Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan

city of island park

comprehensive plan

INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

The Comprehensive Plan

The Comprehensive Plan and its accompanying Map describesthe City's roadmap for the future and describes the process for the community goals and aspirations in terms of community development. The outcome of comprehensive planning is the Comprehensive Plan which dictates public policy in terms of transportation, utilities, land use, recreation, and housing. These policies are depicted on the Comprehensive Plan Maps and the accompanying charts, graphs, and reports. In Idaho, a Comprehensive Plan is based on the statutory requirements found in Idaho Code Section 67-6508. There are 17 required components of a local comprehensive plan, and an allowance to add any additional component that a community wishes to add. There is also a provision in the state law for a city or county to not address a component if it is unneeded.

This Plan is the City's guide for the future preserving the best of what Island Park is and identifying the goals, objectives, policies and actions that will sustain and improve the City for current and future generations.The City will continue to grow with valuedneighborhoods; outstanding recreational, educational,historical, and cultural amenities; and economic vitality. This Plan will guide Island Park’s growthand development in a sustainable, efficient, and responsible manner thatmaintains and enhances its treasured quality of life, while meeting thechallenges of the future. The City of Island Park is committed to becoming a moresustainable community by taking steps to enhance the local and regionalenvironment. A sustainable community is one where theintegrated economic, social, and environmental systems are structuredto support healthy, productive, and meaningful lives for its residents,while laying the foundation for a high quality of life withoutcompromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

This Comprehensive Plan is the first complete review and update of the City's vision for the future since its' 2005 Plan. The 2005 Plan (adopted by Resolution No. 17, September 22, 2005), by the Mayor and City Council drew a picture of Island Park that highlighted its deeply held sense of community and strong sense of personal responsibility. These were also identified in the December 2006 Community Economic Profile of Fremont County, by Dr. Richard Gardner, Bootstraps Solutions.

In the Idaho Local Land Use Planning Act, the Area of City Impact provision (IC §67-6526) requires cities and counties to negotiate a map identifying an area of city impact within the unincorporated area of the county and to adopt an applicable plan and ordinance to be in effect in the area of city impact. In defining an area of city impact, the following factors shall be considered: (1) trade area; (2) geographic factors; and (3) areas that can reasonably be expected to be annexed to the city in the future. Land use applications in the unincorporated area of an area of city impact are acted upon by the affected county. Only upon annexation does the city take complete jurisdiction of land use activities. The City's primary objective is to ensure that growth and development within the incorporated city limits and the unincorporated area of the county within the boundaries of the Area of City Impact.

A little bit of History

The City of Island Park is located in northernFremont County, Idaho. The City was created in 1947 in response to the State of Idaho's changes in the liquor laws. With 286 (2010) permanent residents, the City of Island Park is the County's third largest city (St. Anthony and Ashton are larger). The City is 34.8 miles long and ranges from 1,000 feet to 5,000 feet in width. It encompasses just 6.77 square miles and 25 square miles in the Area of City Impact. Island Park residents proudly boast that their city has the “Longest Main Street in America.” Main Street has significant open space interspersed with lodges, motels, restaurants, lounges, convenience stores, gas stations, tackle shops and recreational vehicle rental businesses.In the summer, Island Park is a destination city for anglers looking to catch trophy trout or families vacationing at resort ranches. Others may come to ride horses, hike or bike in the mountains or camp next to a stream or lake.Some come to see the Bald Eagles, grouse, Sandhill Cranes, songbirds, raptors, waterfowl, large and small mammals and wildflowers. In the winter, the area is a wonderland. The forest has over 500 miles of snowmobile trails and groomed trails for snowshoeing and Nordic skiing, and miles of trails for hiking and ATVing.

The City of Island Park is part of a magnificent landscape. It is located in the Targhee National Forest, is just miles west of the boundary of Yellowstone National Park, and is 27 miles from the Town of West Yellowstone, Montana (the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park). From many places one can see the Teton Range mountains, the location of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. The combination of its proximity to Yellowstone National Park, the mountain and ridgeline horizons,forested hillsides, Henry's Lake, the Henry's Fork of the Snake River that traverses the City and otherlandscape features provide a beautiful setting and a strong identity to the area. The City of Island Park's beauty lies at thecore of the community’s local values, economic vitality, andaspirations for the future.

Capturing much of the key landscape features of the area,the City's Area of Impact extends beyond the city limitsand encompasses 25square miles. It is characterized by the Henry's Lake, Henry's Lake Flats, steep river canyons, rollinghills and steep gradients covered by grasslands and coniferous forests. Henry's Lake and Big Springs are the start of the Henry's Fork of the Snake River which and flows south in and out of the City and the Area of City Impact and exits the City at Last Chance.

Pre-Incorporation History

At the time Lewis and Clark, and the Corps of Discovery, completed their expedition in 1806, Shoshone-Bannock and Crow Indians hunted and fished in present-day Island Park.

In 1810 Andrew Henry, employed by the Missouri Fur Company, led a group of explorers/ trappers across the continental divide and found Henry’s Lake. Impressed with the abundant wildlife, they built cabins and established a trading post on the west side of the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River, a few miles south of what is now St. Anthony. They called their post Fort Henry.

Beaver trapping was excellent; however, the winter was very cold. The wild game moved south, forcing the trappers to kill their horses for food. In the spring of 1811 Henry and his men abandoned the site and returned to Missouri.

For the next several decades, other fur trappers periodically came into the area. However, settlement did not begin for several decades, and then it generally occurred further south at lower elevations.

However, in the 1880s Swiss immigrants sponsored by the Arangee Land and Cattle Company attempted to develop a colony. Unfortunately, in 1889 the company went broke. However, many company settlers stayed in the general area as homesteaders and cattle ranchers.

Yellowstone Park, created by the U.S. Congress in 1872, was the nation’s first national park and was becoming an increasingly popular tourist attraction. Oregon Short Line Railroad officials saw an opportunity to provide transportation to the park. In 1881 the railroad surveyed a route from Idaho Falls to Yellowstone National Park with rail line construction starting a few years later. Around 1900, the railroad reached Island Park. With the railroad came additional homesteading. Many new settlers became “tie hacks” and harvested logs for making railroad ties. Others provided guide services for hunters, anglers and tourists brought in by the railroad.

Homesteaders broke up the land and raised hay and grain. Lettuce grew well in the cool climate and became an important crop. Some settlers became cattle ranchers and others raised dairy cows and produced cheese. Over the next several years, several construction projects changed living standards in the area. In 1916 park officials began construction of hard-surface roads through Yellowstone National Park. Henry’s Lake Dam, completed in 1924, provided irrigation water storage for lower Snake River Valley farmers. In 1933 the power plant on the Buffalo River, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, introduced hydroelectric power to an area that had previously relied on gas generators. In 1935 the Island Park Dam was completed.

Incorporation

By 1947 several hospitality and retail businesses had built up along a narrow 36.8 mile stretch of US Highway 20. At that time, the Idaho Legislature passed law governing the sale of liquor by the drink and the licensure of establishments offering those beverages. A provision of the law required businesses that sell alcoholic beverages to be licensed and located within incorporated cities or villages.

This law prompted the business establishments along US Highway 20 to make application to the Fremont County Commissionersto become an incorporated village. The boundaries included all businesses selling alcoholic beverages between Last Chance and the Montana border

On May 16, 1947, the county commissioners incorporated the village and appointed a board of trustees to serve until the next election. On August 18, 1949, there were 70 registered voters in the village. Harvey Schwendiman, the village’s first chairman (mayor), garnered 57 of the 58 votes cast. Since incorporation, the City boundaries have changed little.

Economy and Major Employers

The hospitality and real estate industries underpin the city’s economy. Several resorts and lodges provide a variety of accommodations for tourists including restaurants, cabin and condominium rentals and RV parking. They provide supervised float and horseback riding trips and fly-fishing guide services. In the winter, they rent snowmobiles and winter gear and conduct guided tours.In 2000 it was estimated by the US Census Bureau that 75% of thehouses in the City were for short-term rental (Transient Rental, or houses for rent for less than 30 days). This increased to 85% in the 2010 Census. According to the 2012 US Census estimate, this use has risen to 89% in the City, and to 85.4% in the Island Park CCD.

There are working cattle ranches nearby that have accommodations for tourists. Patrons of these ranches can watch rodeos, cowboys doing their jobs, participate in cattle drives, ride horses, fish or just relax.

Many visitors are fly-fishing enthusiasts who come to fish on the famous Henry’s Fork of the Snake River, Henry's Lake, or many of the other nearby rivers and streams and smaller lakes.For the fly-fisherman, the area has specialized fishing equipment shops and expert guides. Please refer to the Henry's Fork Foundation 2005 "Economic Value of Recreational Fishing and Boating to Visitors & Communities along the Upper Snake River" for more detailed analysis of the economic impact of fishing in the Island Park area. This report quantifies the economic benefits, local employment, and income effects associated with boating and fishing on the Upper Snake River.

The housing stock and housing characteristics of the Island Park area shows that the majority of the houses were built in the 1960 to 1979 time period. The seasonal or recreational housing (transient rental uses) are an indicator of the desirability of the area for a place of recreation and tourism and as an indicator of the economic (i.e. fishing) and scenic amenities, which is one of the economic contributions of public land ownership.

The following is the "Policy Plan" of the City of Island Park Comprehensive Plan. ThisPlan follows the statutory requirements of the Idaho Code found in Section 67-6508. There are 17 required components of a local comprehensive plan, and an allowance to add any additional component that a community wishes to add. There is also a provision in the state law for a city or county to not address a component if it is unneeded.

Idaho Code § 67-6508, Planning duties, sets forth the foundation for comprehensive planning in the State of Idaho.

It shall be the duty of the planning or planning and zoning commission to conduct a comprehensive planning process designed to prepare, implement, and review and update a comprehensive plan, hereafter referred to as the plan. The plan shall include all land within the jurisdiction of the governing board. The plan shall consider previous and existing conditions, trends, compatibility of land uses, desirable goals and objectives, or desirable future situations for each planning component. The plan with maps, charts, and reports shall be based on the following components as they may apply to land use regulations and actions unless the plan specifies reasons why a particular component is unneeded.

VISION

To preserve and improve the physical environment of the community as a setting for human activities so as to make it more functional, beautiful, decent, healthful, interesting, and a desirable place to live in, work in, and visit.

PROPERTY RIGHTS

Goal 1

Ensure that the City Comprehensive Plan and Development Code and fees do not violate property rights as prescribed in IC Chapter 80 Title 67.

Policy 1

Ensure that the City land use regulations, actions, decision-making, and fees will not violate the federal or state constitutions by causing a taking of private property, whether temporary or permanent.

Policy 2

Ensure that the City land use regulations, actions, and decision-making will not adversely impact property values or create unnecessary technical limitations on the use of property.

Policy 3

Establish an orderly, consistent review process for the City to evaluate whether proposed actions may result in a taking of private property. Use the Attorney General’s guidelines in the review process.

Policy 4

Ensure that City land use actions, decisions, and regulations, protect the public, health, safety, and general welfare.

POPULATION

Goal 1

Identify past trends in population change, analyze and assess current conditions, and forecast total population and age distribution in the future.

Policy 1

Ensure that the needs of full-time residents are provided for in balance with providing for part-time residents and visitors.

Policy 2

Encourage in-fill development and redevelopment within City limits.

SCHOOLS AND TRANSPORTATION

Goal 1

Increase the scope and quality of education for Island Park residents.

Policy 1

Support continuing education.

Policy 2

Encourage and utilize year-round use of the public library as an educational entity, especially in the summer when the school libraries are not open.

Policy 3

Recreation facilities and playing fields are needed to supplement those provided by the school system.

Goal 2

As required by law, cooperate with the school districts, as appropriate in rezoning requests.

Policy 1

Encourage increased coordination between educational organizations and the community through exploring opportunities for shared facilities.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Goal 1

Identify past trends in the economic base and any changes, analyze and assess current conditions, and forecast into the future.

Policy 1

Locate commercial use in existing commercial zones.

Policy 2

Do not expand or create new commercial zones unless a landowner/developer can demonstrate an actual need for additional commercial zoning.

LAND USE

Goal 1

Identify the natural land types in the City and the Area of Impact, including lands suitable for uses such as agriculture, forestry, mineral exploration and extraction, preservation, recreation, housing, commerce, and public facilities.

Policy 1

As required by law, produce a map identifying existing and future land uses in the City and the Area of Impact.

Policy 2

Using the Development Code, direct development away from Critical Wildlife Habitat, Wetlands, Streams, Lakeshores, Ponds and Wetlands Corridors, Slopes steeper than 15%, Wildfire Hazard Areas, Visually Sensitive Areas in the City and the Area of Impact, asidentified these areas on the Natural Resources Maps and the Future Acquisitions Map.

Policy 3

Using the Development Code, develop standards for housing for employees in commercial developments and multiple family residential developments.

Policy 4

Using the Development Code, develop density bonus standards for housing developments and commercial developments that protect critical areas identified in Policy 2 (above) or otherwise identified in the Development Code.

Policy 5

Using the Development Code, develop standards for providing recreational facilities for commercial developments, and preserving access to public lands.

Policy 6

Create an Overlay Map depicting lands suitable for mineral exploration and extraction. Use this Overlay Map in the development review process.

Policy 7

Create an Overlay Map for lands suitable for preservation. Use this Overlay Map in the development review process.