Montana Supreme Court Upholds Slate of 2023 Housing Laws

The Montana Supreme Court ruled Tuesday against a group of homeowners in a lawsuit challenging four 2023 bills related to zoning and planning.

The court found the laws did not violate the equal protection of the homeowners’ group, called Montanans Against Irresponsible Densification, or MAID. It also found the Montana Land Use Planning Act (MLUPA) process allows enough opportunity for public participation. Its ruling affirmed an earlier finding by Bozeman District Court Judge Michael Salvagni, which found the bills constitutional. But it overturned his conclusion that the provisions of MLUPA violated the state constitution’s right of participation.

Supporters of the legislation framed the high court’s decision as a victory for those impacted by the state’s housing affordability crisis, which has served as a driver of policy since an influx of newcomers came to the state during COVID.

“The court has affirmed what we’ve been arguing for years: this housing legislation is critical to address the affordability crisis in our state, and opposition from a handful of wealthy landowners is no reason to delay progress for the whole state,” said Keegan Siebenaler, the executive director of Shelter WF, a local group advocating for housing policy reforms in Whitefish.

MAID, the group that first filed the lawsuit in late 2023, argued the laws would increase housing density and create a number of issues for the group’s homeowner members as a result. The group challenged four bills:

• Senate Bill 245, which requires cities with a population of more than 5,000 people to allow multiple-unit dwellings and mixed-use developments — apartment buildings — in areas considered commercial zones.
• Senate Bill 323, which requires cities larger than 5,000 people to allow for duplex housing on any single-home lot.
• Senate Bill 382, better known as the Montana Land Use Planning Act, or MLUPA. The legislation required 10 cities in the state to adopt new land use plans and update local zoning and subdivision regulations, in an effort to accommodate for population growth. It came with a May 2026 deadline, which is now looming.  
• Senate Bill 528, which revised municipal zoning laws to allow for accessory dwelling units. Those units are additional housing units located on single-family lots or parcels.  

All four pieces of legislation passed the state legislature in 2023 with bipartisan support. The Supreme Court’s finding upheld all four.

Jim Goetz, MAID’s attorney, said he was “disappointed” by the decision in an interview Wednesday. While his clients don’t dispute that there is an affordable housing crisis in the state, he doesn’t view the bills as a viable solution.

“This ain’t gonna solve the problem,” Goetz said. “It’s just going to result in densification in our core areas that isn’t going to be any less expensive, so it’s just a poor way to address affordability in my opinion.”

The Supreme Court also struck down concerns that MLUPA didn’t allow for enough public participation when it came to land use decisions — though that finding from Salvagni did result in a 2025 bill that amended MLUPA’s public participation provisions, a bill Goetz called a “small victory.”

Under MLUPA’s current iteration, the process front-loads input from the public. It structures community input as part of the initial phases of land use planning, as cities craft broad plans and zoning creation. The legislation aimed to streamline the approval process for individual projects to the administrative staff level. In turn, that allows for faster housing development via more predictable site-specific rules.

“The MLUPA makes clear that notice and the reasonable opportunity to be heard must occur prior to making a final decision during the adoption, amendment, and update of the land use plan and regulations; when a site-specific development creates additional impacts not previously considered; and with the opportunity to appeal,” the court’s decision stated. “Where Senate Bill 382 limits public participation on site-specific developments, the public has already participated materially through input during the earlier stages of the comprehensive planning process.”

Kelly Lynch, the executive director of Montana’s League of Cities and Towns, another defendant-intervenor in the suit, said the ruling clears the way for her organization to continue its work with the 10 cities in the state going through the MLUPA process as they creep up on a May deadline.

Three Flathead Valley cities — Whitefish, Kalispell and Columbia Falls — are in the throes of working through plans to ensure complicance with MLUPA. The three cities working on crafting new land use plans are all at different phases in the process.

Columbia Falls’ city council in January heard the results of a community survey about the city’s future and considered an “Existing Conditions” report that will serve as a baseline for the next 20 years of projected growth. In Whitefish, after a contentious multi-year process and split vote, the Whitefish Planning Commission handed off an updated growth policy to city councilors late last month. And in Kalispell, the planning commission offloaded the final component of the land use plan to city council last week.

Shelter WF, one of the defendants in the lawsuit, has been involved in the MLUPA process in Whitefish. Siebenaler has spoken at several city council and planning commission meetings regarding the growth policy. For Siebenaler, the court’s ruling opens future possibilities to align the state’s regulatory environment with potential affordable housing policies. He also said Shelter WF hopes to ensure cities are following not only the letter of the law when it comes to MLUPA, but also adhering to the legislation’s spirit.

“I think one thing we might work on in 2027, or advocate for, is really making cities prove that their updated land use plan and growth policy will create the amount of housing the state says it needs to,” Siebenaler said.

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