Our Work

Friends of Park County’s work – focused on responsible planning and managed growth.

Our organization began taking shape with an outdoor conversation on a beautiful Montana fall day in mid-September of 2020.

Just two months later we had incorporated as a nonprofit and were actively participating in meeting of the City of Livingston Planning Board’s Growth Policy update process and Park County’s Planning Board’s conversation for a proposed Conflict Mitigation Zoning District.

Our consultants have illuminated concerns ranging from whether there was enough land for future growth inside the city’s city limits- to how rural residential sprawl threatens our agricultural lands, wildlife corridors, and the very bottom line of our local economy.

A detailed history of our Growth Policy advocacy with the City of Livingston Planning Board is linked here.

Our participation in the Park County Planning Board’s Conflict Mitigation Zoning District proposal, as well as our concerns with regard to rural residential sprawl are detailed here.

While our aim and focus has primarily been on our local governmental boards and commissions, several bills floated in the 2021 Montana Legislative session inspired this letter to the governor and our representatives in Helena.

Links to a variety of online resource and educational materials about land use planning and zoning can be reviewed here.

Relevant webinars and online presentations which we and/or our consultants and associates have hosted can be viewed here.

And an archive of our e-mail updates can be reviewed here.

These are a few illustrations of how we work – developing clear, specific, and practical advice to help the officials who have the authority, and responsibility, for managing our growth.

Looking forward, we will continue to be focusing on education, research, collaborations and community engagement to understand the best ways of managing growth and offering those ideas to our fellow residents and elected officials.