Hubbard County commissioners decline request to allow controlled-access lots on natural-environment lakes

The Hubbard County Board of Commissioners on 2026-05-12 voted to accept the planning commission's recommendation not to amend the county's shoreland management ordinance to permit controlled-access lots on natural-environment lakes.

The issue came before the board after property owners in a development asked the county to allow a shared lake-access parcel to operate as a controlled-access lot. Jeremiah Johnson, one of the lot owners, told the board he and 12 co-owners had long used a shared lake parcel and that covenants recorded at the time of sale led them to assume legal access. "I did use it and I'd like to continue using it and I'd like to do it the legal way," Johnson said during public comment.

County planning staff and the planning commission had recommended against changing the ordinance. Staff told the board the county's 2015 amendment removed conditional-access lots after experiences that created enforcement and wetland-protection problems, including impacts on wetlands and difficulty ensuring homeowners associations met ongoing management responsibilities. Planners said they found no record of a conditional-use permit tied to the disputed access lot and that a preliminary plat application related to the development was withdrawn years earlier.

Commissioners acknowledged sympathy for affected owners but voiced concern that allowing controlled-access lots on natural-environment lakes could set a countywide precedent exposing sensitive shorelines to more pressure. Several members suggested options for the property owners outside an ordinance change: dividing ownership of the access parcel so individual owners hold title (or the association hold title) with amended covenants, pursuing private legal claims against developers if the parcel was misrepresented at sale, or seeking a planned-unit-development approach where appropriate.

The board's motion to accept the planning commission's recommendation carried by voice vote; specific yea/nay tallies were not recorded in the transcript.

Why it matters: The decision preserves a restrictive shoreland standard on natural-environment lakes in Hubbard County, limiting opportunities for shared back-lot lake access while leaving property owners to seek private remedies or ownership restructures. Commissioners left open the possibility of reviewing shoreland rules for recreational or general-development lakes at a later time, saying any change should be considered countywide and with attention to wetland and enforcement implications.

Next steps: County staff said owners can pursue private legal options (amend covenants or reassign title) and that commissioners could initiate a county-led ordinance review covering recreational lakes in the future. The transcript records no formal board direction to amend the ordinance at this meeting.