Planning commission hammers out projects

In a two-hour workshop, the Saratoga Planning Commission hashed out a variety of projects they have been working over the past months.

Planning commission members were joined by town attorney Tom Thompson and town engineer Chuck Bartlett for the workshop.

The planning commission first discussed the home occupation code on Dec. 10. Town code 18.06.190 would make it easier for people to operate home businesses inside their home.

Thompson recommended to the commission that they wait until the master plan is complete to propose this ordinance.

“I know you are trying to make changes that you think need to be made,” Thompson said. “But, to me, it makes more sense … to wait for your master plan to come out. It’s sort of like making your revisions before you even know what your master plan is going to recommend. Why not wait until the master plan comes out, have input in regards to where these districts ought to be, where these business or uses ought to be within the town and then go from there?”

Thompson cited that in 1999, Carbon County waited until after the master plan was completed to make amendments to their planning code. The master plan was able to provide the Carbon County Planning Commission with feedback concerning future codes.

Thompson suggested that the Saratoga planning commission do the same thing.

“I don’t know what the timeline is on the master plan, but if this ordinance can wait, or any ordinance for that matter, unless there is an emergency that will endanger the welfare of the inhabitants of the town, I would just suggest you wait for feedback [from the master plan] so you can get that direction.”

However, planning commission member Chris Shannon insisted that the code be implemented prior to the master plan saying that the funding for the plan is still uncertain.

“The outlook on [the master plan] is really contingent on the grant,” Shannon said. “And the amount of money they are seeking is not enough for a really comprehensive master plan … I think that we should be moving towards the plan ourselves because we are the ones who really know our town.”

Members of the planning commission came to agreement that the home occupation ordinance should move forward.

The planning commission also discussed issues of non-conformities in the town of Saratoga. They came to agreement that they would compiling a list for the master plan concerning issues on the non-conformities.

The planning commission also discussed revision of variances after Bartlett discovered two ordinances that had language conflicting with each other

The next Saratoga planning commission meeting will be held 5:30 on Tuesday, March 11 at Saratoga Town Hall.