Commissioners review zoning ordinance updates; raise questions about rail setbacks, solar storage and residential lot sizes

Emmons County commissioners spent extensive time reviewing proposed updates to the county zoning ordinance and highlighted a series of items staff and county attorneys will need to research further, including railroad setbacks, how to treat electrical generation and storage in conditional‑use lists, and how to handle non‑farm residences on small acreage.

Commissioners agreed to collect suggested changes and to proceed toward formal public hearings and ordinance drafting before any final amendment. During discussion, a commissioner noted a provision that requires a 25‑foot separation between railroad trackage and residential zones; members said that specific figure likely predates more recent state safety standards and should be checked against current state law. The board also debated adding language to explicitly include solar and battery storage as conditional uses across district sections for consistency rather than listing generation and transmission in one district and not the other.

Another sustained discussion covered the agricultural district language that currently lists “non‑farm residences on lots of 5 acres or more.” Commissioners and staff said county practice has effectively allowed smaller acreage non‑farm residences — often 1–2 acres — consistent with state septic rules that commonly require roughly 1 acre for individual septic systems when they are not tied into municipal utilities. Several commissioners suggested changing the ordinance language to reflect the state minimum or to remove the five‑acre threshold and to handle departures through conditional use or other processes.

The board also discussed feedlot permitting and noted that state feedlot rules and associated federal requirements often govern setbacks and permitting; several commissioners said it makes sense to adopt state standards for those parts of the ordinance so county provisions do not conflict with permit requirements administered by state agencies.

The commissioners agreed to compile the suggested edits and to schedule public hearings on a drafted ordinance once county staff and legal counsel have vetted proposed changes against applicable state statutes. One building permit that followed the zoning discussion — for moving a house onto a parcel inside a commercially‑zoned area — was denied (see Votes at a glance for formal actions recorded at the meeting).