After several months of language modifications the Fremont County Commissioners approved the 26th amendment to the Fremont County Zoning resolution at their October 14th regular meeting. The Planning Commission spent three months this past summer reworking language in the latest zoning amendment. Following a September 9th public hearing, the Board of Commissioners tabled final consideration for another month while they spent a pair of workshops with planning staff to review all of the proposed changes in detail.
The biggest change from the 26th amendment is the abolishment of the Airport Industrial Park zone district. It will be replaced by two new zone districts defined as 'Industrial Park' and 'Airport'. The motive behind the change is to more strictly define uses permitted on Fremont County Airport property which are directly associated to aviation uses. Current light industrial uses adjacent to the airport will be zoned in the new Industrial Park zone district. The area immediately south of the runway will also be zoned 'Airport' as the county seeks to promote the expansion of aviation uses there, but there will also be acreage south of airport property zoned for Industrial Park.
After the Fremont County Planning Commission spent several meetings reviewing detailed language changes, the Planning Commission in August voted against a recommendation for adoption of the amendment. The planning members said their opposition was directed at site development requirements in the zoning resolution rather than any specific changes proposed in the 26th amendment. Commissioner Ed Norden said the Planning Commission did a good job reviewing the changes and said the Board of Commissioners in their workshop took up some of those philosophical discussions which they hope to continue in a future joint meeting with the Planning Commission.
A resolution with the formalized language changes will be considered by the Commissioners for adoption at the October 28th meeting.
The Commissioners also conducted a public hearing on a request for special review use permits for a pair of wind monitoring towers on state school lands near the Stirrup Ranch close to the Fremont-Park County line. One mast would be 262 feet high and the other 198 feet. E.ON of Houston, Texas, already has two wind monitoring masts erected in Park County as the firm studies the potential for a wind farm in the area. E.ON's Development Manager Cyrus Tashakkori said the four masts will give them a general idea as to whether the area would support a wind farm. Paul Bowman of E.ON said the project would be commercially viable if wind turbines were able to generate electricity 40 percent of the time. He said it will take only a matter of hours to erect the two wind masts which will gather data and record it electronically for retrieval through cell phone calls. The wind monitors will accumulate data over two years to determine the project's viability. The Commissioners approved both mast permits.
The biggest change from the 26th amendment is the abolishment of the Airport Industrial Park zone district. It will be replaced by two new zone districts defined as 'Industrial Park' and 'Airport'. The motive behind the change is to more strictly define uses permitted on Fremont County Airport property which are directly associated to aviation uses. Current light industrial uses adjacent to the airport will be zoned in the new Industrial Park zone district. The area immediately south of the runway will also be zoned 'Airport' as the county seeks to promote the expansion of aviation uses there, but there will also be acreage south of airport property zoned for Industrial Park.
After the Fremont County Planning Commission spent several meetings reviewing detailed language changes, the Planning Commission in August voted against a recommendation for adoption of the amendment. The planning members said their opposition was directed at site development requirements in the zoning resolution rather than any specific changes proposed in the 26th amendment. Commissioner Ed Norden said the Planning Commission did a good job reviewing the changes and said the Board of Commissioners in their workshop took up some of those philosophical discussions which they hope to continue in a future joint meeting with the Planning Commission.
A resolution with the formalized language changes will be considered by the Commissioners for adoption at the October 28th meeting.
The Commissioners also conducted a public hearing on a request for special review use permits for a pair of wind monitoring towers on state school lands near the Stirrup Ranch close to the Fremont-Park County line. One mast would be 262 feet high and the other 198 feet. E.ON of Houston, Texas, already has two wind monitoring masts erected in Park County as the firm studies the potential for a wind farm in the area. E.ON's Development Manager Cyrus Tashakkori said the four masts will give them a general idea as to whether the area would support a wind farm. Paul Bowman of E.ON said the project would be commercially viable if wind turbines were able to generate electricity 40 percent of the time. He said it will take only a matter of hours to erect the two wind masts which will gather data and record it electronically for retrieval through cell phone calls. The wind monitors will accumulate data over two years to determine the project's viability. The Commissioners approved both mast permits.
In other business Fremont County Clerk Norma Hatfield reported that over 7,000 mail ballots had been requested from her office for the November 4th election. Hatfield said it's estimated that perhaps 85 percent of the registered voters in the county will participate in this year's election which would be the highest turnout ever.