The Columbia Falls Planning Commission on Monday reviewed its timeline and next steps for producing a 20-year land-use plan required under the Montana Land Use Planning Act, and staff urged an early push on public engagement and consultant selection.

The planner said the city will seek a land-use consultant to lead public participation, prepare a draft future land-use map and help identify study needs for housing, water and wastewater. "We want to reinvigorate the conversation about Montana Land Use Planning Act and our path forward and give you an update of where we're going on each of the major steps of that," the planner said.

Why it matters: Montana adopted the Land Use Planning Act (SB 382) in 2023 and amended it in 2025. The law requires municipalities that opt in to prepare multi-decade land-use plans and accompanying regulations; staff told commissioners that portions of the city's prior growth-policy materials are now superseded and that the city must align its timeline and documents with the updated state requirements. The planner said the goal is a roughly 20-year plan (to 2045) with multiple monthly planning-commission touch points, open houses and an anticipated second-reading approval target in mid-May of the adoption year.

Infrastructure and studies: City engineers Morris and Merrill are finishing an update to the wastewater system that will emphasize collection lines, lift-station capacity and conveyance to the treatment plant; staff noted development interest on the former seed-bank property and a planned 100-unit Tamarack Meadows project. The planner described a planned $6,500,000 modernization of the treatment-plant bioreactor intended to improve efficiency and throughput, but said definitive capacity increases will require six to 12 months of seasonal monitoring once the upgrades operate.

On water, the city contracted WTM and ATS to forecast demand, review storage needs and evaluate a primary transmission line the planner described as an old single feed that may ultimately require an $8–12 million capital replacement (staff portrayed that as a longer-term project, likely beyond the next decade). Staff said they are seeking grant funding to build a water model and a wastewater model so the city can estimate the effect of added equivalent dwelling units on system capacity.

Housing and consultant work: The planner said the previous housing study covered a 10-year horizon and that the new 20-year plan will likely show a larger need. "If you double it, you're looking at 8, 9, and 1,300," the planner said when describing the transition from a 10-year baseline to a 20-year view; he later estimated the city may need roughly 1,000 to 1,200 homes over the longer horizon. Staff included an RFP for a land-use consultant in the packet and emphasized public engagement—open houses, employer interviews, developers and online surveys—as the consultant’s priority.

State-mandated changes: Staff warned commissioners that 2025 state legislation narrows local authority on certain zoning controls. The planner summarized provisions that limit local parking mandates for particular uses (for example, childcare and deed-restricted affordable housing) and said building-height ceilings in some zones will increase from about 35 feet to up to 60 feet under the new rules. He said the council will be asked at a future meeting to adopt ordinance language implementing the statutory changes, which staff said take effect in October 2026.

Public input and outreach tools: Staff noted a forthcoming website redesign (45–60 days) that will host plan documents, the public-participation plan, and a persistent Montana Land Use Planning Act hub; the city will link to Montana Department of Commerce resources and maintain documents there for consultants and the public to access.

Commissioner concerns and schedule: Several commissioners, including Justin, questioned whether the proposed on-ramp and schedule are realistic for a meaningful public-participation period. Staff said they hope to have a consultant under contract in October–November and stressed the need to balance statutory deadlines with broad outreach. "We won't want to push it back to the fall of next year," a staff member said, citing state deadlines and limited legal flexibility.

Votes at a glance:
- Approval of minutes: Motion to approve the prior minutes was moved and seconded and carried by voice vote (all in favor; Johnson and Ruby were noted absent).
- Adjournment: Motion to adjourn was moved, seconded and carried.

What happens next: Staff will review proposals for the land-use consultant, schedule public outreach (open houses and technical workshops for utilities), continue engineering studies for water and wastewater capacity, and return with progress reports to the planning commission and council as the state process requires. The commission thanked staff for the briefing and closed the meeting.