Commissioners approve Wyoming Game and Fish floodplain permit for Grizzly Peak property

Park County commissioners approved a floodplain development permit for a Wyoming Game and Fish Department project to replace a failing gabion diversion, install a fish barrier and new head gate, stabilize eroded streambank and replace an aerial irrigation crossing with an underground siphon on Grizzly Peak LLC property near Meeteetse.

Planning staff said the application (Floodplain Permit No. 4-25) covers work on the main channel of the creek and a separate site on the North Fork and that the nearest residence is about 400 feet from the project. Staff reported agency responses including Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality certification for the project discharges, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers note that the work is authorized by a general permit, Park County Weed and Pest recommendations about best management practices for noxious weeds and Park County Public Works's assessment that the proposed fill is small and unlikely to impact flood-carrying capacity.

The applicant described the work as replacing a failing gabion basket diversion dam with a new head gate and fish barrier, upslope re-grading and vegetation of a short bank section, and replacing an aerial irrigation span with an underground siphon. Construction was proposed to begin after high water receded. Planning staff said the project was designed to reduce the chance of future material being swept downstream and concluded that the project reestablishes an existing diversion at or near its present location.

The permit was approved with conditions that include limiting the permit to the described scope of work, requiring the applicant to begin construction within one year or obtain an extension for good cause (up to six months), allowing county site inspections, requiring notice to the floodplain administrator when work is complete and submission of pre- and post-construction photographs, and compliance with county development regulations and applicable state and federal laws.

No public comments were offered at the hearing. Commissioner discussion included a check that the applicant intended to finish before winter; planning staff said work would commence after the water receded and that the permit would not remove the property from the FEMA flood zone. The board closed the hearing and voted to approve the permit.