County updating zoning regulations to deal with turbines, towers, other issues

While Red Willow County, Nebraska, commissioners and the county's planning commission members contemplate updates to the county's 10-year-old zoning regulations, the rewrites won't cover the junk yard at the north entrance to Danbury off Nebraska Highway 89. The junk yard is located within the city limits of Danbury, so, commissioners said Monday morning, the village must enact zoning regulations to address the collection of inoperable vehicles, abandoned appliances, tank and barrels, scrap metals and junk. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Red Willow County, Nebraska's planning commission is updating the county's 10-year-old zoning regulations to comply with state laws and to address structures, such as wind turbines and communication towers, that weren't common in the county in 2001.

County commissioner Vesta Dack reported on a planning commission meeting she attended on Nov. 10, during which planners worked with Keith Marvin, a zoning consultant with Marvin Planning Consultants (MPC) of David City, Nebraska. Commissioners hired MPC last year to update the county's zoning regulations that went into effect at 12:01 a.m., Oct. 16, 2001. Commissioners are hoping that the revised regs will be ready in early 2012.

The county's revised regulations will address new subdivisions that may be created within the City of McCook's two-mile jurisdiction, plans for which must be reviewed and approved by both the county and the city. The county's new regs will also include the mandate that home owners within a subdivision must create a plan for road maintenance with the developer, Dack said.

Wind turbines and communications towers were not specifically addressed in the 2001 regulations; they will be in the revisions, Dack said.

To comply with state laws, the county will regulate the size of mobile and/or modular homes as permanent residences to no less than 900 square feet. This will address the trend that Marvin sees as more people are living permanently in RV's (recreational vehicles), Dack said.

The county's description and regulation of a "salvage yard" will be fine-tuned, in response to past problems and to prevent future problems in which residents have extensive "collections" of junk -- waste, discarded metals, building materials, paper, textiles, used plumbing fixtures, inoperable appliances and motor vehicles, machinery and/or machinery parts bought, sold, exchanged, stored, baled or cleaned.

Set-back requirements for trees, hedges and fences will be reviewed to comply with measurements that comply with the county right-of-way measured from the center line of the county road. Existing windbreaks will be grandfathered in, Downer said, because the county "won't go dozing any trees."

The county's flood plain regulations will be updated to include new NEMA (Nebraska Emergency Management Agency) and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) flood plain delineations.

Dack said that revisions will also address the size (especially those that seem like "oversized") and the location of highway advertising signs to avoid obstructing the vision of drivers.

The zoning book will also be updated with current contact numbers for owners -- especially absent owners -- of large livestock facilities. New regs will also address updated best practices for waste handling outlined by the EPA and DEQ.

The new book will outline permits and a fee schedule for large equipment or mobile homes moving through the county on county roads and the process and timeline for addressing non-compliance with zoning regulations.

Marvin told planning commission members and Dack the simple rule of zoning is, "If it's not permitted (or addressed in zoning regs), it's prohibited."

Commissioners' "homework," Dack said, is to help find a new planning commission member, as LaVern Leibbrandt of Danbury is resigning; to visit with McCook city officials about the possibility of naming a city council member to the county's planning commission; and to suggest any areas of concerns they may have with existing zoning regs.