Columbia Falls will lose ‘doughnut’ planning under new state law

Columbia Falls will soon lose its “doughnut," an extraterritorial planning jurisdiction that gives the municipality say in developments outside the city limits.

The doughnut has come into prominent play in the last year or so as the city has seen development proposals both to the north and to the east.

For example, in January, the city gave the green light to a subdivision at Meadow Lake Resort after several contentious public meetings.

Then, east of the river, Columbia Falls City Council rejected a high density subdivision last summer.

With Senate Bill 382, passed by the Legislature during its most recent session, Columbia Falls will lose much of its influence on developments just on the other side of city limits. 

Under the new rules outlined in SB 382, the municipality will only have a say in a neighboring development if the developer seeks public services, like sewer and water, in which case the city would annex the property.

Other subdivisions that forgo city services would go before the Flathead County Planning Board, said City Attorney Justin Breck.

Some city councilors predicted that if the county had a say in development east of the river, for example, it would have already happened.

Losing extraterritorial jurisdiction is nothing new in the region. Whitefish lost its doughnut years ago after a spat with Flathead County commissioners.

SB 382 has other implications for development inside the city limits. For one, it looks to front load the planning process.

The new law requires that cities create a land use map and then an overlay of zoning regulations subject to public review, both through a planning commission and a the city council.

But once the map and the zoning regulations are in place, public comment is limited, save for an appeal process, whereby objectors appeal to the commission, then the city council and then, ultimately, district court if they see fit.

The map and the zoning regulations, by law are expected to be good for 20 years, though they can be amended at the request of a developer or landowner.

Columbia Falls City Council will begin the initial process of taking a deeper dive of the implications Senate Bill 382 at a workshop at 6:30 p.m., Dec. 11. The public is invited to attend. 

At workshops, the city can take no formal action, but it will meet with city planner Eric Mulcahy, City Manager Susan Nicosia and Breck on further implications of the bill.

For one, the city will need to eventually set up a planning commission, as the City-County Planning Board will be no more under the new law.