After dozens of meetings with people throughout the county, business and government stakeholders, and revisions made by county officials, the draft of a new Park County Land Use Plan has been released to the public.

It’s the first land use plan since 1998 and aims to address the top themes most county residents were strongly in support of as expressed through online and in-person public input sessions. That includes protecting rural areas by promoting large tracts of land for ag and wildlife use, and encouraging development on the edges of the county’s urban areas, while protecting private property rights and the local Western culture.

The plan “establishes an overarching vision and goals for the use of land in unincorporated Park County over the next 15 to 20 years, as informed by extensive public outreach process.”

The plan will be used to guide day-to-day decisions including zoning and subdivision standards, allocation of county time and resources, plans for public facilities and infrastructure, and the county’s work with other partners, from federal agencies to municipalities.

The consultants note that growth was the concern most raised by participants in public input, and the plan spells out a vision as to how to address an issue that ramped up during the COVID-19 pandemic as people fled cities for more rural areas.

“Park County has an opportunity to plan for responsible growth that will allow for housing and business opportunities while protecting the rural landscapes we cherish,” the plan states in part. “Providing incentives that encourage the retention of agricultural land and more closely coordinating near-urban development with cities and towns will ensure that future growth better reflects the values of Park County residents.”

In the Cody-Powell rural area, one of the planning areas they focused on, they noted the importance of protecting ag land as the area has the highest amount of irrigated ag land in the county. The plan also recommends focusing on the towns of Garland and Ralston to promote better development in those areas, as they have or can acquire access to utilities not present in more rural areas.

In Powell local, which encompasses land around Powell city limits, consultants noted the area is highly desirable for development but also includes a lot of good irrigated ag land, and thus has been covered by the agricultural overlay to account for people’s concerns about losing more prime ag land to development, while the land closest to town more suitable for development is able to be eventually annexed into the city.

The plan is still in draft form and residents will now have a chance to look it over and make comments and suggest changes.

How to view and add input to the draft plan:

The electronic version of the draft document is available at planparkcounty.us.

Ads will run in the papers starting (today) Thursday.

The county is mailing postcards to nearly 6,500 addresses in unincorporated Park County to get the word out about the plan.

Staff plans to present on both radio stations prior to the first open house.

Open houses for the public are:

Tuesday, Feb. 28 at Heart Mountain Hall at the Park County Fairgrounds, and Wednesday, March 1 at the Cody Auditorium

Doors will open at 8:45 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. each day.

Formal presentations will be given at 9 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. each day.

Project team members will be available from open to closing for questions and comments.

The deadline for comments/feedback is March 10.

Next draft — the adoption draft: Any changes made to the plan as a result of this draft review period will be made available to the public well in advance of public hearings with the Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of County Commissioners prior to adoption of the plan (expecting those to occur late spring/early summer due to statutory notice requirements being quite long).