After making a number of changes to Project Recode, the Billings City Council passed the new zoning regulations in First Reading by a wide margin on Monday evening. Next Monday, the City Council will take up Project Recode in Second Reading at which time more changes are possible.
A proposed amendment to a regulation that is perceived as especially onerous by casino owners failed to be passed. The amendment would have reduced a 350 –foot distancing requirement for how far casinos must be located from the nearest residence, to 150 –feet. The new regulation immediately puts almost all 134 casino and bar owners in Billings out of compliance. Also left in place are regulations that will, over time, consolidate casinos into one or two areas of the city. Non-complying businesses are “grandfathered in” until they have to rebuild or remodel for some reason.
Questions about whether the city could “target” casinos in such a manner and whether it was legal was generally dismissed by city planners who pointed out that other cities have implemented similar regulations. City Council members who voted against the amendment said that regulations are being changed because they have been hearing for years from people who want them changed, because they don’t like living so close to casinos, but during the past weeks they had heard from only a few casino owners who objected.
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