On Tuesday, August 16, the Chaffee Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) began its review of Module I of the first draft of a new land use code (LUC).
But before it did that, it held another public hearing regarding whether to put a ballot question before the voters changing the allowed terms for the Chaffee Board of County Commissioners from two terms to three terms. As Chair Greg Felt noted, the BoCC is the last elected office in the county where a two-term limit still applies; the other term limits for Chaffee elected officials were rescinded.
The BoCC moved to accept all comments it has received from the public, then Commissioner Rusty Granzella made the motion to direct staff to put it on the November General Election ballot, and to finalize the ballot language during the special August 22 special meeting of the BoCC.. Commissioner Kieth Baker seconded and it passed unanimously.
Although their meeting stretched until nearly 5:00 p.m., the session was not nearly long enough to cover the LUC draft module. The BoCC set a special meeting beginning at 8:00 a.m. Monday, Aug. 22, to continue their review of sections that they were not able to get to this week.
Among the sections in discussion for first draft module:
- Special Event Permits/ Special Event Processes
- Accessory Campground (Section 7.8.8)
- Wildland Urban Interface (new Section 7.1.10)
- Accessory Dwelling Units (Section 7.8.1)
- Agritourism (new, Section 7.8.2)
- Short-Term Rentals (Section 7.8.34.)
If it seems as if it has been “forever” since the county approved its new 2020 comprehensive plan, with which this new LUC is supposed to agree, you’re right. These things take time, we’re told, and the county has had a particularly sticky time moving through some of the topic areas, including a section on hip camping (private land camping) that they agreed to reject and send back to the Planning Commission for redrafting.
There have already been more than 200 written comments received by the county about the new LUC.
Sections included in Module 1of the Chafee County Land Use Code update
August 16 Discussion Points
The BoCC took an extensive amount of time discussing accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and the debate swung back and forth among discussions about the ADU code, the need for workforce housing, and short-term rental code.
Specifically, the BoCC discussed the impact of each housing type on the housing crisis, and whether adjusting expectations between which units might be attached and which might be allowed to be detached might help increase the housing stock for long-term renters.
Among the public comments:
“We set our Hip Camp up at our ranch on open land; it’s semi-primitive camping,” said Monica Courtney who lives on Rodeo Road, I send visitors to the hot springs and fish hatchery and other places. Please allow and support Hip Camp in the county. It is internationally known…. we are all responsible ranch owners and this helps sustain our way of life.”
Courtney said her family lost major income when she was shut down and that “it’s not a lot, but it is a lot for me. I did not cause problems.”
A Piñon Hills resident said he was interested in the special event section of the code, and specifically commended the Planning Commission for including the scoring matrix. “Assessing three points for sound — I like that because it will automatically trigger an administrative review,” although he did ask exactly what an administrative review would include
Another event organizer asked whether a multi-year special event permit could be included, as those who do annual events already have solid reputations, “and for those that are multi-day events getting a permit every year takes your time and ours.”
Gwen Uszuko who owns Moonspring Campground (consisting of 15 full hookup RV sites, and Airstreams and Tiny homes rented nightly) said she was “generally against the idea of commercial private land camping, I just spent a ton of money to build under the current regulations – we are proud of it.”
But, she added, “I do understand the need to support our ag lands – I like agritourism, defined, limited, well-regulated… specifically human waste. Do you have the staffing to regulate 100 new tiny campgrounds across the county?”
Eric Carlson, representing Tom Warren with Mt. Princeton Resorts, pointed out that “Resorts are the type of vacation rentals in the county, and we concentrate overnight stays that don’t alter the character of other residential communities. Mt. Princeton Resorts is hot springs and the estates at Mt. Princeton Planned Unit Development (PUD). It was approved by your board in 2012.”….
The Chaffee legal department clarified that the vacation rentals within the Mt. Princeton PUD do not count toward the county’s short-term rental cap because it is in the category known as “use by right.”
Logan Simpson Consultant Jenn Gardner developing the LUC pointed out that “Summit County does define short-term rentals (STRs) – as we look at our zoning and overlays, we can provide a distinct boundary for a resort overlay…. to keep the cap down in the residential area.”
Several comments were made regarding defining the wildland-urban interface, with CR 160 resident Joe Cooper asking how he could prevent being classified as within the wildland-urban interface … “it’s a ‘taking’ and I want to avoid that.
Felt responded, “When we’re talking about the wildland-urban interface (WUI) we are talking about the fire risk.”
“It’s based on OEM map (Office of Emergency Management) mapping of what is considered high-risk areas for fire or flooding,” added County Attorney Daniel Tom. “They are built out to help us manage emergencies, protect people and property … we already look at steep slopes and flood areas, now we’re considering how to add the fire risk overlay… the maps are meant for OEM, not for how we subdivide.”
Art Hutchinson reminded the BoCC that many ranchers such as the Hutchinson Ranch have portions of their land in conservation easements. When they went through they had to get approval from Cattleman’s Trust, the Central Colorado Conservancy – I hope you look at these conservation easements, to make sure there is a place in there for them, and for ranchers like us doing this agribusiness with Guidestone, etc.
A major discussion ensued regarding STRs and whether the county would enforce properties used as STRs as being owned by county residents as a primary residence.
“I run a biz and that would help solve the workforce housing,” said Bradley Becker. “We had to outsource work outside the county. There are right now 994 active rentals on STR in this county according to AirBnB.
One of the most active discussions ensued over auxiliary dwelling units or ADUs. Logan Simpson does not recommend allowing separate ADUS in the WUI, and also advises adding density limitations.
“A lot of this depends on what we decide the WUI is,” said Baker. He added “I don’t think an STR is an ADU. An ADU is not an STR …I’m all for the ADUs, but where are they going to be? If it’s in the WUI that is counter to the intent.”
Granzella added, “I’m for the detached ADUs, but we’ve got to have all the protections that the main home has.”
“I think we should allow for this, but we need the right protections,” said Felt.
A major comment of the discussion: “We don’t need more purpose-acquired STRs – we need more long-term rentals.”
“The legal question is trying the STRs cap to the housing stock, if you allow the ADUs to be used as STRs…. then what does that do to the cap?” asked Asst. County Attorney Miles Cottom. He went on to say that right now, “We are discouraging folks who aren’t investing in the community… this one is if you’re building an ADU, it’s NOT an STR. So you can’t get a permit for that. You could make this a hard and fast rule.”
“I’d like to keep in there that the property owner could apply for a STR for the ADU… only if the principal dwelling is occupied by the property owner, falls under the caps of the guidelines, and only one dwelling is STR on the property,” said Granzella. “So you’re not going back and forth on this. My goal with the new LUC is to put everything on a topic in one area.”
Agribusiness it was agreed, might be ranchers, but others might be beekeepers. “Right now we’re prohibiting a lot of the B&B activity – we could allow it through the agri-tourism section,” explained Gardner.
The Aug. 22 Special Session will be held in person in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room at 104 Crestone Ave., Salida, and available via Zoom. The link is at the top of each agenda.
The full agenda for the session is available here: Aug 22 2022 BOCC Special Meeting Agenda
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