Crowd gives county advice on changes in proposed replacement zoning ordinance

Talk of nuclear plants and conditional use permits dominated discussions during the Elmore County Commissioners' public hearing on Jan. 26 regarding proposed changes to the county's planning and zoning ordinances, changes that basically rewrite the county's ordinances.

Concerns that the county is making the standards too relaxed to allow, as several residents put it, "any good land-use attorney to come into Elmore County and get whatever they want," were expressed at the meeting.

Elmore County Growth and Development Director Bonnie Sharp said the perceived weakening of the conditional use permit process wasn't the planning and zoning commission's intent and a recommendation to combine steps of the proposed ordinances with parts of the existing ordinances was being forwarded to the commissioners.

"We're going to listen to the public," Sharp said. "If people feel that way, we don't want to do that." See the mountainhomenews for the complete story.