Gardiner Neighborhood Plan is Adopted

Cow elk overlooking Gardiner.

Sometimes good things are worth the wait.

At their September 30 meeting, Park County Commissioners expressed unanimous support for the Gardiner Neighborhood Plan, a document that started with a 2019 community visioning effort called Successful Gardiner.

Commissioner Bryan Wells called the effort to create the neighborhood plan "unprecedented, saying organizers “bent over backwards to be cooperative.”

Neighborhood plans are a planning tool encouraged in the Park County Growth Policy. Community members work together on a common vision for the future, calling out goals for things like streetscapes, walkability, maintaining character, providing housing, protecting the natural environment and making a place safe.

A Gardiner-based committee including Pat Baltzley, Lynn Bickerton Chan and Colette Daigle-Berg started the neighborhood planning process, engaging their neighbors in a variety of meetings and outreach events. PCEC supported the effort with technical expertise over the last 5 years, providing community members with the resources they needed to create the plan.  

As the small gateway community for the only year-round entrance to Yellowstone National Park, Gardiner has been rapidly transformed by recent challenges, including extreme housing shortages, the devastating 2022 flood, and destructive fires. The town’s ability to house its residents and maintain its community dynamics is changing fast. With little guidance for the future, many residents fear the degradation of Gardiner's unique character and community spirit. According to Baltzley, the new, non-regulatory plan—a reflection of the "needs and wants of Gardiner"—is essential to guide future decisions and address these profound challenges.

At PCEC we see neighborhood planning as an excellent way for residents to come together, collaborate, and proactively plan and envision the future of their community.

We hope neighborhood plans gain traction beyond Gardiner and into other parts of Park County. If you are interested in exploring how to create a similar plan for your neighborhood or watershed, please reach out to Karrie Kahle at karrie@pcecmt.org.