Becoming Compliant: Belgrade’s Future Land Use

For those who have been involved throughout this process, these ideas reflect the evolution of feedback shared at the outset of the project in February 2023. Since that time, the plan’s ideas and goals have been shaped by the Parks District Master Plan, Transportation Master Plan, Utilities Master Plan, updates to the Future Land Use Map, and ongoing feedback, 2000+ inputs, from residents and stakeholders. Together, this input has refined land use planning goals that reflect the community’s desires and set the stage for Belgrade’s future growth.

The plan has been shaped at each stage of the process, with every step further refining the goals of the Land Use Plan. Collectively, the Land Use Plan, Future Land Use Map, and Subdivision Regulations form a coordinated set of regulatory documents that define the city’s approach to growth. The project is now entering its final phase, which will bring the city into compliance with the state‑mandated Montana Land Use Planning Act.

These documents build upon one another and have been shaped by ideas, feedback, and direction from the community, alongside city staff and stakeholders. Together, they represent a shared vision for growth in Belgrade and incorporate the required core elements of the land use planning process.

To view the DRAFT documents, Click the links below:

Here are some other ways to share you feedback on the documents:

Email the City: Belgrade Planning Department

Email the Project Team: Project Team

Call the Belgrade Planning Department: (406) 388-3573

Provide feedback directly on the website!

Monday, March 20, 2026 | 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Wednesday, March 22, 2026 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Click Here, or below, to join the meeting!

Clearly Wednesday: Belgrade’s Future Land Use Q&A's

Help Shape Belgrade’s Future at Land Use Plan Open House

Join us on March 4th from 4:00 to 7:00 PM for Open House 2 of the Belgrade Land Use Plan. The community has provided valuable feedback throughout this process that has defined the Plan's values, goals, and priorities. Drop by the Belgrade Library and Community Center to see how your ideas and the master planning efforts come together to shape our community's future.

We hope to see you there!

Date: Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Time: 4:00 – 7:00pm

Location: Belgrade Library and Community Center - 205 E Main St, Belgrade, MT 59714

Land Use Plan Survey

Thank you to all who took the Land Use Plan. The survey received overwhelming participation, with 230+ respondents totaling over 550 pieces of feedback. Your feedback highlighted many opportunities and challenges that the Land Use Plan will tackle. Survey respondents generally understand the pace and nature of growth across the City of Belgrade, and there is a strong desire for guided, intentional, well-designed growth aligned with community values that are distinct to Belgrade.

Respondents’ Priorities:

• Address critical challenges along the City’s primary transportation corridors
• Invest in walkable, connected, neighborhoods with families in mind
• Identify and protect what makes the City of Belgrade unique.
• Improve design quality with a clear approach for development
• Strengthen parks, recreation, and family amenities.
• Ensure infrastructure and public services and facilities keep up with the demands of growth.

Click Here to see a more detailed Survey Summary and Takeaways presented to the Planning Commission.

About the Survey:

Building on the project in the Clearly Belgrade master planning effort and the Montana Land Use Planning Act, the Belgrade Land Use Plan combines data from these projects to synthesize a Land Use Plan for Belgrade's future. The Land Use Plan Survey represented a collection of community feedback alongside common ideas heard from the community and goals that may still be relevant from Belgrade's comprehensive plan! We aren't starting from scratch!

Over the past two years, the community has shared hundreds of comments through various feedback channels, including meetings, surveys, and engagement opportunities. We look forward to continued community input to shape Belgrade's upcoming planning goals.

We want to hear more, and this survey will get your words and ideas directly to the project team!

Thank you to all who attended the Open House on September 3rd!

The Belgrade Land Use Plan will create a vision for the City of Belgrade and the Belgrade Planning Jurisdiction, planning for housing, employment, infrastructure, recreation, and more over the next 20 years!

What is Clearly Belgrade?

Clearly Belgrade is the City's comprehensive, strategic planning effort to develop a unified and aligned vision for Transportation, Water/Wastewater Infrastructure, Land Use, and Parks, Recreation & Trails in the City of Belgrade. This effort will also develop an innovative web-based platform, unique to our community, that improves access and interaction with the City’s current and future planning documents.

This 3-year long master planning effort will look the city and surrounding area (the Belgrade Planning Area) to update the City's long-range planning documents to ensure they align and paint a CLEAR picture of Belgrade's future.

Active Projects

Adopted: February 6, 2025.

Adopted: July, 15, 2024

Background

Belgrade is experiencing unprecedented growth in and around the community. The most significant indicator of this growth is the number of new people who are moving to town. Belgrade will add somewhere between 4,800 and 6,000 people between 2019 and 2030 who will need adequate housing, service goods, and recreational activities to maintain the livability that attracts people to this community.

Responding to these projections, The City of Belgrade has completed a wide range of updates to existing planning and policy documents including design, transportation, water, and zoning in recent years. However, many were developed independent of one another and through various methods. The City hired a consultant team (Cushing Terrell) to complete a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis which concluded in July 2022. The SWOT analysis included an investigation on the age and implementation status of each document, how the documents are used by staff and public, and potential conflicting information. The analysis concluded with a recommendation for the city to:

"Consider a more comprehensive step forward in updating its Guiding Documents. We recommend that the City move beyond more pdf-based documents and be a leader in Montana and develop a comprehensive set of documents that is master plan based but most importantly and interactive web-based document that is user friendly for both staff and public."

This recommendation established the foundation for the Clearly Belgrade master planning effort.

Overall Master Planning Projects

The overall project will touch over 12 planning documents from a variety of sources while collaborating with local, regional, and state partner agencies informed by the valuable input of residents, businesses, and stakeholders throughout our community..

Stay Engaged

Visit this webpage regularly for news, project announcements, updates, and more. Be first to find out about opportunities to share your voice by registering with your contact information at the top of the page.