Draft Livingston Growth Policy Extended Review Period
We have some good news! Thanks to significant community engagement, the City Planning Board & City Commission have agreed to extend the review of the draft Livingston Growth Policy.
They are doing exactly what the community asked, and will host two dedicated meetings to review the future land use maps. (January 20th and February 3rd).
This is a big win for our community, and a big opportunity for you to help shape how and where we grow. It wouldn’t have happened without the dozens of residents who showed up at the first public hearings to give input, and the hundreds of residents that sent comments. Thank you!
We are also grateful for the citizen board members of the Livingston Planning Board who are ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work.
Now, we need to keep showing up! We are seeing unprecedented growth in our community, more and more people moving here, housing prices are skyrocketing, and this is our opportunity to help shape how and where we grow.
Future Land Use Maps - January 20th
(Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88130996506)
This meeting is incredibly important, and exactly what we asked for when we submitted a petition asking for a discussion of Future Land Use Maps.
This important meeting will help determine where our community should focus and prioritize growth: 1) within or close to city limits with infill and redevelopment; 2) expansion of city limits with new subdivisions.
Already, some changes have been made to the draft Growth Policy and maps, which you can see here. These include adopting more strategies that prioritize infill development.
The Future Growth Map is extremely important to how our future grows, and there have been multiple iterations of the map. We need clarity on which map we are using, and whichever map, we choose needs to avoid sprawl.
This shows the city is listening, and our input matters. If you can, please take the time to attend the meeting on Wednesday. If not, you can send written comments to planning@livingstonmontana.org.
You can see some of the changes so far. The first Recommended Future Land Use Map looked like this:
And now it looks like this:
This is because of the dozens of you who have showed up and said, we don't want sprawl. Let's continue to show up and make sure our community drives future growth, pushing for infill and redevelopment over expanding the city limits.
Talking Points
As we contemplate future growth of the Livingston, we need to consider the cost of future growth. Does it make sense to greatly expand our current city limits (see draft map below) if we’re having trouble maintaining the streets, sidewalks, water, sewer, parks, trees and other facilities that currently serve Livingston?
Compact development within current city limits, infill and redevelopment are fiscally prudent strategies. Prioritizing this type of growth, over sprawl, helps maintain and create neighborhoods that support our local businesses, our downtown, taking advantage of our current infrastructure system instead of building more.
Prioritizing infill and redevelopment helps our environment by creating a walkable, bikeable community, reducing the need to use cars to get places. It reduces the overall amount of land we consume with new development.
Talking points:
Support our downtown businesses: infill development and redevelopment helps support local businesses, drives people into our downtown and grows our economic core.
Prevent sprawl: We value our open lands, working ranches, and the Yellowstone River. We don’t want to see Livingston sprawling into the County’s open space.
Fiscally conservative development: It doesn’t make sense for the City to spend taxpayer dollars to extend services and build roads sprawling into rural parts of the County.
Public Health: People in our community are happier and healthier when everyone can walk or ride their bike to school, to the store and to the services they need.
Climate Change: We want to be able to get around our town without getting in a car for everything.
City Planning Board Growth Policy Review Schedule
January 20:
Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction & Future Land Use Maps
February 3:
Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction cont. if needed.
Chap. 1: Introduction
Chap. 2: Population & Community Character
February 17:
Chapter 3: Land Use
Chapter 11: Land Use Recommendations
Chapter 4: Natural Resources
March 3:
Chapter 5: Housing
Chapter 6: Economy
Chapter 8: Transportation
March 17:
Chapter 7: Local Services
Chapter 9: Public Facilities
Chapter 10: Inter-Governmental Coordination
Chapter 12: Implementation
April 7:
Readability: general layout, page numbering, etc.
Appendices
April 21:
Public Hearing for Final Recommendation