Commission to strike Chapter 13 (Indian reservation) from county use table; staff to return with amendment

At its Jan. 8 meeting the San Juan County Planning Commission agreed to remove references to "Indian reservation" from the zoning use table and to strike Chapter 13 from the county ordinance, directing staff to bring formal removal language back at the next meeting.

Commissioners and staff discussed limits of county jurisdiction over reservation lands and related tribal-owned parcels. Staff said the county generally lacks zoning authority on reservation land but noted there are cases where the county performs permitting or inspections when tribal parcels are on county tax rolls or where the tribe requests county services; Westwater was cited as an example where permits and inspections have occurred. Commissioners debated whether retaining a chapter that acknowledges reservation lands was appropriate; several commissioners favored removal, describing the Chapter 13 text as unnecessary and proposing to eliminate it from the ordinance and the use table.

Staff committed to present a draft deletion of Chapter 13 in the next packet for formal consideration. The commission did not adopt the ordinance change at the Jan. 8 meeting; the action will return as an agenda item for formal notice and vote.