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Cambridge presents draft Area of City Impact ordinance; Washington County to seek legal review
Summary
Cambridge officials asked Washington County to consider adopting a draft shared Area of City Impact ordinance modeled on Burley's code; commissioners requested review by the county prosecuting attorney before any action, and discussed representation and enforcement questions for the proposed shared approach.
Sandra McKee, Cambridge city clerk, and Mayor Mark Loveland presented a draft Area of City Impact ordinance to the Washington County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 5, saying the draft was modeled largely on language used by the City of Burley and accompanied by statutory citations and example ordinances from several jurisdictions.
McKee told the commissioners the draft was prepared with assistance from Cambridge's city attorney and that the packet included the state statute text and examples of how other small cities handle impact areas. "We're just kind of wondering if you're interested in doing something specific with Cambridge on an area of impact. If not, then we'd like to go just back to state statute," McKee said.
Planning and Zoning Administrator Bridget Felmley and commissioners asked several operational questions: whether adopting the draft ordinance would allow the county to enforce Cambridge's city codes within the impact area, and how representation on a shared Planning & Zoning commission would be apportioned. McKee noted a shared approach would require the city to appoint a proportionate number of planning and zoning commissioners to the joint entity; she also said Cambridge currently lacks an active Planning & Zoning commission and would need to appoint members.
Commissioners indicated they wanted an opinion from Prosecuting Attorney True Pearce before proceeding. Pearce later told the board he had "some issues with it" and flagged legal concerns; the commissioners scheduled follow-up with the legal department and said they would revisit the draft after receiving that advice.
Next steps: the county prosecuting attorney will review the draft ordinance and return to advise the board; pending legal review the board may schedule the ordinance for further action or follow state statute.
