County releases draft zoning ordinance to towns; staff outlines review timeline

Planning staff said a draft of a proposed zoning ordinance has been distributed to towns and townships for review and that the county expects a multi-month process of public and municipal comment. Planning and Zoning Director Dusty (staff) told committee members that all towns received the draft and that the county is in the early stages of a year-long process. Staff said towns would be given roughly two months to review the draft and provide ideas or comments; the plan is to collect comments by September so the county can use October to prepare an ordinance for an initial committee review in November. Committee members suggested additional public outreach, including a timeline that could appear in the local paper and interviews to raise awareness of the process and encourage appropriate levels of input. Dusty said he is already receiving calls and will consider timelines or other outreach nearer to public hearing time. Staff said the intent of the schedule is to provide towns time to discuss the draft at their meetings before county staff compiles feedback. No decisions were made on ordinance language at the meeting; the item is informational and will return to the committee as the review progresses.