After years of often contentious work, the Boundary County Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday approved taking a proposed zoning and subdivision ordinance to public hearing, slating a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14, in the main courtroom at the Boundary County Courthouse.

In 2005, work began on drafting a new Boundary County Comprehensive Plan, required of each city and county in the state by the Idaho Land Use Planning Act, and with help from over 100 citizens, that plan was approved in July, 2008.

Almost immediately, county zoning administrator Mike Weland presented the planning and zoning commission and county commissioners a draft ordinance he'd developed even while work continued on the comprehensive plan, but after a series of workshops failed to make progress, commission chair Ron Smith late last year directed Weland, working in concjunction with county civil attorneys Louis Marshall and Phil Robinson, to start afresh and develop a new draft proposal, taking into account the comments made during those often contentious workshops.

Earlier this month, after final review by counsel, Weland turned over the new, 91-page draft to county commissioners for review, and on Monday, commissioners, Weland and Robinson completed a final review of the document, accomplishing in a little more than two hours what had been struggled with for more than two years.

Weland presented the draft to the planning and zoning commission Thursday evening with a recommendation that members schedule it for public hearing in April so as to guage public reaction, while they take the time between to go through the draft and highlight any concerns they may have, and to follow up with workshops to refine the draft and develop the new zoning map. Afterwards, a second public hearing would be held, and, if all went well, a recommendation be sent to county commissioners, who would hold at least one additional public hearing before the ordinance could be adopted and the 2008 comp plan go into effect.

Rather than wait until the next regular meeting, members decided to hold the initial public hearing in a special meeting a week earlier, and hold their first workshop on the regular meeting date, April 21. Additional workshops are to be held in May, with the goal of holding the second public hearing June 16.

The propsed ordinance is available for review on the Boundary County website, www.boundarycountyid.org, and copies will be made available at the Boundary County Library on Monday. Copies are also available for review at the planning office, Room 16 at the courthouse, and a limited number of copies will be made available on CD and in print on request, with cost to be determined by county commissioners. If you bring in a blank writable CD or DVD or a thumb drive, the proposed ordinance will be provided for free.

The Boundary County Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance affects every resident and property owner in Boundary County, establishing local land use laws for developing or subdividing property and establishing what can and can't be done on private property within the county.

Weland will be a guest speaker at the District Association of Realtors meeting in Sandpoint April 7, and is available to speak to any local group interested in finding out more about the proposed ordinance, what's changed and what is new. To find out more, call the planning office at (208) 267-7212.