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Bluff council and planning commission align on 2026 priorities, set comprehensive zoning-code review
Summary
Town Council and the Planning & Zoning Commission agreed to align 2026 priorities — emphasizing housing, mapping, enforcement and a zoning-code overhaul aimed at addressing discrepancies that affect housing availability — and set training and follow-up dates.
Bluff’s Town Council and Planning & Zoning Commission met in a joint work session Feb. 19 to align their 2026 priorities and launch a comprehensive review of the town’s zoning code aimed at improving housing availability, mapping and enforcement consistency.
Mayor Josh Ewing outlined the council’s priorities, saying the town will focus on diversified housing options, public safety, road infrastructure, secondary water rights and livability investments such as trail systems. Planning & Zoning Chair Malia Collins and other commissioners emphasized professional development to stay current with new state land-use legislation and requested better public access to interactive maps showing roads, alleys/easements and overlays such as floodplains and Wildland-Urban Interface zones.
The commission and council agreed to separate building-department-specific comments from broader zoning-code issues and to pursue a robust public-comment process for amendments. Commissioners flagged discrepancies between local and state definitions in the code that they said affect housing availability; they set a target to complete the zoning-code overhaul by December 2026 and plan to address enforcement language so penalties better match violation severity.
Collins and commissioners reviewed a drafted list of P&Z priorities that includes establishing zoning rules for cemeteries, prioritizing P&Z professional development, standardizing enforcement language in land-use ordinances, updating the zoning code and intersecting regulations, conducting site visits for subdivisions, advancing housing-related work, improving public mapping access, and adopting flood-resilient guidelines. The commission will finalize this list at its March 5 meeting.
Ewing, Collins and Commissioner Marcia Hadenfeldt said they intend to attend a SERDA land-use training on March 2 in Monticello; staff noted the legislative update on 2025 and 2026 land-use bills was deferred to allow more time for review and will be on the March 5 agenda along with a training update and finalization of goals. The meeting adjourned at 7:13 p.m., with minutes taken by Erin Nelson and a draft published Feb. 20, 2026.
The session produced no formal motions or votes; next procedural steps are the March 2 training opportunity, P&Z finalizing priorities on March 5, and a planned, multi-step public process to consider zoning-code amendments through the year.
