A small mechanic shop owner has received the Park County government’s blessing to operate out of his shop-house in rural Powell.

County commissioners voted unanimously this month to grant a special use permit to MAXX Diesel Repair, owned by Skylar Sheets.

“You’re the future of Park County, young entrepreneurs, so we appreciate your efforts,” Commission Chairman Jake Fulkerson told Sheets at the Dec. 17 meeting.

MAXX Diesel Repair previously operated out of a shop in the city of Powell, but Sheets moved it to his home on Lane 11H, about 3.5 miles southwest of town, in June.

The business is generally a one-man shop — with Sheets working on equipment ranging from pickups to dump trucks — but the county permit allows MAXX Diesel to add one more employee; adding any other personnel would require going back through the county’s permitting process.

No more than 15 vehicles will be stored on-site at a given time and will mostly be hidden by trees, county planning documents say. No loud tools will be used outside the shop and vehicles will be tested on other roads.

Sheets asked for permission to operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. However, Commissioner Joe Tilden suggested that Sheets also get permission to work on weekends. Otherwise, if he did any work on a Saturday or Sunday, “somebody’s going to call in and complain — and that’s going to put us in a position of enforcement,” Tilden said.

Sheets responded that he enjoyed his time off and indicated he didn’t need to run MAXX Diesel on Saturdays or Sundays.

“I have yet to work a weekend,” he said.

But later in the conversation, Tilden pushed Sheets on the subject again.

“I would like to have you think seriously about adding language in there about occasionally [working] on weekends,” Tilden told the applicant.

However, Commissioner Lee Livingston balked at that idea, saying “‘occasionally’ is subjective” and noting that the proposal reviewed by neighbors referenced only weekdays.

Ultimately, commissioners voted unanimously to stick with weekdays from 8 to 5, as requested.

“I was just trying to help you and I was trying to help us,” Tilden said told Sheets after the vote, suggesting there could be issues.

No objections were raised at this month’s public hearing before the commissioners. However, earlier in the process, a handful of neighbors voiced concerns about having the business in the residential area.

“I would say this is a new and unusual thing for that subdivision,” neighbor Kyle Sletten told the Park County Planning and Zoning Commission on Nov. 19.

A few other neighbors wrote letters.

Harley Wassink complained of noise from “diesel trucks running constantly and sometimes late in the evening” and charged that “speeding, rapid acceleration and apparent racing … has been a constant problem since the shop was opened.”

Neighbor Kelly Muecke also recounted noise and speeding.

“While I don’t begrudge anyone making a living, I’m not sure this is the best place for them,” Muecke wrote, adding that “my vote is a no.”

However, Sheets told the planning and zoning board in November that the issue with loud and speeding vehicles preceded his arrival in the area.

“There’s a substantial amount of traffic on that road,” Sheets said, adding, “I’m one guy and I have one customer at a time, so as far as contributing to the road, I don’t do a whole lot.”

MAXX Diesel’s closest neighbor, Levi Davis, echoed that account. He said speeding has been a problem for as long as he’s lived in the area — and that Sheets isn’t the cause.

“We’ve never had any issues with Skylar [Sheets],” Davis said, describing Sheets as a considerate and straightforward neighbor.

Another neighbor to the south, Steve Thompson, gave the repair business his support, too.

“More power to him if a young person can make it,” Thompson said. “Powell needs all the good businesses we can get these days.”

Since MAXX Diesel occupies less than 5,000 square feet at Sheets’ residence — consisting of around 4,000 square feet of shop space alongside an attached apartment — county officials classified it as a “cottage industry.”