justice

Montana board withdraws Laurel mental health hospital public hearing notice

This map shared by the state to legislators shows the positioning of the mental health facility to nearby schools and its location on the 114 acres. The Laurel school board has expressed concerns about the facility's proximity to its schools. / Courtesy photo

The Montana Board of Investments has withdrawn a planned public hearing in Yellowstone County over the forensic mental health hospital planned for Laurel.

The board's announcement came Yellowstone County’s government asserted that the state body didn’t follow proper procedure in its zoning change notice.

During a Thursday meeting, an attorney for the county stated there was “a bit of a wrinkle” in the board of investment's March 24 notice that would have required Yellowstone County commissioners to facilitate a public hearing within 30 days — namely, the state had yet to own the land they seek to rezone for a 32-bed mental health facility.

While the state has entered into a buy-sell agreement allowing them to pull out for any reason by July 1, they still have yet to properly purchase the 114-acre piece of land.

In a letter from Yellowstone County Planning Division Manager Anna Vickers on March 27, she wrote that the county requested two things from the state: project description/justification for the zoning change and evidence of property ownership.

She stated that the law referenced in the initial notice by the board of investments applies to “public land.” The property the state has officially expressed interest in since January isn’t purchased yet.

“If the property is not yet owned by the state, but is instead under contract or otherwise pending acquisition, please provide clarification as to the state’s current legal interest in the property,” Vickers wrote.

She said the state could provide that or another legal basis for their position. She gave an April 3 deadline for the response.

During the Thursday commission meeting, it was noted the state had yet to respond. Commissioners briefly expressed frustration at the relatively terse communication from the state around the facility.

Commission Chairman Mark Morse has expressed opposition to the idea of the facility in Yellowstone County since he first learned of it in July. More recently, he falsely claimed to Laurel’s school board in January that the state plans to build a new state mental health hospital near Laurel and shut down the one in Warm Springs.

Though he backtracked away from that statement at a later Laurel City Council meeting, saying he had heard people saying it. Even with local government opposition, county commissioners can not approve or deny a zoning request from the state, and can only facilitate the hearing. It’s the same case with Laurel.

The state responded after the commission meeting as the deadline neared, with an April 2 date on its letter. In the letter, Board of Investems Director Dan Villa shared a link to a 151-page document collecting all public records relevant to the public hearing to help fulfill the county’s desire for more information.

In the letter, Villa disagreed with the county’s assessment of the public hearing law. The county’s interpretation ultimately leads to a public hearing with the state in attendance being pushed back until after the state actually purchases the acreage for a planned $4.25 million.

The state avoided the fight, nonetheless.

“However, we respect that it is the commission who has ultimate decision authority over the hearing process and we have heard you,” Villa wrote. “Therefore, in compliance with the commission’s wishes, we respectfully withdraw the notice.”

Another public hearing is still set for 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 22, in Laurel. Representatives from the Montana Board of Investments and the Department of Public Health and Human Services in attendance, after demands from both local governments and residents for more engagement from the state.