What is the Zoning Resolution?
The Zoning Resolution supplements the County’s Subdivision Resolution as the primary regulatory document that the County uses to ensure quality development. The Zoning Resolution includes regulations and design standards that address zoning, land uses, building setbacks, building height, parking, landscaping, and application procedures.
The use of each parcel is guided by the County’s Development Plan and the Zoning Resolution. While the Development Plan is advisory in nature, the Zoning Resolution is the set of regulations that details what each parcel can be used for (such as housing, shopping, or open space) based off the Development Plan. The Zoning Resolution separates uses in different areas of the County called “zones”, to prevent uses from conflicting with each other. For example, you wouldn’t want a large factory in the middle of a residential neighborhood because the noise and traffic from the factory would disturb the neighbors.
Project Description
Natrona County is a diverse community with unique development opportunities and challenges. The County’s current Zoning Resolution was adopted in 2000, and has seen minor revisions since its initial adoption, but a full rewrite is necessary to modernize the code and align it with the 2016 Development Plan of Natrona County.
Our team will accomplish this through a process of diagnosis, collaborative drafting, and public outreach. We begin the process by reviewing the 2016 Development Plan goals and policies, comparing them to the current zoning regulations, and creating an outline for the new regulations. Based on that framework, we will break the code into several manageable sections “modules” in order to effectively draft updated sections that stakeholders can review, understand, and respond to. We then tie the code together into a complete package for formal adoption. At each step, we engage the public, key stakeholders, County staff, and the County's ultimate decision makers - the Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of County Commissioners. In our experience, this process of active listening usually avoids controversy at the adoption stage.