A concise agenda for the Chaffee Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) regular session beginning at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, February 15 will include a few land use applications, review of the county’s support for state changes in how lodging tax is allocated, and discussion related to a Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) grant application to fund a portion of the construction of a new Emergency Medical Serivces (EMS) structure on the north end of the county.
Image courtesy of the Chaffee County Clerk’s Office.
The Consent Agenda includes some topics covered in greater detail during the February 14 BoCC Work Session. Chief among them, their agreement to serve as a joint applicant on a Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Centennial Program Visioning Proposal for Sustainable Recreation. The application will align the county (the only county asked to co-sponsor the request with the National Forest Service Foundation) to develop opportunities related to Colorado’s 14,000 foot peaks; known affectionately as our 14ers.
Also on the discussion list behind the Consent Agenda, commissioners reviewed the sketch plan design of the Northern Chaffee County EMS/Public Safety Building and gave their support for a Tier II grant application to help fund it. They also approved support for a Chaffee Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) Recycling Resources Economic Opportunity (known as a RREO Grant) with Elements Mountain Compost.
Commissioners spent some time discussing a resolution (Resolution 20221-19) to support the Colorado HB 1117 Lodging Tax Expansion Resolution. The state bill being considered would keep the funds from lodging tax within tourism budgets but allow for a broader interpretation of its marketing use; keeping it within local control.
“We’ve been considering reallocation of some of this funding to mitigate the impacts of tourism – to put it toward responsible recreation management, and education, not just telling people to come and play,” said Tourism Marketing Director Scott Petersen. He added that if those funds go to the state control level, “A lot of these county’s want to strip the whole budget and put toward police or fire. We’ll never get it back. There might be more guard rails with the latest writeup of the bill.”
This year, Chaffee County has allocated about $200,000 of its tourism dollars toward responsible recreation messaging and promoting support for groups that do recreational trail protection and rebuilding, (which the Tourism Board can’t fund, but the nonprofits have built into their missions). The idea is to build more sustainability into the county’s tourism industry.
“The idea is to make the tourism board more a destination management organization versus a marketing organization,” added Petersen.
Among regular agenda items are two land-use projects:
- The Held Brothers Minor Subdivision Final Plat for 11410 County Road 240, Salida will subdivide 32.15 acres into three lots and one outlot with the minimum lot size being 2.02 acres. The land is zoned recreational. Wells and on-site wastewater treatment systems will serve the property. Right of way will be dedicated with the plat.
- The Sage Heights Major Subdivision Preliminary Plan/Final Plat for 12506 County Road 190 E, Salida, owned by Chris Bainbridge, will subdivide Parcel 2 (a remainder parcel) of the Bainbridge Heritage Water Subdivision Exemption, and the Eggleston-Bainbridge Boundary Line Adjustment (approved to avoid crossing the arroyo but not yet recorded). The property is 30.9 acres of rural-zoned land and is proposed to be subdivided into fourteen (14) lots, ranging in size from 1.26 to 3.94 acres. Wells and on-site wastewater treatment systems will serve the property. A new low-volume road on a dedicated right-of-way will serve the subdivision.
The BoCC will hear a Land Use Code Text Amendment, Amending Sections 5.2.3 A, F & I of the Land Use Code, for Certified Mailings. To see the full text of the proposed amendment go to chaffeecounty.org/Planning-and-Zoning. Commissioners will end their meeting considering an Appeal of Administrative Decision Denying Application for Short Term Rental License – 13500.
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