Governor's house task force recommends curbing local say. They also want taller and more dense housing, even in single family areas

Oct. 19—Much higher densities. Taller buildings. Smaller lots and less say from local governments.

Those are all some of the recommendations of a housing task force preliminary draft that was released earlier this month under the behest of Gov. Greg Gianforte.

The task force recommendations call for a host of regulatory and zoning reforms — particularly for cities and towns like Columbia Falls with municipal sewer and water systems.

One recommendation would prohibit minimum lots sizes of more than 2,500 feet (or 50 by 50 feet), with just one parking spot required per unit.

The document offered no solutions for parking, where most Montanans have more than one vehicle.

In addition, a locality could not "set a height limit below three stories on a small lot."

In other words, if a person owned a single family home in Columbia Falls, a neighboring landowner could build a three-story apartment building next to the person's home, with little say from the local government, or neighboring landowner, under the recommendations.

The task force would also like to see accessory dwelling units allowed carte blanche in cities as well.

"Localities must allow owners of land where a single-family house is allowed to build an ADU and use it as rental housing," the recommendations note.

An accessory dwelling unit is typically a garage or other small building that is converted to housing.

The task force, however, does not place any sideboards on the rental, such as prohibiting vacation rentals.

In fact, the task force side steps any regulations on vacation rentals entirely.

"No restrictions or limitations on short-term rentals are being proposed in this recommendation, except that the location of privately operated short-term rentals be disclosed when the lodging taxes are being paid," the task force notes.

There have been numerous homes in Columbia Falls that have been converted to short-term rental housing in recent years.

While the task force calls for more and denser housing, it makes no claims and sets no boundaries that housing would actually be affordable for working families, outside of some infrastructure cost breaks for cities and towns that agree to adhere to the task force's recommendations.

Ironically, perhaps, the task force recommends using American Rescue Plan Act funding to help cities pay for some of the infrastructure to support more housing projects and to pay for more staffing at the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Both of Montana's Republican congressional delegates voted against ARPA Funds. Now the Gianforte administration is looking for ways to spend it on more housing.

The task force also calls for streamlining local government review of projects — allowing them to be placed under "consent agendas" instead of being fully vetted as regular agenda items.

Not surprisingly, the recommendations were criticized by the Montana League of Cities and Towns.

"Modernizing land use and planning laws are a far cry from the one-size-fits-all zoning reforms that the Housing Task Force recommends. Their draft report calls for removing parking requirements in every community and allowing a second dwelling unit on every residential lot in Montana," Kelly Lynch, Executive Director said in a recent editorial in newspapers. "These aren't Montana solutions. These state-down requirements are ideas straight from California. The state shouldn't dictate such zoning reforms — they should be based on local circumstances, needs, and priorities."

The Frontier Institute, which is one of the Task Force members, took issue with Lynch.

It claims that old 20th century California zoning is what caused sprawl and unaffordable housing in that state.

"The solution is to give landowners in Montana cities the freedom to build more homes where they are needed most. Reforming our California-style zoning will allow cities to grow denser instead of sprawling outward, helping to preserve access to the outdoors, maintain the special rural character of the surrounding areas, and keep Montana feeling like Montana. Failure to enact necessary zoning reforms will keep Montana on the path to a California-style housing crisis," Kendall Cotton, president and CEO of the Frontier Institute said in a rebuttal op-ed.

The task force is expected to further refine its recommendations that will include specific regulatory changes and "best practices" that could be implemented by state and local governments.

With the state Legislature set to convene in January, housing bills will most assuredly be on the forefront in the 2023 session.