"Your land may be affected."
That's what Blaine County has printed on fliers advertising a 2025 workshop that will be hosted by the county commissioners Thursday, May 18, at 6:30 p.m., in the Liberty Theater in Hailey.
The workshop precedes the commissioner's May 25 review of four proposed zoning ordinances that could dramatically alter the county's zoning code.
The ordinances cleared their first hurdle April 27 when the Blaine County Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended their approval with a series of revisions.
The 2025 planning process kicked off in January 2005 when the county commissioners enacted a building moratorium on all subdivision applications in the county. The moratorium was instigated by concerns that the current zoning ordinances were too lax and would not appropriately address future growth and development pressures—the county's population is expected to increase by at least 50 percent in the next 20 years.
The county hired Clarion Associates, a national real estate and land-use consulting firm, to conduct a public outreach campaign to determine how citizens want their county to grow. Clarion and the county's planning staff then crafted the zoning ordinances according to that feedback—focus development in the cities while preserving agriculture, open space, and natural resources.
An additional three zoning ordinances—mainly dealing with floodplain and riparian areas, public land and wildlife—will be introduced to the P&Z in June.
The moratorium will expire in July 2006, which is when the county wants to have the new zoning ordinances in place.
The P&Z commission's review was like a roller coaster ride, with widespread public criticism eventually giving way to general acceptance. Many people expressed concerns that the proposed ordinances would slash their land values and violate private property rights. Others felt the ordinances were right on the mark and are essential to preserve the county's open space, water, agricultural land and other natural resources.
In an intense three weeks of review, the P&Z sifted through mounds of public comments—a pile of papers nearly four inches thick—and eventually used that feedback to make a few key revisions to the ordinances.
The major changes:
· The P&Z decided that all county land zoned A10 (one unit of development per 10 acres) should not be downzoned to RR40 (remote/rural, one unit per 40 acres) as initially proposed. Instead, the P&Z recommended allowing A10 land within a three-mile bubble of the cities and three quarters of a mile of Gannett and Picabo to retain their current zoning. All lands outside the bubbles will be downzoned to A40.
· The Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program, which is designed to discourage development in environmentally sensitive areas in southern parts of the Bellevue Triangle and encourage it in the northern tip of the triangle, was also hit with significant revisions. The P&Z agreed that the TDR "receiving" area in the tip of the triangle north of Pero Road was inappropriate because it would impede on a key wildlife migration corridor and calving area, and was too far from Bellevue city limits. The P&Z commissioners all recommended that the TDR program be broadened, specifically the receiving areas, and that the cities should be more closely involved. They also recommended that Carey should develop its own unique TDR program. Finally, they recommended further study of the TDR program before any final decisions are made.
· Family farmers should be allowed to subdivide their land to allow immediate family members to build homes, the P&Z commissioners recommended.
Workshop and hearing schedule
May 18: Public workshop at the Liberty Theater, located at 110 N. Main Street in Hailey, at 6:30 p.m.
May 25: Public hearing at the Liberty Theater at 6:30 p.m.
Additional hearings have yet to be scheduled.
