Smith Group owner seeks rezone of ground south of Sunnyside

Trenches are being dug on ground south of Sunnyside Road near Interstate 15. The owner Watts LLC, is seeking to have the zoning changed from agricultural to commercial.

The Bonneville County Commission has scheduled a public hearing Wednesday afternoon at 4 on two requests to have land south of Sunnyside Road rezoned from agricultural to commercial. Overall, the zone change requests cover 236.9 acres.

The first comes from Watts LLP, a company owned by Stafford Smith, owner of the Smith Group. The partnership is seeking to have 19.6 acres rezoned from A-1 to C-2. We struck out this morning trying to reach Smith to ask him about his plans for the land, but will keep trying. On the ground, crews are already engaged in excavation work.

Because the land is not contiguous to the city of Idaho Falls it can't be annexed or receive city services. The master plan at the county planning and zoning office shows water service coming from Andrus Distributing to the south and sewer lines hooking into the Eastern Idaho Regional Wastewater System, which hooks into a treatment plant in Shelley.

The other zone change request, from Melaleuca, is for 217.3 acres along the west bank of the Snake River. No details on what might be proposed for the ground were available from Melaleuca or Bonneville County at the time of this posting.

The hearing will be at the Bonneville County Courthouse, in the commissioners' office.