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Commission reviews ordinance and zoning-map requests; Spanish Valley and use-table changes set for further review
Summary
San Juan County planning staff presented multiple proposed ordinance updates May 8 — including adding certain commercial uses to agricultural zones and reconsidering overnight rental and kennel rules — and asked commissioners to focus on detailed map work for Spanish Valley and Pack Creek at future meetings.
Planning staff outlined a set of proposed ordinance amendments and zoning-map changes at the San Juan County Planning Commission meeting May 8, asking commissioners to review a litany of public requests and to prepare for focused work on Spanish Valley zoning at a future meeting.
Kristen Bushnell summarized the administrative and use-table updates that staff had presented to the county commission in January and said the online redline would be updated after tonight. Proposed changes included allowing agricultural production and hay production in recreational-support areas, adding kennels as a conditional use in agriculture (with an outstanding debate about whether animal limits should remain), allowing barber and beauty services in agricultural zones, adding fabrication of metal products and paint/powder coating shops as permitted uses in agriculture, and allowing butcher operations in certain zones with reference to state inspection requirements.
Commissioners debated putting paint/powder-coating and fabrication uses into a conditional category given potential chemical and nuisance impacts. On kennels, staff noted the existing definition: any combination of more than four dogs and/or cats (four months or older) constitutes a kennel; some commissioners said they wanted animal limits retained to address nuisance concerns.
On zoning maps, staff described a cluster of requests in Spanish Valley where several property owners and subdivisions have asked for differing designations (residential, multiuse, recreational support) and where some proposed changes could create mismatched islands in the map. Staff recommended a focused discussion of Spanish Valley at the next meeting and a separate map review for the "Upper Pack Creek" / Brownell request where landowners asked that acreage remain in agricultural designation rather than proposed recreational-support zoning.
Commissioners discussed allowing limited, small-scale home-based businesses in residential areas through a conditional-use approach with specific scale limits tied to parking, acreage or square footage so that cottage industries can operate without converting entire neighborhoods into commercial corridors. Several commissioners emphasized preserving long-term residential rooftops and suggested options such as conditional small-business allowances in residential zoning rather than wholesale reclassification to multiuse.
Staff said they will compile public email suggestions into a shared list that commissioners can review and will continue to post redlined changes to the ordinance as edits are agreed. The commission scheduled a Spanish Valley-focused agenda item for the next meeting and did not adopt permanent map changes at this session.
