Park County community members gathered at a Plan Park County meeting at the Cody Library on June 22 to discuss their future goals for the county land use plan. This meeting was held to allow community members to voice their concerns with the current land use plan and what they are hoping to see from the new plan. 

Because many members of the community have expressed concern about water accessibility and use, Plan Park County is adding a specific category to its countywide goals for water. 

“Water has become such a topic of discussion. The problem is there is not good data for Park County that says this area has outstanding water for wells, but this area doesn’t,” planning and zoning director Joy Hill said. “So when we say we’re going to analyze the water situation, that’s really hard. The state does not have the resources to help us answer those questions to the best possible scenario.”

Park County’s substantial growth has given rise to concerns about whether properties have enough water for the development of subdivisions.  Planning and Zoning is stuck between developers who don’t want to have to prove the availability of water  and community members who want proof of water, said Hill. Plan Park County is going to try to remedy this by making the state’s optional standards for subdivisions into requirements. 

“There’s people in this room right now that are going to be really ticked off about that, and then there’s the rest of you who are going to think, ‘Well, thank God,’” she said. 

A burgeoning population in Park County has resulted in a decrease in available resources; therefore, planning for growth is one of the main components of the new land use plan.  

“Whether the growth we are experiencing now is going to slow back down to what we were seeing in 2018, or it’s going to continue at the pace we’re seeing [now] still remains to be seen,” said Clarion Associates Director Darcie White.

She said it’s important to tackle those problems that come with growth now because if they aren’t dealt with, they will continue in the future. 

In the development of its land use plan, the committee is now in phase three, which consists of confirming and refining the plan’s framework and finding out how county residents want future growth to be handled in Park County.  

Part of this phase is also a countywide goals survey, which is available at www.planparkcounty.us until July 15.