There is good news on the horizon for landowners who are frustrated by neighbors’ junk bringing down their property values.
The draft Big Horn County Land Use Plan is set to be unveiled at a series of public houses starting next week, and the plan contains, exactly that, a plan to stop nuisance land uses.
The first open house is scheduled from 5-8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9, in Lovell at the Lovell Community Center, followed by an open house at the Greybull Elementary School from 5-8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 10, and again starting at 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 11, at Cloud Peak Middle School in Manderson.
A steering committee formed about 18 months ago has worked very hard to draft the land use plan that will serve Big Horn County residents’ best interest, according to consultant Ken Markert of MMI Consulting.
“It’s really a list of things to do that ought to go forward,” Markert said.
One recommendation the committee of about 12 volunteers came up with is to move forward with a “mild form of zoning to allow regulations of nuisance land uses and protect agricultural lands,” Markert said.
“Bare minimum zoning, in my opinion, is really needed to get a better handle on unlicensed salvage yards,” said committee member Tim Mills. “Zoning should be done so that it is the least intrusive as possible to existing property rights.”
Some type of zoning regulations are needed in order for the county to prosecute people who create a health hazard and strew litter across a neighbor’s lot, according to Mills.
In order to put some teeth into these rules there needs to be at least minimal, regulating, legal guidelines in place, Mills said.
Many examples of different types of zoning regulations that can be implemented will be displayed at the open houses.
Mills, a Shell resident, spent a considerable amount of time studying all of the issues pertinent to the planning process including water tables, soil contents, natural gas and electricity lines and population and employment trends. He is not alone in his recommendation, according to Markert.
“Most of the committee felt like it would be important to make people aware that there are many options when it comes to forms of zoning and about how to go forward with the plan,” Markert said.
A copy of the draft plan is available to the public on the Web site www.bighornplan.info for folks who would like to preview the document.
People really need to not panic, because it is a draft land use plan that will first be presented to the public for comment, then recommended to the county planning and zoning commission and then ultimately to the county commissioners for adoption.
After all the public hearings and assuming the commissioners vote to approve the plan, it is still just a plan and is in need of action before anything can change, according to Mills.
There are seven items pertaining to subdivision regulations in the plan, including the addition of a property owners ‘checklist’ for developing property.
“The idea is to make the whole thing more user friendly for people, a few more non-regulatory things like working up agreements with the towns for future development around the towns,” Markert said. “And we’ve recommended that they do more to prevent illegal subdivisions; that will happen through the courthouse.”
The committee relied heavily on the results of a countywide mail survey nearly two years ago when 900 people put in their comments.
“We came up with our goals based on results of that survey,” Markert said. “Now it’s time for people to come and see if what we came up with is what they had in mind.”