Amazon warehouse zoning talks tabled in Helena; next hearing likely months away

The first step in a possible Amazon warehouse coming to Helena will be paused until no later than August after its incomplete application fell into an awkward transition between two city bodies.

The proposed warehouse would be near Mountain View Meadows, city documents show. Although city paperwork has omitted the Amazon name thus far, city spokesperson Amanda Opitz said representatives from Amazon previously worked with city staff to understand Helena's annexation and permitting process. It's the city's understanding the warehouse intends to be an Amazon distribution center, she said.

The first step for the warehouse, a pre-zoning application, came before the city’s Zoning Commission on Tuesday but was tabled due to the applicant’s incomplete traffic study.

The applicant, Venture West, is seeking B-2 zoning, or “mixed-use” zoning, which allows commercial businesses to be built alongside housing.

It originally sought CLM, or industrial, pre-zoning, but was advised that it would probably get refused, city planner Michael Alvarez told commissioners Tuesday.

Under normal circumstances, the applicant would only have to reschedule its hearing once it submitted its updated traffic study, Alvarez said.

But there is one problem: technically, the Zoning Commission will soon no longer exist.

Amazon’s try at the Queen City came at an awkward time. The Montana Land Use Planning Act was passed and signed into state law in 2023, laying out requirements for local governments to make sure space was being set aside for new housing and development.

One of its requirements was the creation of a municipal Planning Commission tasked with reviewing subdivision applications and guiding long-term city design. A deadline for its creation is coming up in May.

While Helena’s Zoning Commission had some of those responsibilities under its belt, it wasn’t robust enough to meet the state’s standard, community development administrative assistant April Sparks said.

So, a new “jumbo” commission will be formed, partially made from the dissolved Zoning Commission that held its final meeting Tuesday.

“It’s been an honor,” Commission Chair Elizabeth Story told the five-person body.

But that doesn’t mean Amazon is out of an audience. After the Zoning Commission tabled the application, it’s expected to go in front of the Planning Commission no later than Aug. 11, on the condition the applicant fully completes a new transportation study.

On Tuesday, Alvarez expected the process to go as follows:

First, the application will be seen by the Planning Commission sometime before Aug. 11, pending the submission of a complete application.

If the Planning Commission approves its B-2 zoning request, then Amazon will likely apply for annexation, for which the city can lay down specific conditions.

This is a rare chance for the city to ask a third party to build infrastructure on its behalf and is often the birthplace for things like roundabouts and traffic lights, Alvarez said. If the applicant isn’t willing to write its plans around Helena’s needs, the City Commission — which has the final say on annexation via a public vote — has the right to turn it down.

If annexed, the applicant still wouldn’t be able to build a warehouse. It would need a Conditional Use Permit, which is effectively a special permit to bend the rules on what can be built.

By then, the CUP would be handled via new processes outlined in the Montana Land Use Planning Act, Opitz said April 9, which don’t need action from the city or Planning Commission.

Alvarez said he wouldn’t comment on an application that hadn’t been submitted, but he said the would-be warehouse would take “considerable risk” if it moved forward without knowing if it could have a CUP. The entire process is very preliminary and may not come through, Opitz previously said.

“I would say this is a non-obvious path for them to be pursuing,” Alvarez said.

Regardless, the city can’t make zoning conditional from the start, he said. For example, it would be against the law to designate land as commercial but forbid a medical center, he said.

As for the roughly 40 minutes of public comment from Helenans — all protesting Amazon's proposed warehouse being close to the Mountain View Meadows subdivision — their comments will be documented and included in future presentations, Alvarez said, including CUP hearings that would be further down the approval pipeline.