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County opens 45‑day comment period on new land‑use regulations and proposed zone‑map changes amid strong public comment
Summary
The Board approved a 45‑day public comment period on a proposed 2025 update of Laramie County’s land‑use regulations, a countywide zone‑map amendment and a revised planning fee schedule, drawing strong opposition from Mountain Shadow residents.
The Laramie County Board of Commissioners voted to publish notice beginning a 45‑day public comment period on proposed updates to county land‑use rules, a countywide amendment to the unincorporated zone‑district map, and an updated planning and development fee schedule.
Justin Arnold, director of Laramie County Planning and Development, told the board the notices initiate statutorily required public-comment processes and identified timelines: public comments are due by 12 p.m. on June 30, 2025; the Planning Commission will meet June 26, 2025, and the Board of County Commissioners will consider adoption on July 1, 2025. The notices specify where proposed documents can be reviewed in the Clerk’s office, Planning and Development office, and on the county website.
The proposed changes would replace rural‑residential and some agricultural zoning with a unified land‑use framework governed by land‑use zone districts and conditional‑use processes. Arnold said the map amendment would eliminate “rural residential” zoning designations and return such parcels to broader land‑use districts administered under conditional permits tied to project intensity.
The board opened the meeting to public comment even though the vote before the body was only to start the 45‑day notice period. More than a dozen residents from Mountain Shadow and nearby Horse Creek repeatedly urged the board to reconsider allowing commercial uses in the subdivision, cited existing recorded covenants that prohibit commercial uses, and raised specific concerns about traffic, noise, lighting, groundwater and septic impacts, emergency‑response times, and the county’s road maintenance. Speakers included Bonnie Berlando, who said, “I just ask that you would think about people before you push this through,” and several residents who presented a petition with more than 50 signatures opposing commercial development in Mountain Shadow.
Commissioners and county staff responded to comments on process and access: Commissioner Hollingshead encouraged residents to read the latest draft of the proposed regulations and to submit written comments during the 45‑day period; Commissioner Zwanitzer noted the county would improve website access and staff would follow up with constituents. County staff emphasized that covenants are private contractual documents between landowners and are not enforced by the county, and that the land‑use notice and later hearings are the statutory mechanism for government regulation.
Why it matters: the proposed regulation changes would reshape how development and commercial activity are evaluated across large areas of unincorporated Laramie County; the public comment period and the upcoming planning‑commission and board hearings are the formal opportunities for neighbor input and for the county to refine the proposals.
Board action and next steps: The Board approved the notices (roll call recorded as aye by Commissioners Heath, Hollingshead, Thompson, Swanitzer and Chairman Maugham). The items will return to the Planning Commission and Board for public hearings in late June and July. Members of the public were urged to submit written comments and to meet with Planning and Development staff during the comment period.
