Clark County council to reconsider zoning plan

The Clark County council appears poised to throw out Councilor David Madore’s zoning alternative to the Comprehensive Growth Management Plan update. The council will reconsider the preferred alternative to its 20-year growth plan this morning, which currently includes Madore’s controversial Alternative 4 as well as components of less controversial staff-authored alternatives. Alternative 4, introduced by the Republican councilor about a year ago, would allow for smaller lot sizes on agriculture, forest and rural lots, potentially leading to more development in rural areas. Council Chair Marc Boldt, no party preference, and Councilors Julie Olson and Jeanne Stewart, Republicans, have been critical of Alternative 4. The most vocal advocates for Alternative 4, Clark County Citizens United, hosted a town hall meeting Friday evening to promote Madore’s zoning proposal. A representative from that group — along with Madore himself — estimates about 200 people attended, almost all of whom, they say, supported Alternative 4. The Clark County Republican Party has also taken up the gauntlet for Alternative 4, saying it will protect rural property rights for years to come. But critics of the plan — including land use attorneys, some rural farmers, conservation groups and Clark County’s cities — have decried the proposal as having too great an environmental impact on rural areas, and possibly in violation of the state’s Growth Management Act. Follow county government reporter Kaitlin Gillespie here or on Twitter for live coverage from today’s county council meeting, which begins at 10 a.m.