FORT CALHOUN, Neb. (KMTV) — Pam Daly and her husband Dan have lived in Washington County for 45 years.
Pam runs her own pottery business and Dan has his own hay business.
They lead a mostly quiet life enjoying the natural beauty of Washington County but a new plan by county officials could be bringing the big city hustle and bustle to the mostly rural Washington County.
“I think people who move to subdivisions up here want to live close to nature but once they come here they want a lot of the amenities they had in Omaha,” said Pam Daly, who lives with her husband Dan in rural Washington County.
The plan is the County’s Comprehensive Plan and Zoning regulations and the part of the plan causing the issue is a proposed Urban reserve.
“It addresses growth coming from Omaha and is directing that towards the area between Highway 75 and 133,” said Chris Shewchuk, the Planning and Zoning Administrator for Washington County.
Officials expect the metro to continue to creep into Washington County and the Urban Reserve is their plan to balance that expected growth with the needs of agriculture in other parts of the county.
That means in the Urban Reserve dense commercial and residential developments will be the focus and the regulations will change to cater to dense developments.
But for folks like Dan and Pam who live within the proposed reserve, it is the county choosing Omaha’s sprawl over homegrown residents and businesses.
“They want people who are small ag, maybe an eight-acre or a 10-acre they won’t be around anymore. This land is perfect for that activity. Food-producing farms. The incentives are there for people like ourselves who have been here for 45 years to sell and move out,” said Dan Daly.
Dan and Pam aren’t the only ones frustrated with the county.
At a public hearing Thursday night hundreds of Washington County residents packed the hallways of the library in Blair to voice their frustration with the plan.
The residents we spoke to all said the same things, they love their way of life in Washington County and the last thing they want is for urban Omaha to start developing in their backyard.
“There are gonna be these two-acre developments that will happen. Those folks aren’t gonna want you to start your tractor at 5 a.m. and get your hay cut so you can burn the dew off of it and bail it in the afternoon. They aren’t gonna want tractors on the road, they will want hardtop roads they won’t want gravel roads. They won’t want a lot of trees in the forest they want to cut them and put lawns on them. It will totally change the character of the place,” said Dan Daly.
Thursday’s hearing was just for informational purposes and to gather public comment. The plan is not finalized and Shewchuk told us the public comment will be considered and incorporated into the plan. Another public hearing will be held before anything is finalized.
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