Pennington County planning commission recommends zoning changes to clarify water tanks, allow small efficiency accessory units

The Pennington County Planning Commission on Jan. 13 recommended approval of three zoning ordinance amendments designed to clarify standards for water-storage structures and efficiency dwellings.

Planning Director Britney Molitor presented the proposals. OA24-12 would add water-storage structures to a list of uses exempted from maximum building-height requirements in section 204D of the Pennington County Zoning Ordinance. Molitor said such structures are common in agricultural areas, provide water and fire-protection functions, and staff and the Board of Adjustment recently granted a variance for a similar structure. “Because of that we felt like it should just be exempted instead of having variances every time,” Molitor said.

OA24-13 would amend section 324B to allow efficiency dwellings to qualify as accessory dwelling units so applicants would not need two separate conditional-use permits — one for an efficiency dwelling and one for an accessory dwelling unit. OA24-14 would amend section 330C to remove the requirement that efficiency dwellings meet a 20-by-20 minimum dimension called out elsewhere in the ordinance.

Staff recommended approval of all three ordinance amendments, and commissioners moved, seconded and approved each by voice vote; the transcript records an aye for each motion and no roll-call tallies.

If approved by the Board of Commissioners, the changes would reduce the need for case-by-case variances for certain agricultural water structures and simplify the permitting process for small efficiency units used as accessory dwellings.