Proposed Lyon County Land Use and Development Code to move forward

Courtesy Lyon County

The Lyon County Board of Commissioners addressed a single point of contention with the draft Land Use and Development Code proposed to be Title 15 of the Lyon County Code.

The Board, in a 5-0 vote, directed staff to remove language that addressed Conditional Use Permits (CUP) for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO). After a series of public meetings and input from the Livestock industry the Board rejected the existing language and directed staff to bring Title 15 back to the Board for action without the CAFO requirements. The Board did direct staff to continue working with the livestock industry for a solution.

A CAFO is an animal feeding operation with more than 1000 animal units (an animal unit is defined as an animal equivalent of 1000 pounds live weight and equates to 1000 head of beef cattle, 700 dairy cows, 2500 swine weighing more than 55 pounds, 125 thousand broiler chickens, or 82 thousand laying hens or pullets) confined on site for more than 45 days during the year.

County Manager Jeff Page and County Planner Rob Pyzel anticipate that Title 15 will be taken to the Board of Commissioners in Late March or early April for final approval. Title 15 will replace existing land use and zoning codes found in Titles 9-13 and will implement the 2010 Comprehensive Master Plan.