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I had the privilege of speaking on a housing panel at Governor Gianforte and the Montana Chamber's BIG SKY, BRIGHT FUTURE Economic Summit last week. Housing supply is a priority issue for the Billings Chamber and our members who have difficulty recruiting workforce and growing their business due to an undersupply of housing for workers. So we've been working locally and at the state level to address this challenge.
I was happy to share one of the successes from last legislative session that stands to have a significant impact on housing—Senate Bill 382, known as the Montana Land Use Planning Act. One of the most important features is a section requiring cities of a certain size to inventory and project their housing needs over the next 20 years. Once the total 20-year housing supply is determined, cities must configure their land use policies to accommodate the housing needed to address our housing affordability issues.
The City of Billings has budgeted funding and is scheduled to begin updating the growth plan to comply with the Montana Land Use Planning Act in 2024. In May, City Council also adopted their public participation plan, in accordance with the Montana Land Use Planning Act's section requiring a robust, transparent, and continuous public process. The public process will include publicly noticed meetings, making draft documents available, opportunities for written and verbal comments, and analysis of and response to public comments.
Another action City Council must take is to establish a planning commission, which will review and make recommendations to the local governing body regarding the development, adoption, amendment, review, and approval or denial of the following documents:
- the land use plan and future land use map
- zoning regulations and map
- subdivision regulations
- any other land use document the local gov designates
The new law provides a substantial amount of flexibility, allowing for multi-jurisdictional boards, consolidation or modification of existing planning and zoning boards, or starting entirely from scratch. Staff's recommendation to City Council tonight is to establish a temporary seven-member planning commission, tasked with overseeing the initial implementation of the Montana Land Use Planning Act, and then replacing commissioners with a fresh slate of citizens.
The seven members being recommended by City Staff are current volunteers on City and County Boards:
- Jim Ronquilo (Ward 1)
- Roger Gravgaard (Ward 2)
- Dennie Stephenson (Ward 3)
- John Staley (Ward 4)
- David Nordel (Ward 5)
- One City Zoning member
- One Board of Adjustment member
Pointing out the obvious, that's a lot of men...some with gray hair, some without any hair—shoutout to Roger! Even the Zoning Commission and Board of Adjustment are comprised entirely of men (myself included). Which isn't surprising since land use boards are typically comprised of men and workers employed in related industries like architecture and real estate, according to a study published by the Urban Institute in 2023.
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