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Item 1.P.
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| City Council Regular | |
| Date: | 09/22/2025 |
| Title: | SBBURD - Resolution of Intent to Expand the District and Set Public Hearing Date |
| Presented by: | Wyeth Friday |
| Department: | Planning & Community Services |
| Presentation: | No |
| Legal Review: | Yes |
| Project Number: | NA |
RECOMMENDATION
City staff recommends the City Council adopt a resolution of intent to expand the boundaries of the South Billings Boulevard Urban Renewal District (SBBURD). The attached resolution declares the Council’s intention to modify the district, including tax increment authority, describes the property involved and the blighted conditions, sets a public hearing for October 27, 2025, and directs staff to make the necessary public notifications.
BACKGROUND (Consistency with Adopted Plans and Policies, if applicable)
The existing SBBURD boundary may be modified by ordinance in accordance with the procedure described in M.C.A. § 7-15-4221. City Council at its September 2, 2025 Work Session directed staff to move forward with the process to expand the SBBURD. The SBURA Board supports the expansion of the SBBURD by the City. Acting on a resolution of intent to expand the District is the first formal step for the City Council to move the process forward.
The District was formed and amended in 2008, the Urban Renewal Plan for the District was amended in 2019, and the District was expanded in 2021, adding 5 new properties to the boundary. While expanding urban renewal districts is not common, it is a tool available to communities under the urban renewal laws, and Billings has most recently used the tool in the SBBURD with a minor expansion in 2021. The process mirrors the process to create a district, with Council taking action on a resolution of intent to expand the District, updating the Urban Renewal Plan, notification of property owners both within the existing SBBURD boundary and the area to be included in the expansion, Planning Board review of expansion, legal notice of public hearing, and final Council action to expand the District.
Based on an analysis by City staff and Pioneer Technical Services completed in August 2025, it was found that properties within the proposed 903-acre expansion area (See Report with Map attached) have qualifying conditions per MCA 7-15-4202 and 7-15-4206 (2), that the area requires public infrastructure improvements, and the expansion area could benefit from program recommendations in the currently adopted SBBURD Urban Renewal Plan.
DETERMINATION OF BLIGHT
As described above, the proposed SBBURD Expansion area contains a number of underdeveloped properties and areas lacking complete infrastructure. The Council previously determined that the property included in the SBBURD was “blighted” in its adoption of Ordinance #08-5462, Ordinance #08-5484, Ordinance #19-5725, and Ordinance #21-5765 that (a) created the SBBURD originally, amended the urban renewal plan, and expanded the SBBURD. Deficiencies in public and private properties located in the district led to a determination of blight, as defined by state statute. As cited in the attached Review of Conditions that Contribute to Blight report completed in August 2025, the proposed expansion area meets several definitions of blight: Deficient Structures - buildings, street infrastructure, water and sewer infrastructure, stormwater infrastructure; Deficient Land Use - surface storage lots, vacant lots. The City desires to improve the quality of land use, city infrastructure and economic development potential of these properties by including them in the SBBURD to construct needed public infrastructure improvements, grow the tax base, stimulate commercial development, and further implement the visions of the SBBURD Urban Renewal Plan.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The District was formed and amended in 2008, the Urban Renewal Plan for the District was amended in 2019, and the District was expanded in 2021, adding 5 new properties to the boundary. While expanding urban renewal districts is not common, it is a tool available to communities under the urban renewal laws, and Billings has most recently used the tool in the SBBURD with a minor expansion in 2021. The process mirrors the process to create a district, with Council taking action on a resolution of intent to expand the District, updating the Urban Renewal Plan, notification of property owners both within the existing SBBURD boundary and the area to be included in the expansion, Planning Board review of expansion, legal notice of public hearing, and final Council action to expand the District.
Based on an analysis by City staff and Pioneer Technical Services completed in August 2025, it was found that properties within the proposed 903-acre expansion area (See Report with Map attached) have qualifying conditions per MCA 7-15-4202 and 7-15-4206 (2), that the area requires public infrastructure improvements, and the expansion area could benefit from program recommendations in the currently adopted SBBURD Urban Renewal Plan.
DETERMINATION OF BLIGHT
As described above, the proposed SBBURD Expansion area contains a number of underdeveloped properties and areas lacking complete infrastructure. The Council previously determined that the property included in the SBBURD was “blighted” in its adoption of Ordinance #08-5462, Ordinance #08-5484, Ordinance #19-5725, and Ordinance #21-5765 that (a) created the SBBURD originally, amended the urban renewal plan, and expanded the SBBURD. Deficiencies in public and private properties located in the district led to a determination of blight, as defined by state statute. As cited in the attached Review of Conditions that Contribute to Blight report completed in August 2025, the proposed expansion area meets several definitions of blight: Deficient Structures - buildings, street infrastructure, water and sewer infrastructure, stormwater infrastructure; Deficient Land Use - surface storage lots, vacant lots. The City desires to improve the quality of land use, city infrastructure and economic development potential of these properties by including them in the SBBURD to construct needed public infrastructure improvements, grow the tax base, stimulate commercial development, and further implement the visions of the SBBURD Urban Renewal Plan.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
- On September 2, 2025, the Council heard a presentation on expansion of the SBBURD and directed staff to move the process forward.
- On August 4 the South Billings Urban Renewal Association (SBURA) heard an update on the plans to expand the District.
- On October 9, a Community Information Meeting is scheduled to inform property owners in the SBBURD, in the proposed expansion area, and for the community in general of the plans to expand the District.
STAKEHOLDERS
The Billings community as a whole, property owners within the proposed expansion area and those within the current SBBURD are all stakeholders in this process. Additional significant stakeholders are Yellowstone County, Billings School District #2, and Elysian School District, all as taxing jurisdictions. City staff has been in contact with all of the taxing jurisdictions. So far, Yellowstone County has been the only jurisdiction that expressed a lack of support for the expansion of the SBBURD due to possible impacts to County property tax revenue during the life of the District. The Yellowstone County Commission was encouraged to provide written or spoken testimony as to its position on the expansion to the City Council at any time during this process. However, City staff told the Commission we would share the concerns with Council in the process.
The owners of the properties to be included in the expanded SBBURD area, those within the existing SBBURD, Yellowstone County, Billings School District #2, and Elysian School District will all be notified via postcard of the Community Information Meeting on October 9 and the Council Public Hearing on October 27. Notification of the public hearing by the City Council on October 27 will also be properly advertised in the Yellowstone County News.
The owners of the properties to be included in the expanded SBBURD area, those within the existing SBBURD, Yellowstone County, Billings School District #2, and Elysian School District will all be notified via postcard of the Community Information Meeting on October 9 and the Council Public Hearing on October 27. Notification of the public hearing by the City Council on October 27 will also be properly advertised in the Yellowstone County News.
ALTERNATIVES
City Council may:
- Not approve the resolution of intent to expand the SBBURD; or
FISCAL EFFECTS
The exact financial impact of modifying the SBBURD is unknown. There is some cost associated with the consultant help for City staff on the expansion process, which is estimated at about $25,000. However, the real benefit of this effort is the purpose of an urban renewal and tax increment district, which is for the public to invest in infrastructure and improvements to thereby encourage private investment that increases the taxable value in the District and leaves all taxing jurisdictions and the community better off in the future that they would have been if the District never existed. In other words, without the public investment, it is assumed the private investment would not occur, thus there is no “loss” of taxes from freezing the taxable value base because all taxing entities continue to collect taxes on the base value as it is today and, ultimately, realize an increase in revenue in the future.