Bannock County, cities begin talks to redraw areas of city impact under new state law

At a kickoff meeting in Bannock County, county commissioners and city officials began planning negotiations to modify local "areas of city impact" under recently updated state law. The meeting brought together county planning staff, county commissioners and representatives from several cities to discuss statutory criteria, notice procedures and a timeline for reaching agreements.

Commissioner Jeff Huff of the Bannock County Board of County Commissioners said the purpose was “to bring everybody up to speed and hopefully get us all kind of on the same page with the area of city impact,” and to set target dates for city-level meetings and a final public session. County staff members who will lead the process said they expect to meet individually with each city and to use the county's GIS to align proposed maps.

The group reviewed several statutory requirements county staff identified as central to the forthcoming negotiations: cities should be prepared to show defensible, evidence-backed plans…