Council adopts ag zone changes

With the passage earlier this month of Ordinance #900 on third and final reading, the Greybull Town Council and a group of property owners who own land west of the railroad tracks officially completed their months-long negotiation over a new agricultural zoning designation.

Fearful of the town placing restrictions on their properties, the property owners originally filed a petition for de-annexation with Big Horn County, but backed away from that option after the council expressed a willingness to adjust its ag zoning regulations.

The property owners include Darrell and Linda Cooper, Shawn Emmett, Charlie and Rosalia Thomas, Paxton Pina, Thomas Templin, Johnny Brown and Robert Hendrix. They own a combined 274.31 acres west of the BNSF railyard, between the Donald J. Ruhl Memorial Cemetery and the Greybull Business Park.

As it’s now written, the following uses are not permitted within the agricultural district: apartments, multi-family residences, manufactured home park, industrial uses, animal slaughterhouses, animal processing plants, animal rendering plants and commercial feed lots.

Minimum lot sizes are 5 acres.

Beef and dairy cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, mules, asses, llamas and alpacas are permitted in the new agricultural zoning regulations.

Two points of that were the subject of some negotiation revolved around whether a shooting range should be permitted and whether hunting ought to be allowed.

As written, Ordinance #700 requires the property owner to obtain a conditional use permit to run a shooting range. Hours would be limited to 7 a.m. to dusk., and location, design and public safety would be considered in the issuance of the permit.

The ordinance further states that “the hunting, capture, killing or destruction of any predatory animal, rodent, pest or other wildlife is not prohibited within the Agricultural District if such activity is conducted according to state and local law.

“A firearm may be used in the Agricultural District to control such animals, if appropriate under the circumstances, if all precautions are taken to protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the Town of Greybull and surrounding areas.”

At the September meeting, Cooper tried to take it a step further, asking the council if it would allow hunting as well, since it was saying that firearms could be used to dispatch predators.

But the council did not agree.

Councilman Gerald Crist suggested that the group “keeps pushing the line further and further,” adding that the council “bent over backwards” to accommodate the shooting range, something that was difficult for him to do.

In other Sept. 9 business:

• The council also reached what appeared to be a compromise with Darren Berlinger. He had been seeking relief from a water bill of more than $1,000 due to a water leak that started last November.

The council ultimately agreed to drop the bill to $470, which is half of the amount of billing on the excess water usage over the six to seven months spent resolving the issue.

Berlinger has two meter pits that belong to him but on that property there are five meter pits that go to other properties in the area.  One of the meter pits going to his rental property had a broken line on it. The break was on the service side of the meter, making it his responsibility.

• Regarding a proposal to add an RV dump station, the council agreed to table it until spring when a little more will be known about the town’s financial picture heading into the new budget year.

• Administrator/Finance Director Carrie Hunt offered some insights into the operation of the swimming pool. Attendance was up about 11% this year, with 4,350 visits in June, July and August. 

During the same period last year, there were 3,907.

The pool showed a 22% decline in revenue, from $15,468 to $12,023.  Hunt said Greybull Needs a Pool did not donate this year; last year, it donated $3,550.

Expenses, meanwhile, were up nearly 30%, from $40,253 to $52,293. Hunt attributed some of it to the higher cost of chemicals.