Box Elder planners detail future land-use map updates, extraterritorial agreements with neighboring counties

Laura Patton, Box Elder planning director, presented proposed updates to the city’s comprehensive plan and future land-use map, saying staff met with Mead County, Pennington County and Rapid City and that the jurisdictions agreed to update the city’s extraterritorial planning jurisdiction and explore joint powers agreements.

Patton said staff identified a handful of minor map changes after the interjurisdictional meetings. “Everyone agreed on that unanimously as well as entering into a couple joint powers of agreements,” she said. Patton pointed to an area previously used as part of a PFOS-related water solution and noted that city water lines are present in the green-shaded areas on the map.

The presentation outlined several substantive points for commissioners: potential transfer of building permitting and inspection responsibility for some outlying areas if parties agree, floodplain and floodway constraints near the Exit 63 connection and a change of a trailer-park area to mixed-use. Patton said the city matched several land-use designations to neighboring counties where road patterns and development expectations align.

Staff flagged transportation infrastructure tied to the Northern Lights area, noting an alternate access under construction called Hotel Way that will affect traffic and phasing for nearby subdivision proposals. Patton said the city will run a public outreach push over most of May and plans to bring the revised plan back to the commission at a meeting in June; she emphasized the formal adoption process will require notification and a public hearing.

In response to a question from a builder asking about a timeline for any change to inspection responsibility, Patton said altering who performs inspections would require updating the extraterritorial planning agreement and entering into a joint powers agreement and that both the county commission and the Box Elder City Council would need to act after the comprehensive plan is adopted. The questioner also said the property in question includes an 8‑acre annexation and potential cottage-home development; Patton said she had highlighted the area for future discussion but that no application was pending before the commission.

The next procedural step is continued public outreach in May and staff’s anticipated return to the commission in June, followed by the public-notice and public-hearing steps required for formal adoption.