By: Stuart Summers

Hundreds packed into a Bingham County courtroom Tuesday night to address their concerns about possible code revisions in the county.  The reason behind Tuesday's public meeting was to receive input about possible revisions to the 13th draft of revised county codes.

During the meeting dozens stood before the county's three commissioners to express their concerns about the code revisions.  Bingham County commissioners told the packed courtroom that they've been working on drafts of the proposed ordinances for three years.  Commissioners were hoping to receive feedback during Tuesday’s meeting, and they overwhelmingly heard a lot of negative comments about the proposal.

Many in the county are concerned that the proposed 246-page document does not protect their land rights and only serves the interests of county commissioners. 

A majority of citizens at the open meeting argued that draft's formatting is too overwhelming and many parts of the document are redundant.

Many of the close to 500 people at the meeting, expressed that the entire proposal be scrapped and start new by focusing on existing ordinances. Some in the county feel this highly-debated issue is not in their best interest.       

Heather Goodworth, opposed to revisions: "I think that people are angry about the ordinance.  I think they're angry at the commissioners, I think they're angry at planning and zoning, and angry that they feel their rights are being removed from them and without their consent or information."

The meeting went on for more than three hours and commissioners said they would be there all night if that's what it would take to let everyone testify.

The commissioners also said that they will be looking into suggestions made at the meeting, so they can incorporate them into the next draft.  Due to the large size of the draft proposal, it's believed that the issue will continue into the new year.