Council to draft open‑space ordinance amendment clarifying federal and state agency exemptions

The council on March 11 directed staff to draft an amendment to the town’s recently adopted open‑space ordinance to clarify that federal and state agencies are exempt from the ordinance’s acreage limits where state or federal jurisdiction would preempt local rules.

The action followed correspondence from the BLM’s regional director, who asked the town to explain how the ordinance would apply to federal lands. A resident had circulated the adopted ordinance to federal agencies and questioned whether the town was prohibiting uses on federal land. Council members and staff discussed whether to include a single, global preemption clause covering all zones or a more limited amendment restricted to open‑space zoning. Several council members, including Paul, urged caution about a broad preemption that could prevent local oversight if federal land were later used for controversial purposes; Paul recommended limiting the change to open space.

The mayor and staff said they will draft language that clarifies the relationship between local zoning and federal/state projects, send the draft to the BLM for review and transmit the amendment to the planning commission for its recommendation. Staff emphasized that existing code exemptions for public uses may already cover many federal projects, but council agreed that explicit text would reduce misunderstanding.

Council directed staff to prepare the amendment and to bring it to the planning commission and the next council agenda; no ordinance change was adopted at the work meeting.