Commissioners considering short term rentals during eclipse

The Hot Springs County Commissioners are considering a draft resolution that would be in effect from Aug. 15 to Aug. 31, 2017 only, covering the timeline for the upcoming solar eclipse.

The draft, which may be amended before approval in March, would allow for short-term rentals, such as private homes, apartments, bedrooms and similar residential units during the listed time frame.

In addition it would allow for short-term rental of recreational vehicle sites for self contained RV’s and allow for overflow areas for tent camping as long as access to toilet facilities is provided.

County Planner, Bo Bowman, created the draft, noting there is nothing in the county’s land use plan at this time that covers short-term rentals, something the planning commission will be addressing over the next few months.

The commissioners took no action on the draft, however, they will be revisiting it at their March 21 meeting.

The commissioners spoke with GDA Engineers by phone during the meeting to discuss possible funding solutions for repairing Black Mountain Road.

GDA informed the commissioners that the project may be a prime candidate for the Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP), which provides funding for transportation projects for their design, construction and reconstruction costs.

One of the details of the FLAP is the project must access or be adjacent to federal lands with an emphasis on high-use recreation areas and federal economic generators.

The Black Mountain Road project fits both criteria as it is the only access to BLM land in the area and gives access to many oil production areas.

The commissioners had considered another program, the Industrial Road Program (IRP) through the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) that pays for studies on roads.

IRP requires a 50/50 split between the state and the county. FLAP, on the other hand, is a 9.51% match for the county.

According to discussion commissioner Tom Ryan had with one of the members of the FLAP board, they get about 13 project proposals each year and choose two or three in Wyoming to fund.

With this in mind, the commissioners determined they would go ahead and apply for the FLAP program, yet still keep their hat in the ring with the IRP, running both concurrently in the hopes that one of them will be accepted.

The commissioners will not know if they have been “short listed” with FLAP until sometime in June or July.