In our written testimony to the Livingston Planning Board for their February 3 meeting on Planning and Zoning for the Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) and Future City Growth, we made four major recommendations with supporting evidence:
- Eliminating the “Very Low Density Residential” (VLDR) future land use designation from the “Recommended Future Land Use Map” as it would authorize almost 26,000 new homes on half acre lots around Livingston, enough housing for 59,000 people.
- Replacing the undefined “Manufacturing” land use designation for the five square mile area of the ETJ with a “Gravel Mining, Processing, and Storage” designation. This is the existing use of the site—the continuation of which may be appropriate—and requires a more exacting designation that fits it.
- The study, planning, and designation of the ETJ for rural land uses and resources—including agriculture, wildlife and water, and to avoid damages to resources, people, and property. We made clear our belief that the ETJ should not be designated for either future urban development or rural residential development:
- An “Agriculture” land use designation should be defined and applied for much of land in the ETJ.
- Fish, wildlife, and other natural resources in the ETJ should be identified and protected with appropriate land use designations.
- The Yellowstone River and wetlands in the ETJ should be protected by defined land use designations.
- “Hazard Area” land use designations should be used to keep people and property out of the path of floods and wildfires.
- The adoption of future land use designations to prevent water pollution and depletion in the ETJ.
- The collaboration of the Livingston Planning Board and the Park County Planning Board to adopt protective interim land use designations and zoning until additional planning is complete and final land use designations are made for the ETJ. These interim land use designations should prevent the ETJ from becoming a ring of rural sprawl around the city.
Friends of Park County Supplementary Written Testimony to Livingston Planning Board on Extra Territorial Jurisdiction
Friends of Park County Written testimony to Livingston Planning Board on Draft revised GP CH 2,3,4, and 11
And as the process moved forward, we offered testimony on several other chapters of the revised draft growth policy, making recommendations to the board that focused on our concern regarding the overall compact growth and infill development strategy within city limits, the adoption of recommending limiting the overall land area of the city (while allowing for possible adjustments to city limits within that size cap), and the clarification of language and definitions regarding subdivision regulation and future growth rates used by the staff and board.
The results from all of this effort was a draft which was a significant improvement over the document that was first under consideration, as it went from the Planning Board to the City Commission, there were a handful of further improvements which we felt are vital to resolving some concerns;
Friends of Park County Testimony to Livingston City Commissioners outlining further improvements to draft Growth Policy document
