County to update land use plan

As the county moves to update its land use plan, the commission must make certain decisions about the process and its outcome.

Key to these decisions will be the involvement of the public, and also the municipalities – especially, said Community Planning and Zoning Consultant Jayna Watson, if the commission still wants to encourage development towards the county’s population centers.

A refresh of the comprehensive land use plan is a potential first step towards zoning, which the county has been considering as a way to provide more control over growth, which has accelerated over the past few years.

Due to a mixed response at the public listening sessions held in January, the commission has not yet made a decision regarding zoning. However, the board did opt to update the land plan as this must be done either way.

Watson presented the commissioners with a thought exercise last week, asking them to consider a set of questions as she works to prepare a scope of work for the consultant who will be tasked with refreshing the plan.

The first of these questions tackled the involvement of municipalities. Watson explained that the commission may want to reach out for coordination as to how they would like to be included, as the towns may be able to offer important data such as the availability of utilities.

Ralph Goodson of the Crook County Land Use Planning & Zoning Commission stated that he thinks it will be important to explain the reasoning behind the county’s desire to see development take place closer to towns. It’s not necessarily about utilities, he said, but about considerations such as roads and proximity to fire and EMS services.

Commissioner Fred Devish agreed that this could be a, “Key element in slowing down some of the wild growth way, way out in the middle of nowhere.”

The commission decided to approach each municipality personally to explain the purpose of the plan and gauge interest in contributing to it.

Watson also addressed public involvement, asking the commission to decide its preferences for the number of community input meetings. She asked the commissioners to bear in mind that the consultants will likely be traveling, so it will be cost effective to host meetings in the various locations in the same week.

Some discussion was held as to whether the four meetings in each of the municipalities earlier this year on the idea of zoning were sufficient. The commissioners said they had not received much feedback from people that would indicate it was not enough – though Commissioner Fred Devish noted that the bad weather had prevented a few from coming.

Watson reminded the commissioners of her view that you can usually tell when you’ve hosted enough meetings when the comments being made are along the same lines.

“You’ll know when you need more meetings when the messages start changing,” she said.

The commissioners agreed that four meeting locations is sufficient to provide county residents with an opportunity to contribute.

Watson also asked the commission to decide how much they would like county and city staff to be involved. It can lower costs when the consultants receive assistance with things that are not “major time commitments”, like preparing meeting materials, she said.

Tim Lyons, director of the Planning department, stated that he would be fine continuing to assist.

On the topic of timeline, the commission expressed no issue with the typical timeline of 18 months to complete the plan.

Finally, Watson asked the commissioners to ponder the topics that will be covered in the plan. Basic elements include land use, environment, infrastructure and open spaces; the commissioners could also include topics such as education, economic development, housing, partnerships with public-private entities, social services and transportation master planning.

The total cost for the plan will be somewhere in the region of $100,000 to $125,000, said Watson. As the municipalities represent an estimated 46% of citizens, the commission will consider suggesting financial contributions; meanwhile, Watson will put together the work description and “beat the bushes” for potential grant funding.