Planning commission plans for the future

As the year draws to a close, the Saratoga Planning Commission is preparing for 2024. At their November 14 meeting, the planning commission discussed potential ordinances, a brownfield grant application and goals for next year.

Processing Code Changes

Emery Penner, zoning and planning director, raised the idea of a potential ordinance to the planning commission in regards to meat processing facilities. Currently, under section 18.39.020(B) of the Saratoga Municipal Code, a meat packing plant or slaughterhouse is allowed in the heavy industrial zone. According to Penner, he interpreted this permitted use to be for facilities which house live animals and have a killing floor prior to processing and packing.

“I don’t see where we allot for little mom and pop, wild game processing. Everything’s already dead, you come in, it goes in a cooler and then you just cut it and wrap it,” said Penner. “I think it would be in our best interest to look through the code and see if there’s a district where something like that fits in.”

While there aren’t any smaller meat processing businesses in Saratoga at the moment, planning commission members Chuck Davis and JoDell Hone said historically there had been one in the area. The building at 100 N. 1st Street—which currently is the home of The Lucky Pearl and Hatch Tack LLC—had been a grocery store at one point and offered butcher services for both livestock and wild game. Now, the only place in the Platte Valley to process livestock—beef, in particular—is Merril Meat Company outside of Encampment. There are currently no open wild game processing locations in the Valley.

While Penner believed it was in the best interest to determine a district where a smaller meat processing facility could fit, it didn’t seem anyone was actively pursuing such a business at the moment. McCall Burau, chairman of the planning commission, asked if Penner believed a state certified or USDA certified plant would fit into the proposed ordinance. Burau is co-owner of The Malt in Saratoga, which serves burgers and shakes.

“We can’t serve anything at the restaurant that hasn’t been processed in a USDA facility. We would really love to be able to have a state inspected processing plant in town because we would love to serve more. There’s so much beef in this Valley and it all gets shipped to Nebraska to get processed and then we buy it from somewhere else.”

As discussion continued, Penner said he couldn’t find anywhere in the code where they could tailor a special use application to fit a small processing plant. Indeed, no other section of the code mentions meat processing—or even butcher shops—as a permitted or specially permitted use. Both Penner and the planning commission agreed that such a business would be better suited in either light industrial or highway business.

A concern raised by Davis was impact on the sewer system and whether or not the Saratoga Transfer Station would take refuse from a meat processing business. According to Penner, the sewer system would be able to withstand the limited impact of a packing facility without a slaughterhouse attached. The Saratoga Transfer Station, meanwhile, allows the disposal of bone and hide from processed livestock but cannot take any wild game due to chronic wasting disease.

Penner told the planning commission he would draft up an ordinance and bring it to the December meeting for their review.

Cleaning Up Along the River

Earlier this year, the Saratoga Town Council had briefly discussed the potential of the former Saratoga Police Station and the Saratoga Water Treatment Plant being eligible for a brownfields assessment grant. The grant is an initiative of the Biden Administration to clean up brownfield sites, properties where toxic chemicals or other hazards might inhibit redevelopment.

Burau said she had been able to contact two individuals with the Wyoming Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the assessment grant.

“I’ve been told there’s all kinds of grant money out there to just assess the building,” said Burau. “I just want to talk with them and figure out what the process was, what the steps were, to bring it back to us and move forward on it potentially.”

According to Burau, the community assessment grant from the Wyoming EPA would fund the assessment of the building, research, historical data, an on-site visit and assessing environmental risks. Burau added that the Wyoming EPA had an ongoing contract with Ayres Associates, which has locations in both Cheyenne, Wyoming and Fort Collins, Colorado.

“They are the ones who have the funding, they have the contract with the consultant and we just participate with them. There’s no money, there’s no matching, there’s no grant application. It’s their grant and Carbon County is one of their target clean-up areas for the state,” said Burau. “There’s all kinds of benefits as far as cleaning up that site visually, as far as utilizing the river, making it something the town could use.”

A motion to pursue the brownfields assessment grant passed unanimously.

Goals In Mind

With 2023 coming to an end, Burau brought up the idea of the planning commission reassessing their goals for the next year. She noted that, while much of the membership had changed since the previous goals had been set, the planning commission had made some accomplishments.

“I think we’re doing pretty good, checking things off the list. We wanted to address short term rentals and affordable housing and I think both of those things got a lot of talking points this year,” said Burau. “We can all pat ourselves on the back with that because those are big issues we’re trying to deal with.”

While there weren’t many suggestions from the planning commission at this meeting, Davis suggested they keep affordable housing on their list of goals. According to Davis, Triple D Construction was still in contact with him about using property west of the school district bus barn for affordable housing. Penner, meanwhile, suggested they could focus on some more ordinances to provide better clarity to the municipal code.

“I think there’s probably some definitions and ordinances that aren’t there that either need to be added to or clarified,” said Penner.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Planning Commission will be at 5:30 p.m. on December 12 at the Saratoga Town Hall.