Capping two years of public meetings and debate, Park County commissioners unanimously approved a new land use plan Tuesday afternoon.

Commissioners described the plan as a compromise between residents who favor more protections of open lands and big game areas, and residents concerned with new restrictions on private property rights.

“I’ve learned a lot in the last two years,” Commissioner Lloyd Thiel said. “It was said it’s going to be a balancing act and I think that’s what we did.”

“Anybody who said we did not listen to the public is not listening themselves,” Thiel said. “Is this plan perfect? No. Are we going to please everybody? No. We need to remember this is just a guideline reference to lead us to the next step: regulations."

Commission Chair Dossie Overfield said drafting new regulations will likely take just as long as the land use process.

Tuesday’s final meeting on the land use plan, held at the Cody Auditorium, was attended by roughly 75 people. During the hour-and-a-half-long meeting, many attendees spoke about the plan, sharing a mix of views between the current version of the plan and an earlier one that included a larger big game overlay and more specific language on some lot sizes. However, public criticism led commissioners to reject that version last fall.

The revised plan that was certified in by the county’s planning board in January by the commissioners on Tuesday whittled the big game overlay down to high use areas only and it removed specific references to 20-acre minimum lot sizes in rural areas.

Although the full big game overlay is included in an appendix, most of those opposed to the revised plan asked for it to be returned to the plan itself. They spoke of the wildlife and open spaces being the reason people come to the area to visit and to live.

“I understand landowner rights are important, but a drive from Pueblo to Fort Collins [on the Colorado Front Range] tells you what the future of Park County looks like,” said Dan White, a former Cody High School science teacher. “You say it couldn’t happen here, but the changes I’ve seen in 50 years are amazing. And let’s think long term. Many of these migration routes took hundreds or thousands of years to develop and they’ll be gone in 100 years … Wildlife is important aesthetically, monetarily — many of us live here because of open spaces and wildlife.”

Veteran Bob Savala said he bought his 60 acres of land in Clark as his version of the American Dream, as a part of a promise he made to himself for surviving the Vietnam War. Savala asked for the plan to include protections for large lot sizes that would keep the land from changing and being more developed. He received a big burst of applause.

But Heart Mountain area farmer/rancher Carrie Peters also received loud applause after speaking forcefully in favor of maintaining private property rights. Peters said it’s hypocritical that some of the same people who seek to restrict what large landowners can do on their land, also want unlimited recreation opportunities on public lands — something Peters said can cause much more damage to wildlife than ag operations or even a subdivision.

Commissioner Lee Livingston reiterated the importance of not putting all of the burden of maintaining open spaces on landowners, saying everyone should have some “skin in the game.”

“There's a lot of folks out there wanting to see protections for open spaces, for big game, and I mean, I make my living off big game, but somebody's got to pay for it,” Livingston said. “Somehow that has to come. We heard from the farmers and you can't ask them to foot the bill for open spaces.”

Many of those who favor the revised plan said they still would have liked more protections for private property rights, but said the document was good enough to live with. A number of farmers and ranchers spoke of needing to maintain the ability to sell off small pieces of land — like the unused corner of a field with a pivot sprinkler — to be able to afford to keep farming the large remaining chunk of land.

“We have to go back to the good book in Genesis. God gave man the dominion over animals. He did not give animals dominion over man,” said Martin Kimmet, a Clark rancher and chairman of the Park County Republican Party, adding “A lot of times a rancher or farmer works all his life to put together a farm or ranch, and then he sells it and that’s his retirement. If you restrict them in a way that they cannot do that — nobody’s going to restrict somebody’s business and say they can only sell part of it. This is our livelihood and we’re all stewards of the animals.”

Some, especially those in favor of the original plan, expressed frustration with the county revising the plan to more strongly favor property rights. However, many of those on both sides of the debate, including former commissioners Joe Tilden and Sen. Tim French (R-Powell), expressed appreciation to the commissioners for their years of work putting the plan together, even if wasn’t going to please everyone.

Before advocating for smaller lot sizes in rural areas to help farmers, Sam George, a member of a local farming family, offered thanks to the commissioners for their efforts.

“I’m sure it’s been not a terribly enjoyable process at times,” George said.

Commissioner Scott Mangold, who made the motion to certify the plan, may have described the two-year process best.

“We’re in disagreement,” he said. “If we weren’t in disagreement, I wouldn’t know what county we’re in.”

Now the debate will shift to a new phase.

In November, commissioners hired the Salt Lake-based consulting firm Logan Simpson to help work through the regulation changes that will follow the new plan. The firm earned the nod over Y2 Consultants of Jackson and Clarion Consultants — the Denver company that assisted with the county’s new land use plan.

Overfield said people ought to think of issues within their specific areas that will be addressed in the regulations, such as short term rentals, land uses and lot sizes.

“This land use plan being certified today changes nothing until we have the rules and regulations updated that come from this plan,” she noted.