The draft of the new Great Falls growth policy is now available for public review.
The public comment period begins Jan. 12 and runs for 45 days.
The public can submit comments within the document online, the regular planning board meeting or during several open houses this week:
- Jan. 14: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Gibson Room upstairs at the Civic Center
- Jan. 15: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Gibson Room upstairs at the Civic Center
The growth policy is the city’s guiding framework for future growth and development, addressing land use, housing, transportation, public infrastructure, economic development and community character.
City staff started the growth policy process in 2023 and had planned to have the new policy approved by City Commissioners by November 2025.
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Now, Brock Cherry, city planning director, said he’s hoping to have it completed by May, in time for the state’s compliance deadline.
“The kumbaya stage is over,” Cherry said during the Jan. 6 commission work session, referring to the transition from broad community input to the draft review phase of the policy development.
It will be up to the city planning board and, ultimately, the city commission, to vet the document and say this is the direction we want to go.
The draft includes a future land use map, a requirement of the 2023 state law change, showing to areas that could develop or be annexed into the city and anticipated compatible uses.
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Cherry said that staff needs commissioners to “read it.”
The city hired Orion Planning and Design in 2024 with a $371,184 contract.
Cherry told commissioners during their Jan. 6 meeting that he was happy they had a consultant, but now having gone through the process, thinks there’s other options.
City Commissioners also appointed a growth policy steering committee during in 2024, with the objective “to ensure the involvement of a diverse range of groups, entities, disciplines, and citizens throughout the growth policy process. Members will provide input and feedback at each stage of the planning process, including the preliminary plan vision and goals, guiding principles, base concept development, strategies, element policies, priority actions, implementation strategies, and recommendations.”
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Staff said in 2024 that committee members will be expected to attend at least 75 percent of meetings, a minimum of 15, between June and December 2025, according to staff. Committee members are volunteers and will not receive any compensation.
The city’s external growth policy website lists only five meetings from July 2024 to March 2025. A search of the city website shows committee meetings and their summaries for May and June 2025. The city website shows steering committee agendas for August, November and December 2025, as well as January 2026, with no accompanying summaries.
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One appointed member representing business and industry doesn’t appear to have attended any of the meetings, according to city summaries of the meetings available on the city website.
Cherry said during the Jan. 6 commission work session that the last city growth policy was adopted in 2013 and “sat on the shelf.”
During a July 2024 growth policy steering committee meeting, a member said he was having a hard time figuring out how to explain to people what the growth policy was and that it doesn’t sit on a shelf, to which Tryon responded that the city uses the growth policy regularly as the basis for all zoning and land use decisions, which make up a large portion of what the commission handles.
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During the same committee meeting, Katie Hanning, director of the Great Falls Homebuilders Association, said the 2013 growth policy is on her desk and she references it often.
“It’s not just a plain old document,” she said.
In the 2013 growth policy process, the city employed a comprehensive planner who spearheaded the process. That position has been vacant for years.
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State law previously required local governments must review their growth policy every five years.
City staff did a minor review several years ago but city administration did not approve funding for a larger growth policy update over the last decade.
The 2023 Montana State Legislative Session adopted the Montana Land Use Planning Act, which requires cities with more than 5,000 people that are located in counties with more than 70,000 people update their land use plans and zoning and subdivision regulations within three years of the passage. That deadline is May 2026.
The city meets that threshold and is subject to the MLUPA requirements, which according to the city include:
- continuous public participation be provided when adopting, amending, or updating a land use plan or land use regulations
- an updated land use plan intended to identify the opportunities for development of land within the planning area for housing, businesses, agriculture, and the extraction of natural resources, while acknowledging and addressing the impacts of that development on adjacent properties, the community, the natural environment, public services and facilities, and natural hazards. Once updated, a land use plan must be reviewed every five years. The land use plan will need to be updated if the review shows new or increased impacts.
- a future land use map that reflects the preferred pattern of development within the city’s jurisdiction over the next 20-years based on population and economic development projections, housing and local service needs, and public input received, while considering the environment, natural resources, and natural hazards of the area.
- zoning regulations and map that align with the updated land use plan and future land use map. Included in the MLUPA is a list of zoning reforms – the city must adopt at least five of the listed options.
During their Jan. 6 work session, Commissioner Rick Tryon asked what a growth policy is since some in the public and among the commission may not understand.
Cherry said it’s the city’s “guiding document for the next 20 years of what we want Great Falls to look like” and is not regulatory, but is supposed to be the bedrock of the city’s zoning ordinances.
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Cherry said he thinks the city’s zoning is broken because developers are asking for planned unit developments, which allow for deviations from the standard zoning districts, but require commission approval. Cherry said that indicates to him that city zoning regulations need to be updated.
During an October 2023 work session, Cherry told commissioners that a growth policy is “not a wish list. If we treat it as a wish list, I think your constituents are going to be very disappointed. It’s not about you. It’s the people’s plan.”
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Commissioner Joe McKenney said during the Jan. 6 work session that Interstate 15 was a city asset and asked if it was addressed in the growth policy, to which Cherry said no.
As part of implementation of the new growth policy, Cherry said the city needs to “do need to do a better job in communicating with our community the process of development, and how they participate and how it works and what we look at” and that commissioners could offer guidance on how to educate the community.
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The draft plan also includes a chapter on the fiscal impact of growth on the city in terms of infrastructure and providing services like police and fire.
Cherry said that public feedback included comments on wanting to speed up the development process and provide more predictablity and staff is looking a potential option for staff to administratively approve certain projects meeting set criteria. Such an option would need to be established by commissioners.
Once the growth policy is adopted, Cherry said staff could audit current city zoning regulations.
Cherry told commissioners that without changes to zoning rules, the growth policy has no power.
“The growth policy alone isn’t going to make Great Falls any different than it is today,” Cherry said.
During the Jan. 13 city planning board meeting, Allison Mouch, the consultant on the project, said the public engagement process was good including more than 2,000 survey responses last year.
The future land use map, is a foundational element of the growth policy, that shows future growth potential but also a vision for where and how that growth will occur.
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Cherry told the planning board that the map doesn’t make any changes to property in terms of existing zoning, values or assessments, but helps guide staff as they review future development applications.
Mouch said the plan includes a chapter on the fiscal impact of development as cities need to think about their ability to provide infrastructure and services to develop in a way that’s economically sustainable.
The chapter “is where the rubber meets the road,” Mouch said.
The last chapter includes an implementation plan with priorities and timelines for completion.
Cherry said staff will review all feedback on the draft to make updates and release the second draft, which he hopes will be the version to move to the formal adoption process.
