The conservation open space zone is intended to conserve, protect, preserve, reclaim or maintain the rural, cultural, agricultural, natural and restored lands in Butte-Silver Bow County for future generations. This includes protecting land from urban encroachment, ensuring environmental remediation of contaminated sites, preventing inappropriate development or other threats that may compromise the character, integrity, viability and quality of the land.

(Ord. No. 10-12, § 8, 1-19-2011)

1.

Agricultural use, farms (crop cultivation, grazing);

2.

Flood control channels;

3.

Logging and forestry may be permitted subject to the following conditions:

a)

As a means to mitigate forest damage as a result of pine beetle infestation or other invasive species;

b)

As a forest management measure to contain forest fire;

4.

Public forests, natural areas, greenbelts, natural landscape;

5.

Reclamation, restoration, remediation, preservation and management of lands impacted by mining operations;

6.

Restoration, preservation, and maintenance of existing cultural sites;

7.

Unpaved trails, either hand cut or gravel, trail linkages, and properly maintained trailheads;

8.

Water-dependent areas including river and creek frontages, watershed areas, wetlands and flood plains, includes provision of access points.

9.

Wildlife sanctuaries, viewpoints, and horticultural experiment stations that shall not include appurtenant structures;

10.

Uses similar to those listed in this section may be permitted, subject to the special or condition use regulations in sections 17.38.120 through 17.38.170, inclusive, of this title.

(Ord. No. 10-12, § 9, 1-19-2011)

Permitted uses must conform to the following requirements:

a)

All uses shall be designed to meet the International Building Code, the standards of the park and recreational board, the objectives of the historic preservation commission ordinance (title 2, chapter 2.64) and the regional historic preservation plan (1993) and its updates, and all applicable local, state and federal regulations.

b)

All uses shall comply with the regulations in this chapter and in chapters 17.38, 17.40 and 17.42.

c)

Traffic circulation pattern will be designed to assure a safe and smooth flow.

(Ord. No. 10-12, § 10, 1-19-2011)

No building shall exceed two and one-half stories or thirty-five feet in height.

(Ord. No. 10-12, § 11, 1-19-2011)

No requirements.

(Ord. No. 10-12, § 12, 1-19-2011)

The maximum impervious coverage by buildings, roads, and parking area shall be twenty percent. Additional coverage may be allowed if approved by the zoning commission.

(Ord. No. 10-12, § 13, 1-19-2011)

No requirements.

(Ord. No. 10-12, § 14, 1-19-2011)

Minimum front yard depth shall be twenty-five feet.

(Ord. No. 10-12, § 15, 1-19-2011)

Minimum side yard shall be forty feet.

(Ord. No. 10-12, § 16, 1-19-2011)

Minimum rear yard shall be forty feet.

(Ord. No. 10-12, § 17, 1-19-2011)

Adverse impacts on the natural environment shall be mitigated by meeting or exceeding the following design standards:

a)

All structures and roads, excluding trails, shall meet the applicable setback standard (i.e. distance from the ordinary high water mark of the water body and any structures) and vegetated buffer standard, in which existing native species may not be removed. Setback distances shall be measured from the ordinary high water mark of the water body and no structure shall be allowed within the setback area.

(1)

Type I watercourses as defined under MCA 23-2-301—Two-hundred-fifty-foot setback, one-hundred-foot buffer;

(2)

Type II water courses, generally defined as all main tributaries of type I water courses—Two-hundred-foot setback, seventy-five-foot buffer;

(3)

Type III watercourses, generally defined as all tributaries of type II watercourses; all intermittent streams; and reservoirs—one-hundred-foot setback, fifty-foot buffer;

(4)

Type IV watercourses, which for these purposes are considered drainage channels capable of carrying or collecting stormwater and snowmelt runoff, and irrigation district canals—Fifty-foot setback, thirty-foot buffer;

(5)

Within a designated urban growth area—Seventy-five-foot setback, thirty-foot buffer.

b)

The following minimum buffer areas must be established from the boundary of a wetland identified by the county, the [U.S.] Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, DNRC, or FWP. Buffers from wetland boundaries within which structures and improvements may not be built, except for those for educational or scientific purposes, include:

(1)

Wetlands of one acre or less—Fifty feet.

(2)

Wetlands of more than one acre—One hundred feet.

(Ord. No. 10-12, § 18, 1-19-2011)