The City of Belgrade and Gallatin County announced this week that they have reached an agreement to transition development oversight of the “Belgrade Donut,” a ring of unincorporated land surrounding the city that has confused residents, frustrated developers, and delighted exactly one category of person: people who enjoy explaining obscure zoning terminology at parties.

“The Donut is the area outside Belgrade city limits but within its planning jurisdiction,” said Gallatin County planning director Steve Erickson. “It’s not technically Belgrade, but it’s not not Belgrade. The development standards have historically been — let’s say — ambiguous.”

Under the new agreement, Belgrade will assume primary planning and zoning authority over the Donut, which county officials described as “a natural evolution” and Belgrade officials described as “more work.”

Belgrade resident Carol Vickers, 48, who lives in the Donut, said she learned she lived in the Donut approximately three minutes before this interview. “I thought I lived in Belgrade,” she said. “I have a Belgrade address. My kids go to Belgrade schools. But apparently I live in a donut.”

Vickers said the designation has not previously affected her daily life in any meaningful way, and she expects the transition to similarly have no meaningful effect. “I just want them to plow my road in winter,” she said. “I don’t care which government does it.”

The Donut encompasses approximately 15 square miles of land that includes subdivisions, ranchettes, a gravel pit, and several parcels whose zoning status one county official described as “creative.”

Developers have long complained that the jurisdictional ambiguity made permitting in the Donut unpredictable. “You’d submit plans to the county and they’d say ask Belgrade, then Belgrade would say ask the county,” said contractor Jim Farley. “It was like a zoning Möbius strip.”

Erickson said the transition will take approximately eighteen months and involve public hearings, revised zoning maps, and what he called “extensive community engagement,” a process Vickers said she plans to engage with “if someone tells me when the meeting is and where I park.”

The agreement does not address what happens to the metaphor if Belgrade annexes the Donut, at which point it would no longer be a donut but simply Belgrade. “Then we’d need a new pastry,” Erickson said, in what appeared to be a joke that he immediately regretted.