Love's applies for conditional use permit

A conditional use permit application filed by Love’s Travel Stops will allow the company to build a truck stop near Jamestown if approved.

The permit application will be put before the county’s planning and zoning commission April 10 at 10 a.m., and is scheduled to be brought before the Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners for final approval May 7 at 8:30 a.m.

According to the permit application, the truck stop would be built on two parcels of land, one owned by Aspen Springs and the other owned by Robert and Margaret Dyer. The truck stop will consist of a convenience store, fuel pumps, fast food restaurant and a tire shop. The truck stop is estimated to serve 600 trucks and 1,300 passenger vehicles daily if built.

The two parcels were previously rezoned from agricultural to commercial, but required an additional conditional use permit to allow the use as a truck stop. A conditional use permit is needed for land uses that don’t completely comply with allowable uses of a zoned property or needs additional conditions set upon a specific use. Some developments, including bed and breakfasts, explosives storage, scrap yards, kennels, evaporation ponds and solar farms, automatically require a conditional use permit and the two public hearings required to obtain that permit.

From A1

According to Jim Zimmerman, the code enforcement specialist for the Sweetwater County Land Use Department, a conditional use permit can also be required to ensure a use doesn’t “unreasonably impose adverse impacts on the health, safety and general welfare of the county or adjacent and nearby properties or residents.” During a previous town hall meeting at the county courthouse, residents living near the proposed location of the truck stop voiced concerns about air quality and other potential impacts the truck stop could create.

The county’s planning and zoning department is accepting public comments on the conditional use permit. Written comments can be mailed to the county’s Land Use Department at the Sweetwater County Courthouse in Green River or emailed to the landuse@sweet.wy.us address.