“Slow down” is the general message that the Billings City Council is receiving from local builders who see problems in Project Recode’s revised zoning regulations. The three and half year rewrite of the codes is now being considered by the City Council. A different set of codes is also being considered by Yellowstone County Commissioners.
The county already approved revised landscaping codes over three years ago, following an attempt by the planning department to impose onerous landscaping requirements on one business which in turn threatened a lawsuit against the county. That situation prompted the county to separate their zoning enforcement from that of the city, and, they reviewed all the regulations, explained Commissioner John Ostlund, who served on the county’s Project Recode committee.
The county’s proposed codes were presented at a meeting a couple of weeks ago. The commissioners tabled them to allow time for review, including scrutiny by their legal department, said Ostlund. So far they have received no objections from citizens to the proposed codes, he said.
Ostlund said that he believes, “Regulations don’t have to be punitive to have nice development.”
The City and the County operate under different codes because the issues faced by each are different, said Ostlund. Also, when the city and county were under the same codes the county found it very difficult to implement any changes.
“The city has so much more to deal with,” explained Ostlund, “such as high density housing and mother- in-law apartments.” The county’s codes are fewer and simpler and grant more latitude to the property owners. There are actually few areas in the county that are zoned. Properties outside zoned areas have no development regulations except those imposed by the state, which are limited.
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