The City County Planning Department’s work plan for 2022 continues many of the same projects as 2021 with very few changes, according to Scott Walker, who presented the plan to County Commissioners on Tuesday.
The priorities in the plan include conducting the second Safe Routes to School study, the continuation of the Billings Bypass, the 5th Avenue Study, the Community Safety Plan, continuation of the downtown traffic study, completion of the bike scooter study, and updating the county growth policy.
The Planning Department does its work on a $2.6 million budget of which $1.7 million comes from the Federal Department of Highways (Planning), with $280,000 coming from the application and permit fees charged within the city and $155,000 in county fees. The department also receives revenue from a dedicated county levy in the amount of $523,000.
The plan, called the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) is required by the federal government for all cities that are large enough to qualify as Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO), which Billings does. It must be approved by the city and the county and the MPO, which in Billings and Yellowstone County is the Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC). The Montana Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Department are also part of the PCC and must approve the plan for the Billings Planning Department.
The city has already approved the plan, and it will be considered by the PCC on August 17.
The UPWP includes 2022 plans for the Billings Transit System, headed by Rusty Logan, which functions on an annual budget of $256,000, 80 percent of which comes from the federal government. That department’s goals include developing a transit development plan, planning on how to respond to COVID, research how technology will impact the future of the transit system, and developing a marketing plan.
