Staff recommends the City Council conditionally approve the preliminary plat of Yellowstone Valley Subdivision, and adopt the Findings of Fact as presented in the staff report.

On March 3, 2025, Performance Engineering, on behalf of the City of Billings, applied for preliminary minor plat approval for Yellowstone Valley Subdivision. The proposed subdivision creates two lots. Lot 2 is for public, civic, and Institutional uses per P-2 zoning now designated for a portion of the property. Lot 1 will remain a City of Billings Park, Wilson Park. The subject property is generally located east of Riverside Road, north of Hannon Road and south of the sugar factory on State Avenue. The entire property was zoned P1 – Parks and Open Space but proposed Lot 2 received a zone change to P2- Public, Civic, and Institutional at the March 24, 2025, City Council meeting. P1 zoning is still in place on proposed Lot 1.

The City of Billings owns the property. Conditions of approval are meant to ensure the plat is recorded per local and state requirements. However, a Subdivision Improvement Agreement (SIA) is not provided with this plat as the City would not enter into an SIA with itself. Recording a Waiver of Right to Protest future SIDs is necessary, as it subjects any future property owners to the Waiver. A Waiver is attached to this memo to be executed at final plat approval. Legal staff advised the City may provide covenants and restrictions in the process of conveying the property in the future to Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter (YVAS), or any other future owner. The future conveyance documents would contain many of the same elements that a standard SIA would contain as far as improvement requirements for the future owner.

VARIANCES REQUESTED
No variances from the City Subdivision Regulations have been requested.

PROPOSED CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL
Pursuant to Section 76-3-608(4), MCA, the following conditions are recommended to reasonably minimize potential adverse impacts identified within the Findings of Fact.

1. To protect public health and safety and ensure correct infrastructure installation, proposed infrastructure will be approved by the Engineering Division and shall be installed in conformance with the design standards, specifications, rules and regulations of the City of Billings and Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
2. Minor changes may be made in the final documents, as requested by the Planning, Legal or Public Works Departments to clarify the documents and bring them into the standard acceptable format.
3. The final plat shall comply with all requirements of the City of Billings Subdivision regulations, rules, policies, and resolutions of the City of Billings, and the laws and Administrative Rules of the State of Montana.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

• Pre-application meeting December 12, 2024
• Preliminary plat application submitted to Planning Division on March 3, 2025
• The 35 working-day preliminary plat review period ended on April 21, 2025. However, since the City owns the property, it is able to complete the preliminary plat after this date. The Planning staff took some extra time to confer with Legal staff before finalizing this preliminary plat memo.
• Preliminary plat to City Council May 12, 2025

A public hearing is not scheduled for the City Council meeting; however, nearby property owners may attend the City Council meeting and speak at the Public Comment section of the agenda. 

In accordance with State law, the City Council has 35 working days to act upon minor preliminary plats. The 35 working day review period for the proposed plat ended on April 21, 2025. Since the City is the subdivider, it gave itself extra time to ensure Planning and Legal staff coordinated on the elements of the preliminary plat, bringing the plat to the City Council on May 12. State and City subdivision regulations also require that preliminary plats be reviewed using specific criteria, as stated within this report. The City Council may:

1. Approve;
2. Conditionally Approve; or
3. Deny the Preliminary Plat. Denial of the plat would be in direct conflict with the City Council's past actions to annex and rezone a portion of the property to facilitate a future animal shelter and animal clinic location for the community. 

This plat will have no fiscal impact on the City/County Planning Division. There may be impacts to the City budget for the process of platting the subdivision and preparing for a future conveyance of one of the lots to the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter, or another entity.

One of the purposes of the City’s subdivision review process is to identify potential negative effects of property being subdivided. Negative effects that are identified become the subdivider’s responsibility to mitigate.  Various City departments, private service/utility providers and the affected school district/s, have reviewed this application and provided input on effects and mitigation.  The Findings of Fact, which are presented as an attachment, discuss potential negative impacts of the subdivision and conditions of approval are recommended as measures to further mitigate any impacts. In this case, there were found to be minimal impacts from this proposed subdivision.