Ag Excerpts from Missoula Co. Subdivision Regulations

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Missoula County Subdivision Regulations Pertaining to Agriculture

ARTICLE 2: DEFINITIONS (Pages 6-7)
(5) AGRICULTURE - Agriculture is defined as the use of the land for
growing, raising, or marketing of plants or animals to produce food,
feed, and fiber commodities. Examples of agricultural activities
include, but are not limited to, cultivation and tillage of the soil;
dairying; growing and harvesting of agricultural or horticultural
commodities; and the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals,
or poultry. Agriculture does not include gardening for personal use,
keeping of house pets, kenneling, or landscaping for aesthetic
purposes. Agricultural land includes land used for agriculture or
having a soil type defined by the Natural Resources Conservation
Service as having agricultural importance, including prime farmland,
farmland of statewide importance, and farmland of local importance.
(6) AGRICULTURAL WATER USER FACILITIES - Those facilities which
provide water for irrigation or stock watering to agricultural lands
for the production of agricultural products. These facilities include,
but are not limited to, ditches, head gates, pipes, and other water
conveying facilities.
(20) CONSERVATION EASEMENT - An easement or restriction, running with
the land and assignable, whereby an owner of land voluntarily
relinquishes to the holder of such easement or restriction any or all
rights to construct improvements upon the land or to substantially
alter the natural character of the land or to permit the construction
of improvements upon the land or the substantial alteration of the
natural character of the land, except as this right is expressly
reserved in the instruments evidencing the easement or restriction.

Article 4 - Subdivision Application and Review Procedure (pages 45-46)
4.1.13 GOVERNING BODY DECISION AND DOCUMENTATION
2) In approving, conditionally approving, or denying a subdivision
application and preliminary plat, the governing body shall consider
whether the proposed subdivision complies with:
(b) The Montana Subdivision and Platting Act, including whether the
proposed subdivision has been designed so that it does not have an
adverse impact on the criteria listed below, pursuant to 76-3-608(3),
MCA, or that such adverse impacts have been avoided or mitigated to
the maximum extent possible:
i. Agriculture: Proposed subdivisions or associated improvements
located on or adjacent to agricultural land may be considered to have
an impact on agriculture. Proposed subdivisions which will replace
productive agricultural lands with residential and/or commercial
development may be considered to have an impact on agriculture.
ii. Agricultural Water User Facilities: Proposed subdivisions
encountering the following may be determined to have impacts on
agriculture: a. Located on land with agricultural water user
facilities or adjoining agricultural water use facility; b. Involve
the abandonment or transfer of water rights from the property being
subdivided, or that involve the abandonment or removal of agricultural
water user facilities; c. Proposed subdivisions or associated
improvements that will alter access for maintenance of agricultural
water user facilities; and d. Proposed subdivisions or associated
improvements that will alter the movement or availability of water.