How To Avoid Frustrating You with Growth

I’ve talked often about how beneficial a well-thought-out Comprehensive Plan is for our community. Good planning helps guide growth, reduce frustration for homeowners, and creates sound tax policy.

Last week we held a public hearing on a request to change the zoning of a parcel from rural to light industrial. The property is located near a main arterial road.

The challenge for nearby residents is that they bought their homes next to land zoned rural, which generally means residential use. However, the county’s zoning map hasn’t been updated since the 1970s.

Now that the property owner is requesting a change from rural to light industrial, the decision falls to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). Because the zoning and planning documents are outdated, decisions like this can end up feeling arbitrary and disconnected from long-term planning. It also creates frustration for local residents.

This is exactly why having strong, up-to-date plans is so important. A good Comprehensive Plan should clearly indicate what types of development are appropriate for different areas of the county. That way, residents can understand how surrounding land may develop as the county continues to grow.

Right now, we don’t have a plan that fully reflects where the county is today or where we expect it to be in the next 10–20 years. As a result, that quiet, open parcel near your home could potentially be changed to a very different use based largely on a decision made by the land owner and two commissioners.

That kind of uncertainty doesn’t serve homeowners or the community well when it comes to expectations about growth and how it could affect your neighborhood.

The short videos below provide a good example of the kinds of decisions the BOCC faces and how outdated zoning and planning documents can affect residential neighborhoods.

• The first video starts when residents share their concerns about the proposed zone change.

• The second video begins when the commissioners deliberate on the issue.

• The third video begins at the start of the entire public hearing in case you're interested.

Residents Speak Here:

Deliberations Begin Here:

Here's the entire Public Hearing: