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Committee debates housing-related bills and LUPA timing; amendments withdrawn, no final action
Summary
Members of the Senate Local Government Committee debated amendments to housing-related bills that would change height allowances and LUPA applicability; proponents sought to delay effective dates to avoid disrupting municipal LUPA implementation.
Members of the Senate Local Government Committee debated amendments to housing-related bills (including an amendment to Senate Bill 243 and proposals tied to Senate Bill 266) that interact with the Montana Land Use Planning Act (LUPA) and municipal implementation timelines.
Jake Brown, representing Shelter Whitefish, explained an amendment drafted to move an effective date so municipalities would not have to revise work they were doing to implement LUPA at the same time. "Our thinking with this amendment was just to, hearing some of the concerns from some of the opposition. This amendment ... was drafted to move the effective date, beyond when Malupa was implemented," Brown said, noting the intent was to avoid forcing cities to redo work mid-implementation.
Senators debated several options: lowering a height allowance from six stories to four stories, removing LUPA applicability from the bill, and pushing the effective date from 10/01/2025 to 09/01/2026 (an amendment described in committee discussion). Members noted that LUPA applies to municipalities with populations over 5,000 and counties over 70,000, and that the statute has a multi-year implementation schedule that can include comprehensive-plan and zoning updates.
"I'd hate to tell cities to do something, have them start doing it, and then say, oh, no, no. Now you have to do something else," the committee chair said, summarizing concerns about changing requirements mid-implementation.
Sponsors and some members argued that developers are ready to invest in taller affordable housing now and that delaying or removing options could constrain housing supply. "...we know now, that there are developers right now that are interested in investing in some of these higher rise affordable housing complex in some of our more urban areas," Senator Bolton said.
After discussion, sponsors withdrew motions to move the bills and requested time to draft or consider alternate amendments. Senator Trevis withdrew his motion on SB 243; other motions on related amendments and on SB 266 were also withdrawn. The committee said it will revisit the bills and any amendments at a later meeting.
