Public Hearing on Area of Impact
On February 10, the Caribou County board of County Commissioners held a public hearing on amending the Impact Zone. The hearing was well-attended. There was concern that the hearing on the amendment might mean that the city was planning to annex areas of the county, however the amendment did not deal with any impending annexation, and the Area of Impact is a legal designation of an area in which growth is predicted on the boundaries of the city. It allows for annexation to be requested by non-city residents. The amendment reinforces the existing status quo regarding the Area of Impact, which has been in place for years. According to discussion during the hearing, this amended language has been required by the state legislature.
Per Idaho statute, 67-6506, the city and county agree that within the Area of Impact the county makes the final decisions on issues inside the area regarding development.
Chairman Mark Mathews opened the hearing by noting that, “Obviously, there is a lot of public interest in this.” 2 minutes were given to each person who wished to speak.
Helen Barker, speaking on behalf of the county Planning and Zoning commission, stated, “The agreement with the city was that the county would receive all building permits, and then would have 30 days for feedback. The amendment is really what we’ve been doing the whole time. The Idaho legislature wants the statute to clarify that the county will be the final word on the Area of Impact. “
Larue Workman stated, “We specifically bought a place because we don’t want to be part of the city. I am not happy at all if this is the first step at getting us into the city.”
Chairman Mathews replied, “This just clarifies what we’ve already been doing. The city only gets to review those plans, but we don’t have to adopt any of their plans. It’s still up to county Planning and Zoning.”
Attorney Doug Wood added “There was a case that came out, where there was an impact area controlled by the city, not the county. But the court said that no, those citizens don’t have a vote in that area. This clarifies that.”
Mathews noted, “This is the best attended public hearing we’ve had.”
“There’s a lot of people affected by this,” a member of the audience said.
Some discussion about the differences in zoning between the city and county were discussed. Barker stated “We’re not adopting everything in the city [zoning rules].” Barker clarified that while the zoning shares some of the language with the city codes, the county code is separate and the authoritative policy in the Area of Impact.
“We don’t want any more restrictions that we already have,” one attendee said.
“Amen,” agreed another.
Helen Barker added, “I have no plans of wanting to restrict more.”
Chairman Mathews joked, “We should have headlined it ‘we are giving the county more power’!”
Angie Mendenhall stated that “There needs to more awareness of how we’ve done it in the past.”
Alan Skinner, on behalf of the city of Soda Springs, said “Everything is basically the same, this doesn’t really change anything. What the city doesn’t want to have happen is to add costs if someone did annex into the city.”
It was approved to adopt ordinance 2025-01 to amend the Area of Impact.
