Planning director outlines updates to future land-use map, intergovernmental coordination

Laura Patton, the planning director, presented proposed updates to the comprehensive-plan future land-use map and described recent coordination with neighboring jurisdictions. "We have discussed this map in the last month with... Mead County, Pennington County, and as well as Rapid City," she said, adding the jurisdictions agreed the map and extraterritorial planning boundaries need updates and that joint-powers agreements may be appropriate.

Patton identified several substantive map notes for the commission, including a one-mile area where city water lines exist near a previously remediated PFOS site and an area designated as floodplain and floodway where the Exit 63 connection to Bennett Road is shown. She said the Exit 63 corridor was identified as restricted commercial in the draft because commercial development is easier in the floodplain but not permitted in the floodway. Patton also noted that neighboring counties asked whether Box Elder would consider taking over permitting and inspections in a nearby area because it is the locus for future growth.

On timing, Patton said staff will run a public outreach push through most of May and anticipate returning the plan to the commission for a public hearing and further action in June. When a commissioner asked whether the question of inspections and a joint-powers agreement had a timeline, Patton replied that any change would require updating extraterritorial planning agreements and approval by both the county commission and the Box Elder City Council, and that such changes would come after the comprehensive plan is adopted.

The commission did not take formal action on the comp-plan item at this meeting; Patton asked commissioners to review the draft and suggested the plan would be continued to a June meeting for public hearing and possible recommendation to council.