Kalispell City Council Adopts New Public Participation Plan
The plan adheres to the elimination of public hearings for site-specific developments mandated by state law while offering ways residents can stay updated on local projects, including a new city webpage
By Zoë Buhrmaster
Kalispell City councilors approved a public participation plan Monday night that lays out a set of standards for notifying residents of new developments. The plan is born out of the Montana Land Use Planning Act (MLUPA), a state law that required certain cities including Kalispell to update their growth policies this year. Kalispell adopted a new land use plan along with zoning and subdivision regulations in April.
Since the new state law eliminates public hearings for site-specific developments, councilors sought to bolster the city’s public participation plan by maximizing the ways residents could stay informed while remaining in line with state law.
“It kind of became clear that we needed to add some more into the public participation plan as far as subsequent site-specific development,” Director of Development Services PJ Sorensen said.
According to the plan, a webpage on Kalispell’s website will be dedicated to applications that do not have a public hearing, which include preliminary plats for subdivisions, conditional use permits (CUPs), and variances. All documents pertaining to an application will be displayed on the webpage, including staff decisions, reports, written public comment, and appeal deadlines. The site will also include the status of where a development is at in the review process.
City staff will also mail notifications to residents within 150 feet of a project site for developments that do not trigger public hearings, and publish a notification in a local newspaper. Once the webpage comes online, the city will also start a free email subscription service open to the public. Those who sign up will be able to receive automated notifications when a public comment period opens or a staff report or decision is posted to the website.
“I really do think this is an example of where we’re doing better with something we were all concerned about – participation,” Councilor Kyle Waterman said. “I think that what we came up with was a really good product, which I actually think would hopefully be inspirational for other cities to look at as they look at MLUPA.”