At long last, the adoption draft of Park County’s second phase of development standards and regulations is slated to be released to the public. 

Commissioner Dossie Overfield announced at an Aug. 4 meeting that the draft is scheduled to be made public today (Aug. 13), ahead of a Sept. 16 planning and zoning public hearing where board members could vote to send the draft to commissioners for final approval. 

That would occur following another period for more public comment. 

“We’ve made quite a few changes since the June public hearings,” Overfield said. 

The changes have been made through a number of work sessions by both boards in the wake of the June public comments made in person and online. 

A group of Clark residents has emerged as some of the most vocal, sharing concerns regarding regulation changes worrying residents about losing the character of their community. 

But at the Aug. 4 county meeting, one of the members of that Clark group, Linda Rethman, said while they do still have some issues, they’ve been pleased at how the county has made changes based on previous feedback. 

“The Clark community is impressed with the work that has happened,” she said. “We’re looking forward to this new published piece coming out.”

She said residents still have some concerns regarding short term rental rules and land usage — many don’t like the idea of developers being able to, via lot size averaging, create lots as small as 5 acres in say, a GR-20 area, as long as the average lot size is still 20 or more acres. 

“We don't want our lives to change in Clark,” she said. “We like it the way it is. Growth is inevitable. Change is inevitable. We just want it to be controlled, and we want to protect what's already there.”

There is still time for the public to not just comment, but for both boards to make changes. For instance, the county commissioners heard from so many people with issues at the first adoption draft hearings for the new land use plan and phase one of the DSR that in both cases commissioners decided to, instead of voting, step back in the process to allow for more changes to address some of the issues before bringing a revised draft back for a hearing and vote. 

Park County Planning Director Joy Hill noted at the meeting that while many Clark residents don’t like lot size averaging, it could have a big impact on the future of the area. 

“There’s ramifications for taking away lot size averaging from a community,” she said. “You could literally be stunting an entire subdivision. You are looking at 20 acre minimum, 35 acre minimums and that's it, except for family exemptions.”

She said to a large degree the commissioners have opted for more permissive land uses compared to current zoning and use tables in many areas. And that’s been a reaction, in part, to the main theme at both of the prior public hearings on the land use and phase 1 DSR adoption drafts, that residents are concerned the regulations will lead to more restrictions. 

More recently, many public comments, such as those in Clark on maintaining large lots or in regards to data centers across the county, have focused more on concerns about some of those potentially allowed uses or ability to subdivide.