Gallatin City planners withdraw proposal for temporary rezoning moratorium after commission concern

Gallatin City Planning Department staff proposed, then withdrew, a draft ordinance that would temporarily stop accepting rezoning applications while the city adopts a new zoning code.

Planning Department staff told the Gallatin City Planning Commission that the city is rewriting its zoning code and that the adoption process will reclassify every parcel inside city limits into a new set of districts (examples cited included converting an existing agricultural zone into a comparable CD2A district). Staff said applications that are submitted and accepted as complete are reviewed under the current code, which can create conflicts if the new code is adopted before pending rezoning cases are decided. To avoid such conflicts, staff proposed a time-limited moratorium on new rezoning applications — initially suggested as up to nine months, with language to terminate the moratorium early if the new code…