School Zoning Bill Passes First Reading

Senate File 49 passed its first reading in the House yesterday with no small amount of debate. That bill would grant private schools the same exemptions from county zoning as public schools. Some in the house argued that if passed, it would remove the abilities of counties to control the growth and image of their jurisdictions. Others complained that it has come to the legislature as a result of Teton County not being able to deal with this issue of zoning for a proposed private school themselves. That complaint concerns Representative Mike Yin.  Yin says, “I feel like…they’re angry at Teton County and the Teton County Commissioners; and it’s not necessarily that they want this to be something that they want to do across the state.”  Yin goes on that it is something they want to do for this school, and he doesn’t believe this is the right way to go about it especially with a bill as broad as this one that has far-reaching effects across the state. Says Yin, “I do what to make sure that the House just takes a moment and thinks about what the repercussions would be. The first reading of the measure ultimately passed with a vote of 31 to 24.

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