Land Use Planning And Zoning 



Montana's Legislative Council subcomm it- 

 toe on Local Government jointly with the 

 State Planning and Economic Development de- 

 partment are making a study of Montana's 

 needs of local government particularly in the 

 area of land use planning, zoning ordinances 

 pertaining to land use, land use regulations 

 etc. The study is being financed by a HUD 

 grant and some state funding. 



The main objective will be to come up with 

 recommendations and no doubt proposed legisla- 

 tion to cover rural planning and zoning or 

 county-wide planning. Presently Montana per- 

 mits cities to zone within their boundaries, 

 and cities and counties to plan and zone 4? 

 miles outside of municipal boundaries or up 

 to 12 miles on request of the residents. 

 Also rural areas of not less than 40 acres 

 with approval of the residents concerned may 

 set up rural planning districts. Perhaps 

 overlooked are SWCDs which have planning and 

 land use regulation authority. Planning is 

 basically concerned with developing areas. 

 Planning is equally important in areas of no 

 growth as in areas of growth. 



The demand for land use planning and re- 

 lated regulations to control land use has 

 many ramifications to ideally protect the var- 

 ious land uses for agriculture, industry, 

 commercial businesses, transportation, utili- 

 ties, recreation, residential, and the like. 

 Planning also includes natural resources as 

 the land contains the soil, the water, the 

 vegetation, the minerals, the watersheds, the 

 beauty, wildlife, etc., that people need and 

 use for their health and welfare; in other 

 wordsit involves people, prooerty, and pub- 

 lic pol icy. 



Generally, to be effective planning 

 should consider the whole environment and be 

 comprehensive. Ecology and harmony can- 

 not be overlooked. 



In the matter of public policy, should 

 good agriculture land be allowed to be put 

 to other uses? As population grows, what 

 limits can be allowed for concentrations of 

 DGople, of industry? Shouldn't present uses 

 be protected? Are these things enforcable? 

 Planning and zoning is oracticed in the home, 

 in the factory, in agriculture and other 

 places. Why not on a community or county- 

 wide basis? 



But how do we organize ourselves as 

 individuals and as government to direct 

 developments and land use in the best man- 

 ner? Planning should be done first and 

 necessary rules and regulations adopted 

 to carry out the plans. Who should do 

 this? People; but who of the people? 

 And in a derr.ocracy a majority of the peo- 

 ple and their organization needs be in- 

 volved. 



So far the people most concerned are 

 those where the pressure for land is the 

 greatest. Cities and towns seem to take 

 the lead to influence the development 

 of their adjacent communities. Rural peo- 

 ple who are mostly agriculture tend to 

 be apathetic to planning and zoning 

 other uses unti I otiier uses encroach. 

 But the pressure of multiple uses are 

 growing in rural MOntana and who is to 

 say who or what use can my neighbor be? 

 And under what conditions? 



Is planning a particular problem in 

 Montana? Well, yes, there are problems 

 in Montana many of which lack planning or 

 better means to do it. The proposed Big 

 SKy Recreation Area, the Anaconda Lincoln 

 copper mining, the various feed lots, the 

 coal strip mining operations, various 

 agriculture practices, rurban develop- 

 ments, etc., ail face adverse public ac- 

 ceptance because of limited planning and 

 related regulation. 



It must be admitted however, that 

 there is broader planning being used. 

 Many city-county planning boards have been 

 organized, industry itself is doing more 

 planning, agriculture enterprises are do- 

 ing more planning, and others are planning. 

 There are water plans, recreation plans, 

 highway plans, health plans, conservation 

 plans, to name a few. All these plans 

 should relate to land use plans. 



Natural resources and the possible 

 uses that can be made of them are of 

 greater concern in rural planning and zon- 

 ing. Soil and water conservation is pri- 

 marily an agriculture activity in Montana, 

 but soil and water and related resources 

 are not restricted to agriculture. There 

 are other aforementioned uses of natural 

 resources and planning done in their use 

 as wel I . 

 (cont'd on paae 7 ) 



