This is where the rubber meets the road, as many who have been working on Park County’s new Development Standards and Regulations have been fond of saying. 

You can go to engageparkcounty.com, look at the new draft zoning map and the accompanying use tables and determine exactly how your property would be affected were the current draft to become the final draft. 

So, if there were ever a time to get involved in this whole process, which began years before with a new land use plan, now is the time. 

The county is hosting public meetings around the region this week to give people a chance to provide input on what they have issues with, and what they like, about the regulations. 

From 5-8 tonight (Tuesday) officials and consultants will be at Heart Mountain Hall with information and chances for you to comment. Please be involved and give your opinions, in writing if possible.  From what I’ve been told by county officials, there is still time for the planning and zoning board members and county commissioners to make changes prior to an adoption draft being finalized and sent first to P&Z for a vote. 

From what I can see — especially how this map compares to the initial one rolled out last year — the groups that have put these regulations together have listened to feedback. The huge swathes of industrial zoned land around Powell in the initial map have been largely minimized. The large chunk of rural Powell that was once General Rural Powell and allowed lots as small as 1 acre, to the consternation of many who are worried about so many new wells leading to established wells drying up, is now mostly General Rural 5 Acre. 

Chunks of that had initially been zoned as General Rural 20 Acre, meaning the average lot size of a new subdivision would have to be 20 acres.  But Park County Planning and Zoning Director Joy Hill said commissioners were sensitive to the concerns of residents who felt too restricted by that, and so much of that was changed to GR-5. 

It’s a happy median that may not actually make too many people happy, but at least provides some compromise. 

Still, there are bound to be more issues, so this is your chance to get your concerns front and center. It doesn’t mean every issue can be resolved exactly as every individual landowner wishes — Hill said they won’t spot zone, for instance — but she said if there’s a trend toward wanting a certain outcome, they’re willing to accommodate as much as possible. 

I know many people have felt they have not been heard in this process. But having covered it for years, I’ve seen how on multiple occasions commissioners have declined to vote on the adoption draft of the land use plan and the first phase of regulations after hearing people express concerns, and have instead gone back to the drawing board to make changes. 

Also, while this is a process open to participation by those in rural Park County and in the cities, please be accurate in listing where you live. Not that comments from those within city limits shouldn’t be taken into consideration, but this is first and foremost a set of regulations governing what rural county residents can and can’t do with their property. So it should be weighted heavily by commissioners on what rural county property owners in their specific planning area think about the issues that will truly affect their properties.