates on how to address each issue. Mac Fogelsong reviewed how traffic and street issues had been addressed. Jamie Fender spoke about on-street parking and concerns about narrow street widths.  Neil Lawrence spoke about how narrow street widths affected the Police Department. Nate West spoke about CPTED lighting and how good lighting was one of the most effective crime deterrents. There was some general council questions and discussion.

July 1st City Council Work Session
Staff gave presentations in response to the discussion that took place at the June 3rd work session. Additional discussion brought up new questions concerning street widths, requiring street lighting, sidewalks, road widths, traffic studies and cul-de-sacs.  Items discussed within the July 1st City Council Work Session were outlined with staff recommendations in a memo sent to Council on July 25th. Staff will provide clarification, suggestions and answers to these items among others within the presentation on August 5th.

June 3rd City Council Work Session
A presentation was given to the City Council about the proposed updates to the subdivision regulations for the city. These proposed updates include new state legislative changes and updates to the subdivision regulations to remove old information, to clarify some existing language and procedures and to add new items which include some CPTED principles. Some items are for safety and more connected neighborhoods. During this meeting, Council's discussion centered around a few items, street design, street widths, sidewalks vs. trails, streetlights in residential neighborhoods, costs, details about types of lights meeting night sky standards. There were also questions about limiting Cul-de-sacs.  City Council asked for more information on what other communities in Montana are doing with lighting, cul-de-sacs and street widths. Also, more details on what costs are for different types of streetlights and different costs for different ways of installation of lights.

May 29th Planning Board Public Hearing 
The Planning Board held a meeting May 29th, after the 60-day delay they asked for in March, to discuss the proposed amended subdivision regulations. There were two people there that commented. One person spoke in favor of the proposed amendments to the subdivision regulations and stated that lighting in residential developments is a good step toward more safety and CPTED recommendations. The second person spoke positively about the amended subdivision regulations with the exception of lights being required in residential development. They felt it would add too much to the cost of lots. 

The community is directly affected by the changes proposed to the regulations. There are benefits to the community by increasing consistency of requirements, clarity, and some long-term development improvements for future subdivisions. Staff has communicated the proposed changes to the developers and firms that assist in development applications as these are the parties that operate and propose development under regulations. Ensuring good communication with these parties and understanding of proposed changes is important to ensure future development is consistent with the regulations. 

March 26th Planning Board Public Hearing Discussion
There was discussion regarding the cost of creating the street lighting infrastructure, which would be paid for by the developer.  The cost to maintain electricity for the lights is that of the homeowners via a Light District, which would be a percentage allocated to each homeowner. Another question that was asked was the type of lighting that would be required to be installed. The board discussed other potential costs for family transfers, parkland, and roads.

Public Comment at the March 26th Planning Board Public Hearing:
One individual, Doug Wilde, stated he owns a development company and said the costs to the developer are passed on to the homeowner. The city pays for lighting costs if associated with an arterial street, the state pays if it is a designated US Hwy.  Mr. Wilde also stated, if only a portion of an arterial street lies by a new subdivision, it would not make sense to have sporadic lighting.  This section should be taken out of the regulations entirely, according to Mr. Wilde. 

Staff stated that the board may make a recommendation to withdraw new language from the regulations that is not required by legislative updates or new processes.

Mr. Steve Simonson stated that owning a home is the cornerstone of building wealth.  Some regulation changes will increase housing costs and cause people to not be able to afford to purchase a home. Realtors and Home Builders are asking for more time to answer questions and consider changes being proposed.

The Planning Board made a motion to delay action on the proposed amended subdivision regulations for 60 days. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.

The other public input opportunities included:

• On March 12, the Planning Board held a discussion meeting about the proposed updated subdivision regulations. Staff gave a presentation to the Board going through each section of the regulations.
• A public hearing was held on March 26, 2024, at which time the Planning Board delayed the subdivision regulation updates 60 days.
• The Planning Department, Engineering and Parks have had three other public meetings to further discuss the proposed updates and additions to the subdivision regulations. Those meetings took place on February 13, April 23 and May 7. All three meetings were attended by members of the public. The main topics of discussion at the meetings was lighting required in residential subdivisions and park frontage/access requirements. The argument for lighting was that this item would add extra cost to the purchasers of land in the subdivision. The concerns about the park frontage issues was limiting design and street configurations. It was felt that residential lighting should not be required. One option mentioned was to have residential street lighting as an option but not required. There was one individual that felt street lighting would be a positive requirement. Residential street lighting would provide visibility and additional safety for neighborhoods.

The Council may:

• Approve of the regulations as amended and presented at second reading, or
• Approve the regulations with additional specific City Council amendments made at second reading; or
• Recommend denial of the regulations. Since the Council approved the regulation amendments on first reading, it would be inconsistent with past action to deny the regulations at this time.

Given that some of the changes are state-required legislative changes, it is important to make sure that they are recognized as different from local proposed amendments if proposed changes are made. The legislative changes need to be included in the amendments to align with state law.

There will be no fiscal effects on the Planning Division because of the Subdivision Regulation updates. Some amendments are expected to expedite further some subdivision processes, reducing some time for developments to be entitled and adding efficiency in this area.