Douglas County Commission approves six-month halt on applications to subdivide rural land

Rural residents of Douglas County who want to divide their land into residential lots may have to wait half a year before they can get that process started.

The Douglas County Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a six-month moratorium on the county’s processing of applications for certificates of survey outside of the county’s urban growth area. Submitting an application is the first step in the process of dividing a large parcel of land — in this case, one that’s 20 acres or larger — into smaller residential lots.

According to the county’s resolution outlining the moratorium, any new applications will not be processed until Feb. 21, 2020. But the resolution also says the commission has the authority to bring the moratorium to an end before that if it chooses to do so.