After running afoul of Park County Planning and Zoning regulations, the owner of a strip of businesses in Ralston has been given additional time to get into compliance.

At a Tuesday meeting, Park County commissioners unanimously agreed to hold off on issuing any penalties to businessman Chris Pelletier. Instead, commissioners allowed him to continue working on getting his wastewater systems checked and permitted, to submit a zoning map amendment application to make his properties commercial, and to remove sheds from the property to resolve a concern that he’s hosting too many businesses on one parcel.

Planning and Zoning staff initially reached out to Pelletier in June while he was in the process of transitioning his Mobility Plus business to Powell and preparing to lease the Ralston facility to a pet grooming company.

County regulations say that only two businesses can be hosted on a single parcel of land, and staff counted three on Pelletier’s property: his Heart Mountain Hearing business, which remains in Ralston, the planned grooming business and the storage sheds that are staged next to the building and offered for sale.

County staff told Pelletier he needed to resolve the three-business issue and have his septic system checked out before the grooming business started up, but Pelletier said he needed the rental money and told the groomer to open.

Pelletier said that, while he didn't know for sure if his septic system was working well, he had no reason to think otherwise. He said he would work to have a plumber check the septic system after the holidays.

Before he owned the Main Street property, Pelletier said it held a gas station and laundromat, which led a couple commissioners to figure the septic system should have no problems handling a pet grooming business.

Planning Director Joy Hill said her office’s biggest concerns surrounded the water and sewer, and not having a clear idea as to whether the septic is working properly.

“An unpermitted grooming business is now occupying the approximately 1,000-square-foot space where Mobility Plus previously operated without a permit. It is unclear how much wastewater is generated by the grooming business,” the planning and zoning staff report reads in part. “The existing septic system has two large tanks and a very deep leach field, which is quite a distance from the structure it serves. It is unclear how far the well is from any portion of the system.”

On Tuesday, Pelletier said the owners of the grooming business determined that the average dog wash takes 2 gallons of water.

“That’s a little over a flush per dog,” he said. “All I want to do is be able to use my property, don’t want my property to become useless and valueless. I’ve tried to improve the area and I think Ralston has gotten better in the last 15 years.”

Pelletier acknowledged that he’d missed some of the county’s deadlines during the process, but he asked for help in solving the zoning issue. As he did during the fall meeting that the county held with Ralston residents, Pelletier also questioned why the county hadn’t taken the lead on changing the zoning to match the long-term history of the Ralston "strip" that has hosted many businesses for decades.

“To say that I’m responsible for fixing Ralston seems a little asinine to me,” he said. “I’m not the mayor of Ralston.”

Hill said she only suggested the zoning change as a possibility and added that, “We certainly want to work with Mr. Pelletier.”

She said it’s unclear why the area was originally put in transitional zoning which often requires a higher level of review than commercial zoning. However, even with a change to commercial, Hill said permits are still required and no more than two businesses are allowed on a single property. 

By changing the zoning, Pelletier could add a third primary business by subdividing the property, which Hill discouraged, or via a variance once it’s within commercial zoning.

Pelletier also disagreed with the staged sheds qualifying as a business, saying no sales are made there and he doesn’t even get paid to host the items. Commissioners then asked whether it would be feasible to remove the structures, and Pelletier agreed to start that process. That would leave Heart Mountain Hearing and the new grooming business as the only two on the lot. (Pelletier's wife owns an antique business next door, but it’s on an adjacent property.)

While the county has the authority to levy financial penalties for zoning violations, commissioner Lee Livingston likened the situation to a rural Powell resident who was brought before the commissioners earlier in the fall for not removing abandoned vehicles from his property. That man was allowed to work toward compliance without being assessed penalties, and Livingston said the same should work for Pelletier.

Commissioners did not impose a specific deadline.