Land use plan update moves ahead

The county is now looking for a planning consultant to update its comprehensive land use plan, with the goal of encouraging growth in the places that are most fit to handle it.

According to the request for proposals, the plan will identify appropriate land uses and locations best suited for new growth and development, especially where it can be served by the public infrastructure that already exists.

It will also identify strategies to reduce the impacts of remote development in areas where few services exist.

A refresh of the land use plan is a potential first step towards zoning, which the commissioners have been considering as a way to provide more control over growth.

Due to a mixed response at the public listening sessions held in each municipality in January, the commission has not yet made a decision regarding zoning.

However, the board did opt to update the land plan as this has not been done since 2014, and therefore must be completed either way.

Right now, the county has no zoning regulations that would allow the planning department and commissioners to review any type of land use outside city limits.

According to the request for proposals, "In the last several years, there has been an increase in rural subdivision activity, which has raised the question of how growth is going to impact many aspects of the county. As rural residential populations grow, the need for everyday goods and services follow."

The county's discretion over rural development is currently limited to its subdivision regulations. This means, for example, that a ranch can be converted to any other type of development, whether commercial or residential, without any regulation or land use approval.

"In the context of being surrounded by states with heavy land use regulations, Crook County is an attractive respite for non-local interests to capitalize on land use freedoms but without the accountability of the impacts created by development," states the request.

The request requires that the consultant conduct a "transparent and open process" that includes a minimum of four public input meetings at the beginning, to be held in Beulah, Hulett, Moorcroft and Sundance.

It also specifies that there must be in-person meetings with the commission and the Planning/Zoning Land Use Commission at the beginning, when the first draft of the plan is available and when the final draft is adopted. Online input methods and/or a social media page are also requested, as well as "other creative methods and means of obtaining citizen response".

The final plan is to address existing and future land use for rural/remote locations as well as within a mile of city limits, with a level of detail that can easily be interpreted by decision makers and the public and with a 15-20 year timeline.

It will also address infrastructure considerations within a mile of city limits and in remote areas, environmental quality, rural/ag preservation strategies and the impacts of federal, state, recreation, mining, commercial and industrial land uses.

It will include individual chapters or an appendix for the four municipalities to incorporate each one's existing plans and policies. At the request of the communities, however, it will not include any new assessment of their land use or other planning and zoning issues.

The commission has given a deadline of September 20 for responses to the request for proposals, with a goal of selecting a consultant in the first week of October with a notice to proceed.

The commission would like the initial public input phase to be complete by November 22 and an initial plan draft by next spring. The final adoption of the plan, according to this schedule, would take place next summer or fall.