The Star Valley Ranch Master Plan is coming together with a public review process underway for the community.

“We are getting to the tail end of our town, municipal master plan update,” explained Star Valley Ranch Mayor Ru Rok. “The last time we had a master plan adopted by the town council was in 2014.”

She recalled the process has been underway, working with the planning commission over  an 18-month period.

“We had a open house at the beginning of this month, on October 7 and now we’re in a 30 day, kind of final formal public comment period,” explained the mayor. “Once we get those public comments in, we’re going to have a public hearing in front of the town council next month (November), where they can also accept additional public comments. Then following that, the planning commission will incorporate any changes, and then determine if they’re going to recommend approval of the document to the town council.”

She added, “If we get that far, then the council would consider it for adoption in December.”

In the meantime, copies of the plan have been available for review. “We’ve had draft chapters up for town residents to review,” the mayor said. “We’ve also had a number of hearings and meetings in front of our planning commission where we’ve solicited comments. We’ve also had a couple of surveys that have been done over the last few years that have all fed into this master plan as well.”

The mayor again noted, “It’ll be in front of the town council for some formal public comment in November and then, if the planning commission decides to recommend it for approval, the council would consider adopting it in December. So it would be at our December 8 meeting.”

Mayor Rok reflected on the town’s growth over the years. “One of the things that’s been, interesting as we’ve gone through and looked at the updates for all the demographics and just the infrastructure, is how much our town has grown,” she said. “Over the last 10 years, we’ve had 120 new homes constructed.”

The mayor continued, “We’ve had 28 new single family homes this year alone. So our population has grown quite a bit since the even the 2020 census was done. I think we’re a little over 2,000 people right now.”

Mayor Rok recalled a survey that had been distributed seeking public input.

“One of the other really interesting things, too, is we did a survey last fall, which was by email, and it was basically confirming survey results that came in back in 2022 and 23 when our town updated its mission and vision. Interestingly, the opinions of residents have not changed a whole lot since then, and one of the most important things to them is that we continue to preserve the rural lifestyle here at Star Valley Ranch. I understand it’s not rural, you know, in the way it might be in the county.”

She said, “They love their outdoor recreation. They want to keep quiet outdoor recreation,” she said, but also noting requests for improvements to water services.

“There’s still a lot of emphasis from residents wanting us to make sure we finish water infrastructure upgrades, and most importantly, for infrastructure, doing more to improve our town roads, but it’s been interesting to see that those sentiments have not changed a whole lot over the last few years. They just want a beautiful, quiet place to live next to the national forest, where they can play golf, ride snow machines, and just enjoy the beautiful Star Valley area that we live in.”

Mayor Rok expressed appreciation for the everyone who has worked on the plan throughout the process.

“I would like to thank all the people on our planning commission and also here in town that have contributed to the effort,” she said. “We’ve done all of this in-house. We have a lot of expertise in town to draw from.”

She continued, “We do have some great expertise on our planning commission. One of our current members is a former planner from where she moved from, back in Michigan. She’s been very helpful, making sure we do a good job with the process.”

The mayor emphasized the cost savings on the plan by doing all of the work with existing staff and residents.

“We’ve saved the town by doing this inhouse, even though it’s been a big lift, probably over $100,000, because trying to contract that out to a consulting firm these days costs about that much.”