County Seeks Resident Feedback on New Growth Blueprint
Paris, ID · September 29, 2026
Fall colors are deepening across the foothills this morning, and this afternoon brings the season's final Tuesday farmers market run in Montpelier. Grab your shopping basket early before the vendor stalls pack up for the winter.
The Lead
Bear Lake County’s push to modernize its long-standing Comprehensive Plan and land-use ordinances is entering its final stretch, with county officials and the Planning & Zoning Commission gathering public comments on newly released draft chapters. Guided by the Salt Lake-based Hansen Planning Group, the comprehensive overhaul seeks to balance surging recreational demand and homebuilding around Bear Lake with firm protections for the valley’s sprawling agricultural tracts, wildlife migration corridors, and historic water infrastructure.
Planners have spent recent work sessions sorting through community survey feedback covering everything from short-term rental regulations to minimum lot sizes in unincorporated farming zones. For Paris and neighboring communities, the updated codes will dictate how subdivisions, commercial corridors, and rural buffers are permitted through the next decade. The Planning and Zoning Commission will review revised draft sections at its next courthouse session before forwarding the package to county commissioners for formal adoption hearings later this fall.
Today's Outlook
- High 68°F · Low 41°F — Overcast
- Keep a warm layer handy for the cool, overcast afternoon breeze across the valley.
What's On Around Town
Today
- Montpelier Farmers Market Montpelier Farmers Market (186 N 4th St), Montpelier, 11:00 AM–4:00 PM · Free Grab late-harvest produce, local honey, and warm baked goods before winter.
Tomorrow
- Junior Varsity Volleyball vs. American Falls Bear Lake High School (330 Boise St), Montpelier, 5:30 PM
- Varsity Volleyball vs. American Falls Bear Lake High School (330 Boise St), Montpelier, 6:30 PM
Thursday
- Varsity Volleyball at Preston Preston High School, Preston, 6:30 PM
Spotlight & Story
- Bern
- When Swiss converts arrived four miles north of town in 1873, they named the hamlet after their home canton. Families like the Kunzes hauled in Alpine cheese-making cauldrons and later carved out the mountain pass still known as the German Dugway.
Paris Daily Digest — compiled from local sources as of 6 AM. For breaking updates, follow your local newsrooms.
Sent with care by MailerDot — your city, every morning.