Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Planning And Zoning topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Park County consultants report strong public participation in zoning overhaul; open houses set across county
Summary
Consultants reported unusually high public participation in Park County’s Development Standards and Regulations update — more than 1,800 questionnaire responses and 300-plus open-house attendees — and scheduled a set of countywide open houses March 26–31 to review draft maps and use tables.
Park County’s consultant team reported preliminary results from a public questionnaire and open houses for the county’s Development Standards and Regulations (DSR) update and outlined the next round of community meetings.
Logan Simpson consultant Melissa Ruth told commissioners the project website had received about 20,000 views, the team collected more than 1,800 questionnaire responses and held round-one outreach with about 300 people attending open houses. The response volume, Ruth said, is substantially larger than the consultant typically sees for rule or regulation updates and closer to participation levels for comprehensive plan efforts.
What the feedback shows: early summaries indicate strong support for limited review of agricultural uses across planning areas, general support for minimal review of single-family residential uses, and greater appetite for regulation of major commercial or industrial activities (warehousing, mining and large-scale tourist developments). Responses varied significantly by planning area — for example, the Clark planning area showed preferences for limited review of agricultural uses but more varied views on residential and commercial intensity.
Next steps and schedule: the consultants said they are converting questionnaire and mapping input into a consolidated “use table” and GIS layers that will be presented for public review. They scheduled additional open houses across planning areas for the week of March 26–31: March 26 (Clark noon–1 p.m.; Hart Mountain Hall, Powell 5–7 p.m.), March 27 (Matisi Conservation District office 11 a.m.–1 p.m.; Wapiti School Gym 5–7 p.m.), and March 31 (Cody Auditorium 11 a.m.–1 p.m.; South Fork Fire Hall 5–7 p.m.). The project website (engageparkcounty.com) will host draft maps and the use table in advance of those meetings.
Consultant notes: the team emphasized they are summarizing public feedback rather than issuing final recommendations at this stage. Key discussion topics for the next round include whether to use minimum lot sizes or an average-lot approach by zone and whether draft zone boundaries reflect local expectations in areas that had low participation (Sunlight, Upper Clarks Fork and Upper South Fork were noted as underrepresented in mapping input).
Commissioner questions focused on duplicate questionnaire submissions (the consultant said a small number of responses shared IP addresses but did not materially alter trends), outreach to underrepresented planning areas, and how county staff will use the incoming state and federal permitting context in the DSR rewrite.
