Belgrade council adopts updated subdivision regulations to meet state planning law

Belgrade’s City Council unanimously adopted a revised set of subdivision regulations on second reading that bring the city into compliance with the Montana Land Use Planning Act. The measure passed after a brief presentation and no public comments.

Catherine King, the city’s Director of Community and Economic Development, appeared before the council to present the ordinance and noted that the draft has not changed since the first reading. The council opened the public hearing, took three calls for public comment and received none before moving to close the hearing and vote.

City Manager (staff) described the adopted regulations as a template many municipalities have used to meet statutory requirements and said staff will return with a second round of edits to make the rules more specifically tailored to Belgrade. “This was a very good starting point to allow us to be compliant with the law,” the City Manager said.

A council member moved to approve the regulations on final reading; the motion passed unanimously. The council and staff said future modifications will be developed to reflect local needs and specifics not covered by the statewide template.

The ordinance takes effect according to the city’s normal ordinance-adoption timeline; staff will prepare and present any locality-specific amendments in the coming weeks.