Is zoning still a four-letter word?

Once upon a time, the word “zoning” was akin to a curse in this part of the world – but that doesn’t seem to be the case any more.

To make sure this is more than an illusion, the county commissioners will include public forums in the process of researching possible new zoning rules.

Last month, the commission kicked off the process of developing a possible zoning plan for the county by inviting a community planning and zoning consultant to do the necessary groundwork of figuring out exactly what the county wants and needs.

As Jayna Watson returned to share her progress, conversation turned to the views of the public.

County Attorney Joe Baron commented in amazement that nobody had attended the meeting to protest the idea of zoning.

That tells you something, he said: “People aren’t objecting to this, or they would be here”.

In the past, he continued, if you mentioned the word zoning, people would show up. That hasn’t been happening for well over a year.

“People have flipped on this,” he said, agreeing with sentiments expressed by all three commissioners that it’s time to reach out to hear from the public to gauge exactly where people stand on the issue.

Public Input

Commissioner Bob Latham began the discussion by sharing his own research on the matter. He realized he is in support, he said, after educating himself by talking with Planning Director Tim Lyons.

“Right now, you split up a piece of property out in the county into 40-acre parcels and they can do whatever they want. They could put three or four houses on there, they could put a business on there, they could put an RV [park] – we have no control over it,” said Latham.

Though he has been told by several ranchers that zoning is not necessary, Latham expressed his opinion that the ability should exist for the commissioners to be able to exempt “true ag operations” while getting some control over the subdivisions under development before the county has a “mish-mash of crap” on its hands.

“Then, when it turns into a nasty disaster area, we’re going to be footing the bill to clean it up,” he said.

Latham expressed that he does not believe the county needs to get involved with ag operations, but does need to get a handle on the growth and development happening right now.

He later expanded on his point that his personal goal is absolutely not to take control of people’s land, and that’s not what zoning is about.

“All it is is protecting the people that are here and protecting people’s property rights as a neighbor,” said Latham.

It’s about having “an avenue to say no”, Latham said, when someone proposes putting a junk yard in the middle of an attractive subdivision. It’s about where your rights end as a property owner stop and your neighbor’s rights begin.

Commissioner Kelly Dennis followed this by stating that he believes a public forum will be necessary as soon as the board has gathered enough facts and figures to know exactly what is being proposed.

If the county finds it has “run into a brick wall” or that the public is not behind the idea, he said he would like to see the process stopped.

“My concern is that the county government is not here to stop business enterprise happening,” said Commissioner Fred Devish, agreeing with Dennis’s sentiment on the basis that feedback from the public will inform as to whether certain zoning ideas are likely to interfere with the lives and livelihoods of members of the community.

Latham also agreed, stating that he, too, does not want to stymie development and progress in the county, but does want to ensure there is an element of control over how it happens.

“There’s no absolute right to develop your land as you see fit. It doesn’t exist,” said County Attorney Joe Baron.

“We’re all subject to government regulation for everything and there’s already a lot of regulation. The question it comes down to on this…is you guys will decide where those right and those obligations mesh with each other.”

Zoning, said Baron, tackles the grey area between, “The right to do whatever you want without interference from anybody else versus the rights of other people to have to deal with your mess and impact that you’ve caused.”

Those impacts are real, Baron said, and it’s not just about the appearance of the county. Quality of life concerns are “nebulous”, but impact on the county coffers is not.

The taxes an individual pays do not cover the services provided to them, Baron continued. Agriculture does not pay anywhere near its share compared to a subdivision; for example, the productive value of ag land in the county is $16 million, he said, while pipelines alone are valued at $36 million and therefore pay double the property tax.

“The fact of the matter is that I, who pay taxes and live in town, subsidize all of that out in the county,” he said.

It’s the commission and Land Use Planning’s job to listen to the public and their consultants to come up with a balance, Baron said. Doing nothing is “an easy way out” but there have been 135 years of that and “apparently now people think it’s time to do it”.

Watson reported that her assessment is around 70% complete and all the “heavy lifting” is done. At the request of the commission, she will change the next step of her work to focus on hosting public meetings in Moorcroft, Hulett and Sundance in the new year.