Lewis and Clark County commissioners approved extensive revisions to the county’s subdivision regulations, but they also delayed two high-interest changes for several months in order to gather more information and work through the details.

While some in the development community, according to written public comments, think the changes approved Tuesday moved through the process too quickly and others have problems with the finished document — at times involving significant disagreement over specific provisions — many of the revisions evolved in response to public testimony in two meetings last month and most of the dozens of rewrites were uncontested.

Commissioner Ed Tinsley asked for and received unanimous agreement to pull out a brand-new proposal creating an interim solution to the ongoing fight amongst officials, developers and real-estate agents over the commission’s policy of requiring new developments to upgrade existing deficiencies on roads leading to the subdivision.

Commissioners also kept out a proposed rule requiring septic-system mixing zones to stay within property boundaries, and Tinsley said he wanted more information from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

The off-site road proposal — which would set a formula for developers to pay into funds set up for specific roadways, with improvements completed after enough money is raised, and would establish a second safety standard developers would pay to meet in the interim — could be affected by an ongoing lawsuit over the issue, Tinsley said, and its details need to be ironed out.

An attorney with the Helena Association of Realtors, in written comments last week, asked that the proposal be removed, allowing officials and the public time to develop the nuts and bolts of the regulation.

A representative of the Helena Building Industry Association, also in written comments, said the association has several problems with the proposal, including opposition to the notion that developers should pay to bring roads to an interim safety standard and then be charged an entirely different cost toward more extensive upgrades.

Commissioners said the off-site road issue would be addressed in additional revisions set for March.

Developers also continue to oppose a new requirement forcing them to pave internal roads in many subdivisions, regardless of whether the traffic generated from those neighborhoods reaches 400 trips per day, the standard for paving elsewhere in the requirements.

Subdivisions with lots larger than 2.5 acres are exempted from the new rule.

Some have opposed a suggested change that didn’t make it into the rules, either, although it also could appear again this spring: a rule requiring septic-system mixing zones be kept within property lines or on easements obtained from neighboring landowners.

Tinsley, Commissioner Andy Hunthausen and Commission Chairman Mike Murray — who said he was willing to move forward Tuesday but acquiesced to Tinsley’s request to delay considering the matter — believe the issue is one of property rights.

If a mixing zone crosses onto another property, it may limit the neighboring landowner’s ability to use that site as the location of a water well, commissioners said.

While some have suggested the proposal needs more scientific explanation, Tinsley said he spoke to a DEQ official who essentially said the detrimental effects a mixing zone would have on a neighbor’s land are commonly known and likely wouldn’t be studied.

Tinsley said he wanted to verify those comments with DEQ Director Richard Opper before bringing the proposal back to the table.

Reporter Larry Kline: 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com