Planning and Zoning in the West

[wyoelkfan15]

Like many places in the Rocky Mountain West the County I live in in Wyoming has seen a major uptick in folks migrating to the West on their Rocky Mountain High. The County has initiated a rework of our planning and zoning plan. our current plan dates back to the mid 1990's. They have provided surveys to the public twice this year for resident's feedback on what they would like the plan to take into consideration. One major topic of discussion is future development in the County. Based on the survey results, overwhelmingly the majority of residents in the county would like to limit new development as much as possible. In the last 5-10 years we've seen a big uptick in cookie-cutter type subdivisions, ag lands being dozed over to be replaced by "ranchettes." My question for Hunt Talk is what types of policies do you currently have in your county, or policies that you could see would be helpful, for promoting smart development. In my mind, no new subdivision is smart development, I realize that is absolutely unrealistic. Some items of concern for me are water scarcity (we live in a high desert climate), loss of ag lands, loss of wildlife and their habitat, loss of open spaces, increased impacts to our infrastructure (most likely leading to higher tax basis). My question for Hunt Talk is what types of policies do you currently have in your county, or policies that you could see would be helpful, for promoting smart/sustainable development.

Several thoughts I've had on the issue:

Increase the county fees for new subdivisions. Our current plat costs a developer <$1-3000, depending on the subdivision size, basically to cover the county's fees for processing. This does not include engineering, planning etc. My thought is to increase the fees for major subdivisions by a minimum of 10x, with an additional $10-20,000 per lot in the subdivision owed to the county. Take the increased revenue and plug that back into infrastructure, land acquisitions, schools, water resources, public parks / access, etc.

Have higher restricted zones for development in ag. lands, crucial wildlife habitat and in water sensitive areas. Many of the subdivisions in the County are in old ag lands or lower elevations that rely on wells for water supply. A study done by the feds in the 90's indicated that current use levels are sustainable, if higher demands on the system are required the aquifers will begin to deplete, and depending on demand eventually dry up.

Promote multi-family dwelling developments inside City limits. We currently have a housing shortage. Personally I think that's BS, based on the amount of new homes that have been erected in the last 5 years. But affordable housing for low-income families is becoming Jackson-nesk.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

Thanks,

LP

 

[BigHornRam]

Sounds like Bozeman in the 90's. It's only more Jackson-esk today. What county do you live in?

 

[flatcoat]

I just bailed on living in Teton County, ID. For several reasons the juice was no longer worth the squeeze. I sat vice chair on the local housing authority etc. I still commute there for work, in public service. Teton County just passed its new county code with a lot of controversy and without much community support and no joke the county commissioners advertised modeling it based off Big Sky, Jackson etc. Shining examples of equality. We have new rezones, minimum lot sizes etc.

I can see both sides but if you're going to make it prohibitive for anyone but the rich to build in the county and take a total NIMBY approach, you better balance that out with high densities in the cities, subsidized workforce housing etc. None of that was addressed in Teton County ID. My big issue with a lot of these policies is they're passed by County Commissioners who run for office because they're bored trust funders or retired boomers looking for something to do and their policies prop up their property values and accomplish little else.

Impact fees are a good start, especially to keep police, fire, etc afloat with the influx.

It's good to remember that we adapted the European styles of zoning which sole purpose was to promote inequality and segregation. This is a good read, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/m-nolan-gray/arbitrary-lines-zoning/ These days it's just been adapted to keep the middle class out of sight and out of mind of the wealthy in the west in order to prop up land values.

STR’s and institutional investors have just about ruined the West. At least some states tax the shit out of STR’s and put that straight back into affordable housing. Idaho thought it smart to ban regulation on STR’s based on the real estate lobbyists. Very helpful.

I could ramble on this subject for hours.

 

[BirdManMike]

Lack of multi-family housing and abundance of short term rentals, IMO. Anything 'affordable' in town is picked up as an investment. Landlords have figured out that in the mountain west a short term rental brings in the same money in 3 months that a long term rental does all year, plus the wear-and-tear on the place is FAR less than it would be with long term renters.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Any thoughts would be welcome.

Good professional growth planning and community involvement at the local level to identify values and goals is key. Coming to agreement on the values and goals is not easy. Here in our little rural community it took several years of meetings and community gatherings just to draft a community growth plan with rather benign policies. which were eventually adopted as County Growth Policy, however not regulatory. The next phase would have been transitioning policy into zoning regulations, but the vocal rednecks who hollered about moving here because of no rules and who wanted to "be able to do anything they decide to do" with their property came on strong and prevented any reasonable restrictions.
Guess what? Now the development across the highway with 350 new front doors, all for lease or rent, and mostly for employees at Yellowstone Club and Big Sky, is about to overwhelm this little town.
Ironically, the extensive marijuana grow facility with several large buildings and huge greenhouses located in a rural area SW of this little town is right next door across the fence from one of the loudest opponents of growth planning, now with his place for sale. When a prospective buyer visits the property and asks, "What's that big facility next door?", the response causes the buyer to say, "Not interested; seeya!"

 

[BigHornRam]

Pot shops are popping up all over the Bitterroot. People voted for it in Montana and now it's a legal business. Doesn't seem to be slowing down the influx any. Maybe making it worse. Is what it is.

 

[Irrelevant]

WA has a ton of regulation (surprised right), much of it ain't as controlling growth. All subdivisions have to be approved by the county, you have access restrictions, density restrictions, you have to comply with the State Environmental Protection Act (by showing your action will either be non-significant, or be mitigated), you have to provide utilities, the county has to ensure sufficient water both physical and water rights (which is really hindering growing in several counties).

I agree with the above though, that you need to facilitate higher growth in town, and I would argue you need to ensure you towns/cities are places people don't mind living. For example many of the cities around here require X amount of public parks be created and donated as part of a plat approval.

 

[Straight Arrow]

WA has a ton of regulation (surprised right), much of it ain't as controlling growth. All subdivisions have to be approved by the county, you have access restrictions, density restrictions, you have to comply with the State Environmental Protection Act (by showing your action will either be non-significant, or be mitigated), you have to provide utilities, the county has to ensure sufficient water both physical and water rights (which is really hindering growing in several counties).

That's actually pretty standard across the states stuff ensuring compliance with state regulations. You are correct in that it does not control growth.
The concerns pointed to above by my post are more intrusive to quality of life. (Downwind pot-saturated breezes, sexually oriented businesses in your neighborhood, blocking of night sky, noise pollution, excessive billboards now block HWY 191 view of the beautiful Gallatin Canyon and nearby mountains near here, unfettered traffic congestion, 68 Conestoga unit glampground in the Blue Ribbon Gallatin River floodplain, and on and on!)
It takes local growth planning and zoning regulations to hinder the adverse impacts described above. Unfortunately, throughout the west it is too little, too late!

 

[hank4elk]

Tried dealing with sprawl for years and I was in the trades. Multi use , affordable housing, redevelopment $ all were gone when the new exclusive community, in a existing community were done as not planned. $ won out in the end and no useful regulations ever went thru, just more sprawl and development on new lands. Realtors wound up owning the low income housing or a contractor. A year later on the market for twice the original price.
The only ones to eat the new fees and regs were the ones who lived there before. Only now they can't rent a apartment to clean the houses of the new $.

I quit counting the new open spaces and mini parks the developers dumped on the county parks dept without the funds or personel to keep up with them. Just add it to Hanks list it's in his area. 3 parks and the equivalent in bike lanes or strip green spaces added. No extra pay nor even a part timer to help.
Oh, I'd get volunteers. Useless individuals who cost me time.

They ruined CA and now they are at your door or own the place next door. Don't blame the original CA people.
Bet you got some hottie realtors in Bozeangeles and Boise. Some stud pickem up corntractors too. Bet there plenty of brew pubs and Arby's too.

 

[mrcowboy]

Santa Fe is getting to that point now Hank. Nothing affordable at this point. Apartments run $2k for decent one bed room now. Oh, water....that's important......where the hell do all of these developers think water is going to come from?

 

[Straight Arrow]

Bet you got some hottie realtors in Bozeangeles and Boise. Some stud pickem up corntractors too. Bet there plenty of brew pubs and Arby's too.

You nailed it!

 

[hank4elk]

Santa Fe is getting to that point now Hank. Nothing affordable at this point. Apartments run $2k for decent one bed room now. Oh, water....that's important......where the hell do all of these developers think water is going to come from?

They just built a massive facebook place and a even bigger amazon place in Los Lunas to go with the wallyworld depot they had. They have never said where the millions of gallons of water they received came from. It just appeared.
Oh and no new on or off ramps or roads. Just add the traffic and let the locals live with rush hours and road jams.

 

[hank4elk]

I'm waiting for the 1st immigrant busload to land in Boozangeles from FL.
It's the Martha's of the Rockies!

 

[RandanP]

Build out from the core. Keep a grid street pattern. Outside of core, minimum lot size of 160 acres.