City of Helena says warehouse's annexation request was incomplete, moves to postpone discussion

HELENA, Mont. – The City of Helena asked its Zoning Commission to table a request for a plot of land to be annexed into the city, saying the application failed to adequately address the possible traffic impact.

The plot of land was a 13.82 acre parcel at 3645 Alice Street, at the southwest corner of Alice Street and Crossroads Parkway, currently located in unincorporated Lewis and Clark County. The City of Helena said the plot is home to a warehouse distribution center.

The request, listed in the April 14 Zoning Commission agenda, seeks a B-2 zoning, the general commercial use designation, for the parcel.

“The pre-zoning is sought in anticipation of annexation into the City of Helena,” the agenda says.

The pre-zone application was talked about during the previous week's City Commission meeting and was planned to be up for consideration during the upcoming April 14 meeting, the City of Helena said in a Thursday announcement. 

The City of Helena said there was “increased public interest” in the proposal, but that the application’s Transportation Impact Study (TIS) was inadequate.

“Given the importance of the TIS in evaluating compliance with applicable zoning and transportation standards, staff does not believe the record is sufficient at this time to support information Commission deliberation,” City of Helena Community Development Director Chirstopher Brink wrote in a letter to the Helena Zoning Commission.

In Brink’s letter to the zoning commission, he said the staff recommended that the zoning commission table the item to a future meeting to allow the applicant time to revise the TIS and resubmit the application. 

The City of Helena echoed Brink’s suggestion for a new application in its announcement. 

“This item may return at an undetermined date, depending on the response of the applicant,” the City wrote in its announcement.