Process Crosswalk

Title 76, chapter 25 reorganized development review around a single distinction: legislative actions, where the public participates through hearings before the decision, versus administrative actions, where the public participated when the land use plan and the implementing regulations were adopted and the application is now reviewed against those adopted standards. 76-25-102(3)(d) states the legislative intent directly — the statute is built to allow streamlined administrative review of site-specific development applications. The Process Crosswalk makes that structure visible: it sorts every review type Helena operates into legislative or administrative, shows the public role each carries, and shows where an appeal goes. Phase 1 already moved Helena's review processes onto this footing; the crosswalk is the reference that holds the whole picture in one place.

The single most important mechanic in the administrative family is the impact determination. Every administrative development and subdivision review runs through the same fork: is the application in substantial compliance with the adopted regulations AND were all its impacts previously analyzed when the plan and regulations were adopted? If yes — the clean path — the Planning Administrator decides on a short clock with notice but no comment period (76-25-305(4); 76-25-408(7)). If the application is in substantial compliance but may produce new or significantly increased impacts not previously analyzed — the impact path — the statute requires additional data, additional analysis, and a 15-business-day public comment period before the decision (76-25-305(5); 76-25-408(8)). If the application is NOT in substantial compliance, it is not an administrative application at all — the applicant must seek a regulation or map amendment under 76-25-304 and follow the legislative path (76-25-305(7)). The crosswalk shows this fork on every administrative row because it is the same fork every time.

Consistent with Chapter 1 (11-1-9.D), the City Engineer is not a decision-maker in this crosswalk. Department review — Public Works, Transportation Systems, Fire, and other agencies — is a step within the administrative review timeline, not a separate decision. The Planning Administrator decides; departments review and comment. The engineering and fire-code requirements that department review checks against are established outside this Title; the crosswalk shows department review as a timeline step, not as an authority.

Helena's process documents run on two clocks and the crosswalk preserves the distinction because applicants live by it: 'working days' for completeness review and department review steps, 'business days' for the statutory decision deadlines and the appeal windows. Title 76, chapter 25 uses 'business days' throughout. Where a Helena process document states a step in working days, the crosswalk records it in working days; where it states a statutory deadline in business days, the crosswalk records business days.

Legislative. Actions that adopt or amend the regulations themselves — the zoning map, the zoning text, the subdivision regulations, the land use plan. Decided by the governing body on the recommendation of the Planning Commission, after public notice and participation under 76-25-106 and a public hearing. Challenged in district court under 76-25-503(2), within 30 days of the resolution or ordinance. There is no administrative appeal of a legislative action — the public's participation IS the hearing process, and the recourse is the courthouse.

Administrative. Actions that apply the already-adopted regulations to a specific site or application — zoning compliance permits, conditional use permits, variances, site-specific development review, subdivision review. Decided by the Planning Administrator. The public's role at first instance is notice; a written comment period attaches only where the application triggers the new-or-increased-impacts path (76-25-305(5) for development, 76-25-408(8) for subdivision). Appealed under 76-25-503 — the two-tier de novo path, Planning Administrator to Planning Commission to governing body, then district court.