City of Livingston stepping up community planning efforts
The Livingston City Commission, on Tuesday, took important steps toward smart community planning. These decisions were informed by the Livingston Growth Policy, which shows the value of the new policy and the difference your voices made in crafting the document.
Thanks to the community’s interest in planning over recent years, we have made great strides in creating a foundation that helps Livingston prepare for the future. We believe this is something to celebrate particularly at a time when the forces of growth and income inequality are increasing.
And if you know a City Commissioner, I am sure they would appreciate your personal thanks. Consider reaching out to Chair Dorel Hoglund, Commissioner Melissa Nootz, Commissioner Warren Mabie and Commissioner Mel Friedman. We all need more gratitude in our lives these days.
Here’s an update on the city’s actions.
Heart K development rights transfer
The property owner of Heart K Ranch has been asking the City Commission to make a promise of development rights on the 568-acre property. The property owner asked the city commission to renew a subdivision decision made by the city in 2007, granting preliminary plat approval for 781 lots on the property across from the hospital.
PCEC has opposed this request from the beginning.
The problem is state law stipulates an end-date to such subdivision approvals if action is not taken to finalize a subdivision within a certain period of time (typically three years). Well, a lot of time has passed since the initial approval 14 years ago, and a lot of things have changed.
To approve development rights after passage of so much time violates the Montana Subdivision and Platting Act.
We believe any contemplated development on the Heart K Ranch should be subject to current planning documents, in a public forum before the current city commission. We obtained a legal opinion on the matter, submitted comments and testified at the commission’s September 21st meeting.
We are grateful to the city commissioners for voting unanimously to oppose this irregular request.
Proposed Love's Truck Stop
The City Commission also considered whether to annex 40 acres of land at Exit 337 (near the hospital), to accommodate a Love’s Truck Stop and RV Park.
Livingston has fought this battle before. Some of you may remember a similar proposition back in 2014, when city leadership wisely agreed with community members about the negative impacts highway development like this could have on Livingston’s local economy, especially our downtown.
PCEC alongside downtown business leaders opposed the current request, and the city commission agreed.
Commissioners made the decision to deny the annexation, instead choosing to prioritize strengthening the downtown and choosing to protect local businesses.
Because of an excellent demonstration of public support and the strong community priorities in the Growth Policy, it was an easy decision for our commissioners to make.
Officials from Love’s touted the number of jobs they would create, but there was a strong recognition by our commissioners and community that we don’t need more low-paying service jobs. Instead, we need to infuse community investment in the businesses and people that already call our community home.
Now that the city has denied the annexation, Love’s may go ahead and attempt to develop the land in the county without any regulations, other than septic permits. While that would be a heavy cost, it’s not impossible. This underscores the importance of the county’s proposed conflict mitigation permitting process, which would give locals a say in things like night sky, noise and other potential impacts a truck stop could have on neighbors.
Summit Street Abandonment
The City Commission voted against abandoning a right of way on the north side at Tuesday night’s commission meeting. The commission heard compelling arguments on both sides.
You can watch the meeting here!
The community developer demonstrated that they care deeply about this place, and they told the commission that they support trails and love public lands. They argued that they needed the extra land to build more homes.
Everyone agreed that we need more homes in our community. But, many community members and neighbors said that they don’t think we should give up public lands and right-of-ways for more houses. Neighbors have long used that right of way to access public land and trails on the north side, and we’re looking forward to a long future of being able to easily get around the area.
It was great to see so many neighbors of the project show up at the meeting to make their voices heard. We need public input to make good decisions, and this decision shows leadership listens when people show up.
The possibility for a connected trail on Summit Street is very exciting. When the City abandons our public lands and right of ways we risk losing our opportunities for in-town trails and connectivity forever. And unfortunately, simply building more homes won’t solve our housing crisis.
We are grateful that Commissioners Dorel Hoglund, Melissa Nootz, and Mel Friedman voted no.