Density map decision pending
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POLSON — The Lake County Commissioners will hold a public hearing Thursday, Dec. 17, at 1:30 p.m. to take comments and concerns under advisement regarding repealing or revising the county density map and regulations. At the end of the meeting, commissioners may make a motion to adopt a resolution of intention adopted about a month ago, or let it die, according to Commission Gale Decker.
Commissioners sought comments up to eight months ago.
“We are getting comments on both side of the fence,” Decker said. “We got quite a few who wanted to see it go away. Now we’re getting quite a few who would like to see it remain in place.”
The regulations, adopted in 2005, were enacted to encourage future development close to cities and create sparser development further away, with the intent to make efficient use of services, such as school transportation, road maintenance and police protection.
The regulations limit how many homes, or units, can be placed per acre. Closer to town, the acerage per unit is small. Further from town it grows from one per 20 acres to one per 40 acres. The problems arise as landowners in rural areas aren’t able to subdivide their land to sell. While there are exceptions, they must be brought before the county planning board for a decision.
“Our planning department deals with them every day,” Decker said.
Reviews were to be held in 2006, and then every fifth and 10th years after, to see if the density regulations were doing what they intended to do.
“We’ve not had a review since it’s adoption,” Decker said. “We’re about three reviews behind.”
Now there’s a 10-year body of work to give Commissioners direction, Decker said, and they’d like to make a final decision by the first of the year, “to keep, repeal it, or keep it and fix it. There are several different alternatives out there.”
The density regulations are contained within a six-page document of regulations, plus a map, available online at the county planning department.
“You would think something only six pages long would be easy to digest,” Decker said.
