Community Development Services Director Chad Bayla told county commissioners that staff will present “real preliminary draft land use policies” to the Planning Commission the next night and begin public review of the plan’s first phase. “Each of these items, like today is the start of the 30 day for this first phase, those first four chapters,” Bayla said.

The draft covers land use, housing, resource and rural lands chapters; Bayla said the comprehensive plan is being released in smaller groups of chapters so commissioners and the Planning Commission can focus discussion on narrower topics. “What we’re doing is we’re breaking up the comprehensive plan into three chapters at a time,” Bayla said.

Why it matters: the county is changing its usual process of releasing a single large draft to avoid last‑minute, document‑wide edits. Bayla said the phased approach intends to produce more deliberate discussion on core sections and to give both the Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners an opportunity to align language before final public review.

Most important details

- Presentation to Planning Commission: Bayla said staff will present the preliminary draft land‑use policies to the Planning Commission the following evening for discussion only, and staff plans to collect commission feedback before assembling a final concept of the comprehensive plan anticipated in “probably the winter of ’26 or probably the spring.”

- Phased public comment: Bayla announced the start of a 30‑day public comment period for the first phase covering the first four chapters despite saying the county is not required to hold a 30‑day comment for this phase. He described the 30‑day period as a way to solicit additional comments from Planning Commission members and the public.

- Staff directions and follow‑up: Commissioners asked for a concise way to receive updates. Bayla said he will provide a high‑level synopsis after each Planning Commission study session for the next three months and that staff will arrange a joint meeting with the Planning Commission in December or January to review consolidated feedback.

- Outreach and related analysis: Bayla said staff will continue outreach to stakeholder groups including the Farm Bureau and Cattlemen’s organizations. He also told the commissioners that several technical analyses are complete or in progress: a global lands analysis is updated as part of the rural lands work, a capacity analysis (LCA) is finished, and an eastern sub‑area draft chapter is under internal review before being circulated to the sub‑area group.

Discussion versus decisions

- Discussion: Commissioners and Bayla discussed the format (high‑level updates versus detailed briefings) and the desire to avoid having county commissioners amend Planning Commission language at a later stage. Bayla described the phased approach as intended to keep meetings focused on the chapters at hand and to prevent “getting detoured” into other chapters.

- Direction/Assignments: Bayla will present the land‑use draft to the Planning Commission and provide commissioners with synopses after each Planning Commission study session; staff will continue stakeholder outreach and refine the eastern sub‑area chapter internally before wider circulation.

- Formal action: No formal motions or votes were recorded at the meeting. Bayla stated the start of the 30‑day comment period for the first phase; the transcript does not record a formal vote to open that comment period.

Quotes and attribution

All direct quotations in this story come from the meeting transcript and are attributed to speakers identified in the record. Chad Bayla is identified in the transcript as CDS Director and is quoted above. Commissioners expressed assent during the discussion but individual commissioners were not named in the transcript.

What’s next

Staff will present the preliminary land‑use policies to the Planning Commission in the coming meeting, provide commissioners with a synopsis after that Planning Commission study session, continue targeted outreach to stakeholder organizations, and return to a joint meeting with the Planning Commission in December or January to reconcile comments before the next public‑facing draft stage.