The final step in the process of establishing the Silvertip Zone occurs this Thursday, January 15, at the next Carbon County Commissioners meeting. The meeting will be held at the County Administration Building at 17 West 11^th Street in Red Lodge, and this item is on the agenda for 10:30am.

Click to read the petition.

The meeting is the last part of the required process to determine that the zone is in the “public interest and convenience,” as voted by the Commissioners last month. It is expected that the Commissioners will hear comments from landowners inside the zone who did not sign the petition. It is important to note that 68% of the landowners within the zone boundaries signed the petition submitted last month.

The meetings in this process have been characterized by good attendance by supporters of the zoning petitioners. Since this is the end of the process, it is absolutely critical to continue this level of support. This is an opportunity to show your support for the petitioners — please attend.

I’ll report on the discussions after the meeting.

Click to read latest draft of Carbon County Growth Plan

The Commissioners should approve the Silvertip Zone. The petitioners have followed every step of the legal process to put the zone in place. The citizen initiated zone is consistent with the Carbon County Growth Policy that will be adopted by the Commissioners next month.

If you click on the draft growth policy by clicking on the graphic, you’ll find citizen initiated zoning listed as part of the natural resources development goal on Page 52:

5.2.A. Coordinate with landowners to enable citizen-initiated zoning districts (enabled through MCA 76-2-101) to mitigate potential impacts from natural resource development.

Once the Commissioners reaffirm their vote from last month, the next step will be establishing a planning and zoning committee, which will establish the rules for the zone.