OVERVIEW
Land use planning controls what type of development happens amd in what locations. This determines what our community will look like in the future. It is administered through regulatory policies in the Comprehensive Code and in the Land Use Development Code. The Comprehensive Plan is the visionary document that sets high level policy direction and guides decision making for development, housing, economics, transportation, open space, and more. The land use development code is intended to be the regulatory framework that implements land development policies including zoning and subdivision regulations.
Chaffee County's Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 2001. Between 2006 and 2008, nearly 100 community members representing diverse interest worked togther through the Land Use Roundtable to arrive at a set of consensus recommendations to guide growth and development in the County. The resulting 2008 Roundtable Recommendations were officially adopted by Chaffee County Resolution 2008-69. The County Commissioners then appointed a Citizens Code Committee to write a new land use code incorporating the Roundtable Recommendations. The the Chaffee County Land Use Code became law in 2014 finalizing years of hard work by the planners and citizens.
Now just two years after adoption, the Planning & Zoning Commissioners propose to eliminate fundamental Roundtable Recommendation elements with very little public discussion except through a series of public hearings. The proposed changes include:
- Removing the development standard that subdivisions provide onsite water cisterns for fire suppression.
- Removing a development requirement for visual impact analysis from the developer.
- Removing the open space dedication requirement.
- Increasing zoning densities in the County rural residential district and recreation district from 1 dwelling unit/5 acres to 1 dwelling unit/2 acres.
- Increasing zoning desnisites in the County residential distict from 2 dwelling units/1 acre to 4 dwelling units/1 acre.
After observing the Planning Commission's dialogue and rationale for these changes, a group of citizens responded with alternatives submitted prior to the June 28, 2016 Planning Commission work session. There was no discussion of these alternatives at the work session and instead a confirmation of the Planning Commission's consensus with their proposals and agreement to move to public hearings. The first public hearing is scheduled for August 30th at 6 p.m. for the requirements for open space dedications and for visual analyis.