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County staff propose ordinance cleanups: define hotel development‑credit equivalency, clarify health approvals, update flood references
Summary
County planning staff proposed multiple land‑use text amendments to clarify how hotels in recreational resorts use earned development credits (staff proposes 7 hotel rooms = 1 development credit), to narrow which campgrounds need health‑department approval, and to align flood‑hazard language with FEMA maps.
Bryce Armstrong, county planning staff, presented a package of land‑use ordinance text amendments intended to clarify several points in Chapter 3 and related sections. Staff said the revisions were mostly cleanups and reinstatements of language lost in earlier amendments.
On development credits for recreational resorts, Armstrong explained that the ordinance previously contemplated hotel (historically called "sleeping apartments") treatment but later amendments removed that clarity. Staff proposed reinstating hotel conversion rules and recommended a working equivalency of seven hotel rooms per one development credit, derived from slope‑analysis benchmarks, average single‑family bedroom counts and trip‑generation comparisons. Armstrong said parking standards for hotels remain separate and must still be met by any applicant.
Armstrong also proposed tightening which campground types require health‑department approval: commercial campgrounds and major noncommercial campgrounds with permanent water/sewage facilities (for example, church camps) would require approval; primitive or minor campgrounds without permanent facilities would not automatically require health‑department signoff.
Finally, staff proposed updating flood‑protection references to use “area of special flood hazard” mapped by FEMA (100‑year floodplain) and to include the state’s changed statutory usage of "lot or parcel." Armstrong said the amendments aim to reduce ambiguity and apply consistently to rec resorts countywide.
Commissioners asked about definition limits, parking impacts, and who would administer any hotel‑related allocations of development credits. Armstrong said the changes would apply to any recreational resort (Sundance was cited as an example) and that the county would continue to require parking and other site standards at time of development review.
Next steps: staff will prepare formal ordinance language for the commission’s consideration and public hearing process in upcoming meetings.
