Meade County planning board recommends denying waiver of 30,000‑gallon fire cistern for proposed three‑lot split

The Meade County planning board on a voice vote recommended denying a variance that would waive the county's requirement for a 30,000‑gallon fire‑suppression cistern and dry hydrant for a proposed split of a 9‑acre parcel into three 3‑acre lots.

The applicant, Jeff Orr, asked the board to waive the requirement in Meade County Ordinance 33 (article 7.6.7), saying the cost and the way the land has evolved made the cistern requirement burdensome. "When I bought that land originally, I wanted to subdivide it three ways," Orr said; he told the board installing the full fire‑suppression system would be expensive and that the request was driven by practical constraints on development and sale.

Neighbors strongly opposed the waiver. Kelly Schultz, who lives on Bighorn Road, urged the board to apply the ordinance uniformly: "If you grant this variance, are you prepared to grant the same variance to at least five more of us that would love to do this within the Dactylar Subdivision?" Schultz said, pointing to a prior revision to county ordinances in May 2022 and a local fire that delayed emergency response in the area.

Tanya, the county planning staff member, told the board Bear Butte Valley Water would not permit a hydrant on its system, which left the 30,000‑gallon cistern and dry hydrant as the county standard for medium‑density subdivisions. Staff also noted the existing Bachelor Subdivision contains 16 already‑platted lots; adding three more would bring the total to 18 and keep the subdivision at the medium‑density threshold the ordinance addresses.

Shannon, a surveying representative for proponents, and other panelists debated whether the ordinance's intent—to provide sufficient water storage for fire departments to draw on—was applicable to a small, incremental split. Shannon cautioned that the cistern is essentially additional water storage and does not substitute for fire apparatus: "This type of fire suppression basically takes a truck to either draw it out of the tank or they flush it in a swim pool and then they pull it out," Shannon said, arguing the tank is storage rather than an automatic firefighting system.

Board members discussed the policy implications of allowing a piecemeal approach to subdivision—where property owners split lots over time to avoid infrastructure triggers—versus requiring infrastructure at the point the subdivision crosses ordinance thresholds. Several members echoed neighbors' concerns about public safety and fairness. A motion to recommend denial carried by voice vote.

The planning board's recommendation will be forwarded to the Meade County Commission for final action. No final decision on county permitting for the proposed lots will be made until the commission reviews the variance recommendation and any additional submittals the applicant provides.

What happens next: the county will forward the planning board's recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners; the applicant may supply additional engineering or pursue the required cistern and dry hydrant if the commission denies the waiver.

Provenance: transcript discussion begins with staff explanation of the ordinance and applicant remarks (topic intro: SEG 452) and continues through neighbor testimony and board motion (topic finish: SEG 815).