County wraps up input sessions for zoning

The last in a series of public meetings aimed to gauge the community's opinion of zoning was held in Sundance on Wednesday evening.

The commissioners have been examining the potential need for zoning in the light of more than usual development taking place around the county. However, before taking any steps towards developing a zoning plan, they were keen to gather input from county residents.

As she had done at meetings in the three other municipalities, Community Planning and Zoning Consultant Jayna Watson spent time explaining the ins and outs of zoning while taking questions and comments from the audience.

"They are trying to figure out if they even want to enter the zoning arena in the first place," Watson told the 30 or so people gathered in the courthouse basement. All told, she estimated that around 100 people had attended the meetings.

To begin the session Watson asked for thoughts on the things that Crook County residents both love about the place they live and would like to protect.

The answers ranged from freedom and community to open space, low density and the conservative political climate.

"Comprehensive planning and zoning are not the same," said Watson after writing all the suggestions on a board.

A comprehensive plan such as the county already has, she explained, is a way to summarize all these things. It's a vision statement of the things that the county wants to maintain, and is "also a preference document".

It contains information about, for example, the best places for development, future plans for the road system, land use types and environmental goals, such as clean air.

"Those are all the long term goals...of the county," she said, but that document is not legally binding or enforceable. It simply provides, "A basis for the next step."

Zoning, she said, takes these ideas and creates regulations from them.

"Without zoning, the vision is great ideas and that's as far as it gets," she said.

To do so, two documents are required. The first is a map that shows the zoning districts throughout the county (e.g. residential, business, agricultural) and the second is the zoning ordinance, which describes the uses in each district.

A good zoning document, said Watson, lists plenty of uses and ensures they are compatible. She gave the example of allowing feed stores and veterinarians within the agricultural district.

The document also outlines such requirements as lot sizes and distances to property lines, she continued. For example, one of the concerns that spurred the commission to consider zoning was the development of large subdivisions in remote places, with unmaintained county roads.

In such cases, Watson asked, "How much density really is appropriate?"

A zoning ordinance also considers impacts on adjoining neighbors, Watson said. For example, at this time it is possible to place a 200-home trailer park or an asphalt plant anywhere in the county, including right next door to a residence.

The ordinance would also include written rules for providing notice, Watson said. It formalizes the public's right to voice an opinion on what's happening to the lot next door.

Additionally, the ordinance would include a section on grandfathered rights. For example, said Watson, if a property was about to be zoned as agricultural for the very first time but would not meet the requirements of that district, the ordinance would allow for, "The vesting of existing property rights," to ensure that property owner could continue doing what they were already doing.

The process also allows for variances, she continued. She gave the example of a landowner being unable to meet a setback requirement due to a creek that goes through the property.

No timeline has been set at this time and no decisions have been made as to whether the commissioners will go ahead with setting up a zoning administration to draft the ordinance. Watson told the audience that the commissioners wanted to hear from the community before considering this question.

A number of audience members asked questions and voiced concerns from the audience. Pat Donahue commented that he doesn't want the county to try to restrict development, while Ted Davis stated that he is concerned at the idea of managing growth by restricting property rights with no guarantee of protecting public interests in return.

Mark Koep said he saw a similar process in California before moving to the county and it impacted house prices.

In support of growth management, Ernie Reinhold stated that he feels management is a way of protecting personal property rights, while Randy Faust commented that, without reasonable restrictions on growth, every taxpayer is subsidizing development. Tracy Jundt noted that regulations allow access for services, such as fire trucks.

"You have to be able to protect them if you're going to bring them here," she said of immigrants to the county.

Watson ended the session with another activity. Members of the audience were invited to view statements on printed posters and attach stickers to indicate how much they agreed or disagreed with them.

These statements asked audience members to reflect on questions such as, should people have the right to do whatever they want on their property? Are sensible regulations needed to ensure development does not create unreasonable impacts to others?

The answers provided, along with the input gathered during these meetings, will be used to inform the commission when a decision whether to pursue zoning is made.