Park County approves Grasshopper 1 first minor subdivision near U.S. 89

The Park County Board of County Commissioners on April 29 approved the Grasshopper 1 First minor subdivision, allowing the division of a roughly 14-acre parcel near the intersection of U.S. Highway 89 and Mill Creek Road into two residential lots accessed from Shelterbelt Road.

County planning staff told commissioners the application seeks to lift an agricultural exemption on the parcel and split the remaining 14-acre tract into two residential lots of about six or seven acres each. The planning board reviewed the application, took public comment and recommended approval without modifying the staff report.

Planning staff said the proposal is processed as a “first minor subdivision,” which exempts it from a public hearing under the county rules. Staff described several conditions and technical approvals included in the record: use of exempt wells limited to combined appropriation-law limits (not to exceed 10 acre-feet per year or 35 gallons per minute), individual road approaches off county-owned Shelterbelt Road that have been approved by public works, and a required fire-protection plan that calls for home fire-suppression systems and defensible-space vegetation measures.

Staff also summarized proposed restrictive covenants that would limit lots to residential use, require control of dogs, encourage wildlife-friendly boundary fencing, mandate bear-proof garbage receptacles, require a weed-management and revegetation plan for disturbed areas, and specify that driveways be built to county standards (16 feet wide). Building locations, well isolation zones, septic and drain-field layouts were shown on the applicants’ DEQ application and certificate of subdivision approval filed under the county’s sanitation/subdivision process, staff said.

Planning staff noted impacts to nearby agriculture are limited. One adjoining property across Mill Creek Road is used for hay production and remains encumbered by a conservation easement; there is no livestock on the adjacent parcel. Irrigation access in the area is provided to some properties via a contract with the Park Branch Canal that crosses under U.S. 89, staff said; that arrangement is contractual rather than a water right on the subdivided parcel.

A property owner who commented during the public-comment portion said the subdivision stems from flood concerns: “The reason we wanna build a house out there is because we got flooded in 2022. It kinda scared us off the river,” the resident said, adding that the family had held the land since after the 1996–97 flood and had waited about three years to move forward with construction.

A commissioner moved to approve the Grasshopper 1 First minor subdivision “as recommended by the board”; the motion was seconded and approved by a voice vote with commissioners saying “aye.” The record does not include a roll-call tally.

After the vote, commissioners exchanged brief remarks about local history and the shelterbelt trees adjoining the road. The meeting then moved on to other business.