After people shared frustration and concern over some aspects of the proposed new land use plan last week, Park County Commissioners will vote on whether to approve the plan as is or make changes that could lead to a longer delay in plan approval.

“If we don’t approve it, we review what we want to change, then it goes back to [planning and zoning] for certification and then back to us,” Commission Chair Dossie Overfield said.

Commissioners could still approve the plan possibly with a minor change, however, most people at a public hearing on the plan last week had some major concerns.

Overfield said the discussion will be based on the three main issues, including the agriculture and big game overlays and a recommendation for lots in certain areas to go up to 20 acre minimum lot sizes, albeit with the ability to do lot size averaging.

The commissioners could have voted to approve the plan at the Oct. 3 public hearing, but chose instead to make time to discuss the issues raised by most at the hearing and by many of the comments previously received about the plan.

At the public hearing, Heart Mountain farmer and rancher Carrie Peters said she had read through all of the comments attached to the proposed plan and most raised issues with it.

“The county is not experiencing unbridled growth,” she said. “I feel like this plan is trying to provide a solution to a problem that does not exist.”

The county population growth may have slowed some since Covid-19, but the flurry of new residents during the pandemic was what pushed the commissioners to begin work on a new plan.

That work began in earnest in early 2022 and has involved dozens of public meetings, work with advisory committees and many discussions amongst Park County Planning and Zoning Park County Commission members.

The plan was developed by consultants Clarion and Associates, out of Denver, based on the many in person and online comments, as well as survey results, from what consultant Darcie White said was a representative sample of county residents.

Some of those at the hearing contested whether the plan could be representative due to the amount of opposition to at least some parts of it present in the room.

“Planning and zoning is one of the most difficult jobs because you have to find that balance,” County Planning Director Joy Hill said. “We knew going into this plan we would not make everyone happy. We were trying to find a starting point for the conversation, which I believe we have found.”

She said Clarion was hired to take any local bias out of the writing of the plan by giving it to an impartial third party with no “skin in the game.”

“We hired Clarion to take the personal out of this plan,” she said. “P&Z did not write this plan. There were hundreds and hundreds of conversations that delivered us to this.”

At Tuesday’s commission meeting, it’ll be seen just how much more time will be needed to bring the plan to fruition.