LITCHFIELD -- The Meeker County Board approved Tuesday a revised shoreland management ordinance.
The ordinance regulates land use in areas that are within 1,000 feet of lakes and ponds and within 300 feet of rivers and streams.
The County Board set a six-month moratorium March 16 on accepting applications to rezone land within the shoreland district to either R-1 suburban residential or R-2 rural residential. The moratorium was requested by the Planning Commission to allow it time to study residential development on waterways.
The moratorium was extended in September until Nov. 16.
In the new ordinance, a small number of the county's lakes were re-classified. The county has four lake classifications: Natural Sensitive Lakes, Natural Environment Lakes, Recreation Development Lakes and General Development Lakes.
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The new ordinance requires a minimum size of buildable area for all shoreland residential development and increases the lot size requirements for certain types of development.
Each residential lot within a shoreland district must contain at least 30,000 contiguous square feet of buildable area and lots on Natural Environment and Natural Sensitive lakes must have at least 40,000 square feet.
Lot size requirements on Recreational Development and General Development lakes have been increased on nonriparian single lots from 50,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet and from 80,000 square feet to 120,000 square feet for nonriparian duplex lots.
Triplex and quad lots will no longer be permitted on Recreational and General Development lakes.
Rob Collett, a state Department of Natural Resources hydrologist in Hutchinson who helped the county with the ordinance, said increasing the lot size requirements reflects today's building trends. In years past, shoreland development was usually a small cabin that was used only in the summers and weekends.
Today, more people are building larger, year-round homes on the lake or expanding older homes. A building expansion usually requires a septic system upgrade, which uses even more space. Property owners end up seeking variances to fit everything on their property, he said.
The larger lot sizes allow enough room for those buildings while still meeting zoning requirements, Collett said.
The ordinance also creates a Natural Environment and Natural Sensitive Lakes Overlay District where low-density residential development is permitted on agricultural land around those lakes -- in areas that are unsuited for long-term agricultural use.
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A change in the ordinance also makes conservation subdivisions more feasible on shoreland property that is zoned agricultural.
The county's zoning ordinance says that no more than 50 percent of open space on a development can be tillable agricultural land, but an addition to that section says that restriction does not apply to conservation subdivisions in shoreland districts.
County commissioner Amy Wilde lauded this portion of the ordinance because it allows a type of housing subdivision in an agricultural zone without having to rezone the property to residential.
She said re-zoning agricultural land to residential tends to create conflict between the new residents and nearby farms.
The ordinance revisions also further restricts vegetation clearing within the shore impact zone, which is land located from the ordinary high water level of public water up to the halfway point of the setback area for structures on the property.
Limited clearing of trees and shrubs to provide a view to the water or to accommodate stairways or pathways is permitted on General and Recreational Development Lakes.
But on the smaller lakes and on rivers, a no-mow zone will be implemented 75 feet from the shoreline, measured from the ordinary high water level. Property owners only may mow a path perpendicular to the shoreland that is no more than 50 feet wide.
Clearing of trees on smaller lakes and rivers is prohibited except if they are damaged or dead and then they must be replaced.
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Regulations were also tightened for controlled access lots, which allow homeowners in a subdivision access to the water when direct access is not otherwise feasible. Controlled access lots will not be allowed when they are intended to provide water access for non-riparian lots or parcels.
