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Here’s your Ranch news roundup for the week of April 21st, 2024:
Wednesday, April 24th, at 1pm the Town of Star Valley Ranch (TSVR) Water Utility Board (WUB) met at Town Hall. Here’s a link to the meeting agenda. The WUB spent the majority of the meeting discussing two documents dealing with sewer and wastewater. The first, a study titled “Star Valley Wyoming Sewer Evaluation” was prepared by CRS Engineering and presented by the Lincoln County Commissioners and the Wyoming Association of Rural Water Users during a meeting held in Etna earlier this year. (I wrote about this meeting in the February 18th SVR News post.) The second document, titled “On-Site Wastewater Study for the Town of Star Valley Ranch” was prepared in 2008 for TSVR as an assessment of the potential impact of multiple town septic systems on groundwater and health. The WUB plans to conduct further review of these documents before preparing any potential recommendations for the Town Council.
Also, on Wednesday at 5pm, the TSVR Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Board met at Town Hall. You can find the agenda from this meeting here. It was a busy one with three single-family home (SFH) construction permit extension requests, five new SFH construction permit approvals, and an assortment of other permit approvals (one deck, one fence, one roof, and a structural modification). There was also a bit of a debate toward the end of the meeting amongst the participants regarding the Town’s recently updated SFH permit fee schedule (now comprised of a $500 fee plus $1 per square foot). Previously the SFH permit fee was just a single flat fee (although I do not recall what that flat fee amount was). The discussion centered mainly around “fairness” of the per square foot portion of the fee. The latter equates to someone building a bigger house paying a higher fee rather than everyone paying the same fee.
If any readers have thoughts on this, I’d be interested to hear them. After surveying how other municipalities across the country handle SFH permit fees, the inclusion of per square foot charges does not appear to be unusual based on the cursory review I conducted. Regardless, share your thoughts on the subject if you like.
One other quick note for the week:
TSVR Public Works crews were out patching potholes where possible around town earlier in the week. The rain during the latter half of the week delayed continuation of grading activities on town roads but that work should resume as soon as things dry out again.
Calendar dates and other items for next week are as follows:
Weather permitting, next week asphalt on Vista Drive will be pulled up by TSVR Public Works in preparation for the start of Water Improvement Project 2023 (WIP 2023) later in the month.
On Thursday, May 2nd at 5pm the TSVR Roads Advisory Board will meet at Town Hall.
The Star Valley Ranch Association (SVRA) is planning a soft opening of the Cedar Creek Golf Course on Friday, May 3rd with the driving range opening on May 1st.
The TSVR will conduct a spring roadside clean-up event Friday May 3rd through Sunday May 5th.
Stop by Town Hall from Monday April 29th through Thursday May 2nd to pick up yellow trash bags and gloves for use during the clean-up event. Full yellow trash bags can be left near town road intersections and will be picked up by Public Works the following week. Residents are encouraged to participate and help keep Star Valley Ranch beautiful!
Final thoughts—things are greening up nicely with the departure of winter’s snow and the first lovely daffodils are also springing up around town. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been seeing a lot of snowshoe hares still sporting their white coats while munching on early season dandelions close to our roads. Keep an eye out for these critters and mule deer too all of whom like to take advantage of early season grasses near roadsides.
That’s all for today—Thank you for reading! Please invite your neighbors, family, and friends to check out Close to Home 307. Your support and feedback is very much appreciated! Email me anytime at: close2home307@gmail.com
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