GREAT FALLS — On Tuesday evening, Cascade County Planning Board voted on proposal to split the zones of MU20 and MU40.
Many concerned citizens came out to the board meeting at Montana ExpoPark.
MU 40 was rejected. and MU 20 was passed
The board also approved broadening the scope of where medical marijuana is allowable. The changes were passed unanimously.
They have a minimum of 45 days waiting period to bring it to the Great Falls City Commission.
“When we published the first notice saying we have an intent to amend a zoning district, then that 45 say period begins. We accept public comment on the changes or whatever the potential amendment to the zoning regulations is. Then it can go to the Commission for final approval," said Sandor Hopkins, the Interim Planning Director for Cascade County.
With the holiday season coming up, this could mean the proposal wouldn’t be looked at until potentially January.
For more information, click here to visit the County website.
(SEPTMBER 9, 2019) The Cascade County Planning Department has a lot of proposals in store for its board meeting on Tuesday, September 10.
One of the proposals is the division of the agricultural district into two zones. We're told this would allow both the agricultural and business sectors equal access to separate land areas that they could use for their distinct interests.
If the proposal is approved, the singular agricultural district would become two multiple use lands: MU-20 and MU-40.
MU-20 regions would have a minimum plot size of 20 acres and would be clustered near areas of medium population density, like Montana Highway 200, US 89 and US 91.
While MU-40 regions would require a minimum of 40 acres and are found throughout the county-mainly in less-populated rural regions.
Interim Planning Director Sandor Hopkins says this change wouldn't take any land out of farm production, but simply moving areas of intensive agricultural use to areas where large-scale farming operations are already located.
“At least part of our proposal is to remove some of the more intensive uses out of those areas where people seem to be more densely populated and into areas where there's fewer people and fewer people who would be troubled by those potential nuisance uses,” he explained.
The planning board will address the zoning change proposal along with other regulation changes at Tuesday's meeting.
If approved, the proposal will still need to go through a 45-day process during which the public can comment before it can be approved by the commission and processed into city regulations.
The meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. in the Montana ExpoPark's Family Living Center.
