Lewis and Clark County commissioners are poised to consider a major change to the county's subdivision regulations, a move meant to address a question that has flummoxed officials and developers, spawned litigation and nearly halted the flow of residential development proposals.

At issue: How much money should developers pay toward improving roads leading to their new subdivisions?

County officials and Planning Board members have proposed using standards based on the physical conditions of roads, in conjunction with a formula that shows how much traffic a subdivision would add to area roads, to determine how much those developers will pay toward improvements.

The developers' funding would go into accounts set up by the county for specific traffic corridors, and when enough money has accrued to improve those roads, the work would commence.

Commissioners will hold the first of two public hearings on the proposed regulations Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the City-County Building's third-floor chambers. The second hearing is expected to be set for sometime in mid-January, giving the public more time to comment and allowing Commissioner-elect Derek Brown a seat at a meeting on the issue.

The proposals are available by following the link in this story online at helenair.com and in Room 404 in the City-County Building.

County Administrator Ron Alles admitted the rules are still a work in progress.

"It's taken time, and I would never suggest that these ... are perfect, but I think they're better, they're more perfect," he said in an interview Friday. "Ultimately, the commissioners will need to decide, but I think they're excited to make some of these changes."

Spokesmen for local builders and real-estate agents said they have some changes to propose, but by all accounts the discussions over the proposed regulations have been positive exchanges of ideas.

In the past several years, the commission, including outgoing Commissioner Ed Tinsley, has approved more-stringent road standards, and many roads maintained by the county don't meet those requirements.

Commissioners also believe it's irresponsible to continue adding traffic to those roads without improvements. They began requiring developers to upgrade roads near their proposed subdivisions, and in some cases those conditions meant applicants would have paid to improve several miles of roadway.

Officials suggested that future developments utilizing the improved roadways could pay rebates to the developers who paid up front, but local interest groups and individuals didn't like the proposal and said it would be cumbersome.

About 18 months ago, commissioners were served with a lawsuit from developer Jerry Christison, who believes the county's requirement that he pave about 1.8 miles of Lake Helena Drive -- a cost he estimated would be about $3 million -- for a 12-home subdivision.

Commissioners, on the advice of their attorneys, stopped adding road improvements to the list of conditions they impose on preliminarily approved subdivisions, and began rejecting proposals off substandard roads, except in a few cases where developers negotiated separate road-improvement agreements with the county.

County Planner Greg McNally took a lead role in developing the rules over the course of the past year. It wasn't easy.

"It's difficult when you're trying to address public health and safety issues," he said. "A lot of our roads out in the county likely do not meet the standards that we have, but we still want to allow growth to occur. Sometimes finding that balance is difficult."

Developers would be responsible for gathering engineering estimates for the costs of the road work throughout the traffic corridor, which would include roads adjacent to the subdivision, two roads leading to the subdivision from the nearest state or federal highway, off-site roads where the subdivision is expected to account for at least 10 percent of the average daily traffic, and intersections where the subdivision would account for at least 5 percent of daily traffic.

The formula to determine the costs of upgrading those roads would be based on the amount of traffic expected to be generated by the subdivisions after all homes are built.

Jack Walsh, spokesman for the Helena Building Industry Association, said he wants to see county officials define a maximum amount of mileage developers can expect to pay to improve. He thinks the requirement for upgrades from the subdivision to the nearest state or federal highway is too much.

"I know they're struggling with it, and they're trying to come up with something fair, but with the geography of each development ... we understand it's not an easy thing, but we would like to see something definite," Walsh said.

McNally noted the rule would encourage development near existing infrastructure.

"The county is looking at it in a way they never have in the past," Walsh added. "We're happy that they're being more cooperative. We feel they're struggling (to find solutions) as much as anyone."

Mark Simonich, spokesman for the Helena Association of Realtors, declined to comment for this story on specific changes the association is proposing because he was still waiting to hear back from some of the group's members. But he too is happy with the discussion's direction.

"We're not sure we necessarily agree with all of the pieces right now, but we're very pleased to be working with the county on it," he said.

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

Click here to see the proposed new policy.