Moratorium
- January 21, 2021
Town Adoption of Moratorium
On January 21, 2021, the Town adopted a moratorium on new development permits, approvals, and requests. The only exception to this is for the construction of single-family dwelling units or accessory structures, provided there are no variances or utility extensions, or expansions required. As construction increased in 2020, the moratorium was found necessary to give the Town time to evaluate water and sewer capacities and impacts of the increased development requests. Enacting the moratorium and conducting further analysis will ensure Staff and elected officials can make informed planning and public infrastructure decisions for the future of the Town.
*The Moratorium has been extended thru December 31, 2023. See the supporting documents below.
Establishing proper guidance for elected officials will help in the following areas:
- Planning the future character and culture of Hot Sulphur Springs.
- Providing adequate water and sewer services to the intended level of development over the next 20+ years.
- Properly expanding public improvements and facilities including, but not limited to, water utilities, sewer utilities, roadway utilities, public safety services, and general town administration and management.
A number of projects and tasks are either already completed, currently underway, or planned in association with the moratorium. Below is a list of these projects and/or tasks.
MORATORIUM means a temporary hold, for a defined period of time.
- Solicit and retain an on-call engineering firm.
- In June, the Town retained Element Engineering for engineering services.
- Update Zoning Map and application guides and forms.
- The updated Zoning Map and application guides/forms will be uploaded to the Town website soon. Check back for updates.
- Assess zoning and subdivision code regulations.
- A code assessment was completed and presented to the Town Board in April 2021. It concluded that a code update is needed, which is planned for 2022/2023.
- Inventory of vacant properties/potential development.
- Inventory analysis found that there are 142 vacant parcels, which estimates about 284 SFE (Single-family equivalents) could be developed if zoning allows. Additional build-out analysis is needed to confirm impacts, which will be conducted as part of the water and sewer capacity assessment.
- Water and sewer capacity assessment.
- Adopt construction standards.
- Comprehensive Plan update.
- Municipal Code update.
- 2021 01 21 Moratorium Discussion Memo
- 2021 01 21 Moratorium Ordinance 2021-1-21-410
- 2022 02 13 Moratorium Extension Memo
- 2022 07 21 Moratorium Update Memo
- 2022 07 21 Moratorium Update Ordinance
- Extension of Moratorium Ordinance Updated thru March 31, 2023
- 2023 03 16 Moratorium Extension Memo and Ordinance