Allison Mauck, senior consultant with Orion Planning and Design, and Julia Crane, planning director for Butte-Silver Bow County, presented a working draft of a new Butte-Silver Bow Zoning Ordinance to the Butte-Silver Bow Planning Board on June 26, opening a 30-day public comment period.

The draft replaces the existing zoning code with a 15-chapter ordinance that reorganizes district standards, consolidates use tables, introduces building- and development-type standards, and adds new chapters on landscaping, environmental design, enforcement and definitions. "We are excited to present the working draft of the Butte Silver Bow Zoning Ordinance," Crane said in her opening remarks.

Why it matters: The planning director and Orion emphasized that the rewrite is intended to implement the goals of the county's 2020 comprehensive plan by protecting historic character, guiding redevelopment, improving housing attainability, and aligning the zoning code with recent state statutory changes. "This code promotes safety, public welfare and convenience within Butte-Silver Bow" and will explicitly link to statutory requirements, Mauck said.

Key points from the presentation: Mauck said the ordinance reorganizes and modernizes the existing code into 15 chapters. Notable changes include: a chapter tying the code to statutory requirements and transition rules for projects already in process; a reworked Chapter 3 that renames and reorganizes zoning districts to align with adopted place types; a new Chapter 4 on building types and Chapter 11 on development types to regulate form and multi-structure sites; a consolidated use table in Chapter 5; expanded general regulations, parking and landscaping standards; updated sign rules to reflect content-neutral case law; and new environmental design and hazard-mitigation provisions. Mauck said a brownfields section is still being finalized.

Public-review and adoption timeline: Crane said the public comment period began June 26 and closes Aug. 8. The board will hold a public hearing on July 31 and a working meeting on Aug. 28 to consider comments. The planning board's formal public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 11; if the board recommends approval, staff anticipates forwarding a recommended ordinance to the Butte-Silver Bow County Commission on Oct. 1. Crane cautioned the schedule could shift if significant public comment requires additional review. "We will be setting up an Excel rubric that will document every person's name and address and their comment, and then we will have to individually respond," Crane said, describing how staff will log and respond to comments.

Public access: Crane confirmed the draft ordinance is available online on the planning board and zoning-update websites, will be published with the meeting agenda, and a hard copy will be available in the planning office; staff offered printed copies for a small fee. Crane also outlined several public meetings and drop-in opportunities: July 8 at the Emergency Operations Center (3615 Wynne Avenue) and two sessions—noon and 5:30 p.m.—on July 15 at the archives, and another July 24 at the archives.

Board questions and discussion: Board member Mark Garf asked whether the code is available online; Crane confirmed it is and described the hard-copy option. Garf also asked about how the public can get detailed help interpreting the new form-based elements; Crane said staff will be available for one-on-one meetings by request and via email, with phone availability limited by workloads. Board members discussed the need to treat the code as an evolving document and to make statutory updates promptly, a point Mauck illustrated with a planning analogy: some fixes are like plumbing errors that must be corrected quickly, while other tweaks can wait until the community sees how the code works in practice.

Maps and implementation: Garf asked when a new zoning map would be available. Crane said the Butte-Silver Bow GIS team is cross-referencing the existing zoning map and the comprehensive-plan place types to identify likely changes and will provide a companion map to the draft ordinance; she described the mapping as a "heavy lift" that will be done concurrently with comment review.

Next steps and scope: Mauck recommended that board members review districts, building types and development types as an integrated package. Staff emphasized they will respond to each comment individually and publish that consolidated response for public review. "We want to make sure comment is adequately considered, because this is a pretty important document," Mauck said.

The presentation concluded and the board moved to the next agenda item.