Near Term Code Amendments: Complying with 2023 State Legislation

UPDATED 4/4/24

On March 25, 2024, the Missoula City Council held a public hearing on, and approved, an ordinance to adopt changes to Title 20 City Zoning Code and Title 16 Manufactured Housing and Mobile Home Parks. The City Council also approved an extension to the Round 1 Interim Zoning Urgency Ordinance, Title 20, for another 12 months.

During the public hearing the City Council amended the Round 2 Title 20 proposed package in three areas. First by increasing the maximum size of an ADU from the proposed 1,000 square feet to 1,200 square feet, second, the first-floor floor-to-floor minimum height for the vertical mixed use building type was set at 10’ rather than the proposed 11 feet 11 inches, and the shared parking section was amended to expand the use of the ULI (Urban Land Institute’s) methodology. No changes were made to Title 16, the interim Conditional Use Ordinance, or Round 1 Interim Zoning Urgency Ordinance.

All changes will be codified and placed in the appropriate sections on the City’s web page under City Laws. Adopted changes for the Round 2 Amendments, Title 20 and Title 16, will be in effect April 25, 2024, and the Round 1 Interim Zoning Urgency Ordinance extension is in effect immediately.

Near Term Code Amendments Phased Approach

• ROUND 1 AMENDMENTS:
  • ZONING CODE & SUBDIVISION REGULATION AMENDMENTS
    Concluded. Last Fall, the City of Missoula responded quickly and passed the first round of changes addressing state bills that were effective October 1, 2023. These included changes to the City Subdivision Regulations and the Title 20 Zoning Code. For more information, please refer to the Round 1: City Subdivision Regulation Amendments and Round 1: Interim Zoning Urgency Ordinance (with 12-month extension) newsfeed items below as well as the Round 1 folder under Materials in the sidebar.
  • EXTENSION OF THE INTERIM ZONING URGENCY ORDINANCE
    Now, the City is proposing a 12-month extension to the Interim Zoning Urgency Ordinance. For more information, please refer to the Round 1: Interim Zoning Urgency Ordinance (with 12-month extension) newsfeed items below as well as the Round 1 folder under Materials in the sidebar.
    
• ROUND 2 AMENDMENTS:
  
  • ZONING CODE : The City is requesting comment for a 2nd Round of near term zoning code amendments, updates to Title 20: City Zoning Code. As originally designed, this round included further changes to Title 20 to address state bills with a deadline of January 1, 2024, including Senate Bill 323, known as the duplex bill, and Senate Bill 528, known as the ADU bill. This second round of changes was also set to include minor, targeted amendments that will improve on the efficiency of the development review process and better implement our existing policy. For more information, please refer to the Round 2: Code Amendments newsfeed item below as well as the Round 2 folder under Materials in the sidebar.
    • Because of a District Court Injunction, the amendments related to SB 323 and SB 528 are no longer applicable. However, certain amendments, like those concerning a new maximum area for accessory dwelling units, remain unaffected by the injunction. For more information, please refer to the Court Injunction on SB 323 + SB 528 newsfeed item below.
      
  • ADOPTION OF THE INTERIM CONDITIONAL USE ORDINANCE
    The City is requesting comment on the permanent adoption of the Conditional Use Interim Ordinance that was adopted by City Council in November of 2022. For more information, please refer to the dedicated webpage for this project here.
    
  • ADOPTION OF AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 16
    The City is requesting comment on the updates to Title 16 (Manufactured Housing and Mobile Home Parks) in response to HB 246 in addition to changes that will clarify and update the title making it easier to use and understand. For more information, please refer to the Title 16: Code Amendments newsfeed item below as well as under Materials in the sidebar.

Key Dates

• CONCLUDED. March 5, 2024: Planning Board consideration & recommendation of Round 2 Title 20 code amendments, including interim conditional use adoption.
  (Link to meeting)
• CONCLUDED. March 13, 2024: Land Use & Planning Committee and Public Works Committee meeting: Consideration of Round 2 near term code amendments.
  (Link to meeting)
• March 25, 2024: City Council consideration & adoption of Round 2 near term code amendments.
  (Link to meeting)
  
  

How this relates to the 2023 Montana State Legislative Session

The 2023 Montana State Legislative Session passed a variety of land-use related bills, including a comprehensive re-write of the Montana Land Use Planning Act. This effort is largely due to the ongoing housing crisis which is being compounded by materials, labor, land and financing costs and lengthy development review schedules. To invoke change at an even more rapid pace, the legislature assigned immediate or late-2023 effective dates to several of the bills passed. In response, the City identified a phased approach to identifying and adopting amendments to local codes to comply with State mandates.

How this relates to the Our Missoula: Code Reform & Growth Policy Update

The Our Missoula project is an extensive multi-year project that will work with the community to update Missoula's vision for future growth and to modernize the development regulations, one of our key tools for achieving this vision. Starting this spring, we will be gaining input from our community on how to best accomplish equitable increased density and ensure that the growth policy and development regulations supports that outcome. The end result of the project will be a new innovative and equitable unified development code that is adopted by early 2025.