Sundance agrees to take part in county land plan

Like all municipalities in Crook County, the City of Sundance has been invited to take part in the process to update the county’s comprehensive land use plan. Even at this early stage, the council can see merit in cooperation.

“This is one of those times where we can hang together or hang separately,” said Mayor Paul Brooks, noting that the city began its own planning in the 1980s and it took many years to strike the necessary balance.

If there’s something that can bring the city more up to speed, he said, “I’m all about being a part of it.”

Consultant Jayna Watson attended the council meeting with Commissioner Bob Latham to issue the invite and explain what the process is all about.

The county, she said, has been working on this for about a year, and its scope is “everything outside of city limits”.

At this time, the county is pursuing a needed update to its land use plan, though zoning is not being pursued at this time.

At community input sessions over the winter, she said, discussions were held about land issues and how to implement the overall vision through zoning.

“Quite frankly, there was a lot of mixed feeling about whether or not zoning is good,” she said.

Having chosen to move forward with the plan first and reassess the zoning question later, the county is currently getting its arms around what the plan will include.

The city’s own land use plan can simply be incorporated as an appendix if the city prefers, said Watson. On the other hand, now is a good time to address new concerns.

For example, she said, issues such as capacity concerns and infrastructure requirements can be addressed through this plan. The county would like to understand how Sundance feels about community expansion, for example, as well as open spaces and environment.

“A lot of those policies live in your comprehensive plan,” she said. “The comprehensive plan is the big vision implemented then by your zoning code.”

At last week’s meeting, Watson and Latham were in attendance to introduce the idea and provide the city with time to think about it. The county is trying to form a budget for this, she said, and can share costs with the towns if there are specific issues that the cities want to see updated.

Watson said she had already visited the other communities. Pine Haven is interested in trying to understand what is happening in the area of influence a mile around them, while Moorcroft is still thinking through the issues and Hulett is satisfied with its zoning and land use planning and may choose to just provide its own plan for incorporation.

Brooks noted a couple of areas that occurred to him as worthy of inclusion. The first was the city’s transfer station.

Since Moorcroft closed its landfill, he said, a lot of people from outside the cities are making use of Sundance’s transfer station, which the city does not have an issue with as it keeps trash out of ditches. Of the 62% of county residents who live outside city limits, he stated, a “fairly significant” number are using it.

Secondly, Brooks expressed concern about new residents on smaller plots within the city’s sphere of influence digging their own wells and sewer tanks, and the potential impact this would have on the city’s own system.

As the conversation closed, Watson said she would return later, once the council has had time to think, and asked the council to consider the question and what it may want to include in its 2025 budget for the planning process.