FAQs

CAPS charges land use fees to cover a portion of what it costs to review a variety of land use permits and project applications. These reviews confirm that new construction and development meet county regulations such as zoning, subdivision, floodplain, shoreline and buildings for lease or rent regulations. They benefit property owners, developers and the public alike by ensuring compliance with regulations that implement county policy, meet community design requirements and protect public health and safety. Land use permits and application review processes include:

• Zoning compliance permits
• Floodplain permits
• Shoreline permits
• Board of adjustment reviews of appeals, variances and special exceptions
• Rezoning requests
• Growth policy updates at the request of a developer
• Subdivision
• Buildings for lease or rent

Three separate departments oversee and coordinate Missoula County development review services:  Community and Planning Services (land use), Environmental Health (sanitation review and well and septic permits) and the Building Division of Public Works (building permits). Each department has specific fees associated with their role in development review, and land use fees are those associated with the portion of review CAPS staff complete.

Missoula County last increased land use fees over a decade ago in 2011. Since then, our community has grown and changed, the cost of providing development review services has continued to rise and land use fees are now out of date. In addition, the current fees were based on a recovery of 50% of the actual cost of development review processes as assessed in a 2010 study. The rationale for 50% recovery assumed that while development review benefits property owners and developers the general public also benefits because effective review contributes to well-planned communities.  It is common for communities to seek to recover 50-80% of the costs associated with land use reviews.

The outdated fee structure and significant inflationary increases mean taxpayers are absorbing more of the costs to complete land use reviews. This also means the County is not generating enough revenue to cover staffing needs associated with increased demand for development review. When this situation becomes acute, it means delays in application and project review, which adds time and ultimately costs to a project. Updating land use fees from those last adopted in 2011 will help sustain, and possibly enhance, current levels of development review services and improve cost sharing in an equitable manner between developers and the public.

Revenue from land use fees is essential to maintaining an efficient and appropriately staffed office for processing county land use reviews and avoiding costly project delays. Delays not only mean later project timelines and delivery, but increased developer costs and, as a result, more expensive housing costs for residents.  This is especially important with current demand for review climbing to levels not seen since before the Great Recession (2008), and the fact that Missoula is in a housing crisis, due in part to lack of supply. Appropriately scaled land use fees allow the County to employ adequate staff to answer questions, complete development reviews and improve workflows and regulations to streamline review processes.

The County has not updated fees since 2011, in part, due to the recession, the pandemic and the impending major update to the county zoning code.

In most cases, we applied an inflationary adjustment to the current fees. For zoning compliance permits, we used a higher rate of increase for several reasons. The new zoning code provides many benefits to the community and developers such as clear development options and opportunities, more housing development options in every residential and mixed-use district and more development options allowed by administrative review. However, zoning permit reviews are more complex, and the code builds in a new step of final inspection to avoid compliance issues for property owners in the future. Consequently, the standard zoning compliance permit fees have been increased beyond an inflationary adjustment. In addition, we added fees for development review services not currently covered by fees, such as Townhome Exempt Developments and Conservation Design Developments. The new zoning compliance permit fees proposal will result in approximately 50% recovery of costs, commensurate with the other land use fees.

As part of the proposal, we have included an annual inflationary adjustment to avoid additional large one-time fee increases and better ensure appropriate levels of service for county development review. In the future, the County intends to complete a study to assess the costs of services and re-set fees. That project will include a public review component.

The County is presenting this proposal to the All-Community Council meeting and individual community councils. Information will be included in the CAPS e-newsletter and a press release associated with the public hearing. In addition, we are notifying contractors and surveying/engineering firms and presenting to representatives of Missoula Organization of Realtors (MOR), Missoula Building Industry Association (MBIA) and the Missoula Economic Partnership (MEP).

The County will issue a press release and legal notice to collect comments before the commissioners’ public meeting at 2 p.m. Thursday, June 23. View the commissioners' meeting agendas at missoula.co/bccmeetings.

Fee adjustments are only one way the County is working to increase capacity to respond to high demand for development review services and the need for housing. Missoula County is also pursuing the following approaches to continue to provide quality customer service and avoid unnecessary delays in development:

• Participate in discussions with the City, real estate professionals, engineering firms, developers, affordable housing advocates and economic development professionals, facilitated by Missoula Economic Partnership, to identify ways to improve development review processes
• Learn about approaches to development review that other communities use 
• Review workflows and application review processes with the goal of adjusting application forms, workflows and regulations to streamline review processes
• Create a development activity tracking system that provides better data about volume and time associated with steps in review processes
• Adopt and implement the new zoning code, which contains improved design standards and review processes
• Implement the new “Housing Action Plan: Breaking Ground,” which includes three key goals and 18 actions to address housing needs
• Shift existing staff resources and hire additional staff to cover development review needs 
• Explore using contracted services to help cover workload surges