In 2023 the state legislature passed MLUPA, the Montana Land Use and Policy Act. Prior to its passage, most cities used different discrete methods for planning their growth, justifying their zoning, and addressing the public needs for housing, transportation, growth, and environmental hazards.
Much of the approaches to planning had only slightly changed over the previous decades, with a significant portion of the decision process allowing individual city councils to use their discretion in each individual project, and planning decision. This slow and ossified process led to an ever increasing pressure on housing and development within the urban areas, pushing people further and further away from existing services and requiring some parts of cities to take on the full burden of fitting new residents or adjusting to the changing needs of their respective communities.
MLUPA reformed and streamlined those processes for cities above 5,000 people in counties above 70,000 people. These are the largest cities in the state, and have reacted earnestly to the changes required by MLUPA. The spirit of the law is to make cities dynamic and liveable places that meet the needs of their residents, and where projects can be predictable and proceed as planned so long as they meet the letter of the law.
MLUPA presented each city with a menu of planning reforms to choose from, and required they adopt at least 5 of 14 housing strategies, explicitly address certain needs in their planning documents, and implement the reforms within three years. Citizens now have an increased role in the planning process, and most cities are heading into a future where they are centers of greater economic productivity and social stability.
Many places around the country took decades to pass single parts of the requirements that are in MLUPA, whereas Montana acted boldly and required cities to take necessary action, but balanced the speed of these major changes by giving cities oversight in implementation.
MLUPA is just the start, if we really want to make our cities as good as they can be we need to continue moving forward with smart and ambitious policies that build a brighter future.
— Dylan Wells