The Chaffee Planning Commission unanimously approved the new county Comprehensive Plan on Tuesday evening, Dec. 15 during a virtual session with a largely appreciative audience. The product of 18 months of work, the plan will become the basis not just of the county’s future development, but its careful craftsmanship means that it could open up millions of dollars in grant funding for everything from transportation to housing.
“That this was achieved through collaborative effort in the midst of a pandemic and during one of the most divided atmospheres nationally; it speaks to the community that is Chaffee County, and to the wisdom of the choice of names for the plan. We truly are ‘Together Chaffee County,'” said Planning Commission Chair Anderson Horne, speaking with Ark Valley Voice after the meeting. ”
“We are not here as individuals with individual interests, we are here as representatives of the people of Chaffee County,” said Horne as he began the session. “It’s their interests that we are here to promote.”
People love Chaffee County’s great outdoors. Recent survey results say they’re concerned about overuse.
The 160 page document, which passed with only two small conditions attached to it, is the result of thousands of hours of work by county staff, the Chaffee Planning Commission coordinating the plan across multiple county boards, working with the Cushing Terrell consultant firm. It builds on the long-term work that began during the county’s Envision process.
“The completion of a new Comprehensive Plan (“comp plan”) for Chaffee County is a significant achievement, only made possible by the engagement and involvement of literally hundreds of people –starting with the people of Chaffee county,” added Horne. “The Planning Commission is grateful to have had the support of a great planning staff and encouragement from our County Commissioners. The consultants at Cushing Terrell were welcome partners … my hope is that it will be used to help keep this the special place that it is, honoring our ranching and agricultural heritage, valuing preservation of our wild and natural spaces, and improving access and resources for those less able to enjoy what Chaffee County has to offer.”
That residents of this county care deeply about the future development plans for Chaffee County was never in question. The public input in what has been known as “Together Chaffee” was extensive, at every point along the process. Consultant Cushing Terrell documented more than 5,500 data points from community input to be considered in the final document.
Those involved put in untold thousands of hours of effort, including the leaders of county boards, county staff, the planning Commissioners the County Commissioners, combined with hundreds of community hours at which the public weighed in with questions and comments.
Protecting the agricultural heritage of Chaffee County is an important component of the county’s new Comprehensive Plan. AVV staff photo.
“I probably have about a 1,000 hours into it — it was a part time job,” commented Planning Commissioner JoAnne Allen. “The staff was just magnificent with their forbearance with everything…whenever we hit a speed bump they would just roll with it. And Marjo [Planning Commissioner Curgus who refined huge sections of the plan] exhibited such perseverance, such unflagging determination.”
That the plan is complete at this time, in this year, was not a foregone conclusion. Early on, former Planning Commissioner Chair Mike Allen had suggested they might want to put the project on hold due to the impact of the pandemic. The county had already experienced the Decker Fire during the initial phases of plan work. Handling a second crisis in six months, doing all meetings virtually was a high hurdle. The Planning Commission didn’t even hold a vote on the suggestion — they decided to keep plugging away.
“Had we suspended the comp plan with the onset of the pandemic, we would not have it right now,” said JoAnne Allen. “It would just be somewhere in the future….we would have lost all our momentum. The thing is, people just kept stepping up. In the end we got this wonderful plan.”
That the community felt heard and affirmed was evident on Tuesday night. “The support of the community on Tuesday night, the outpouring of support for everyone was really moving, said Allen. “It wasn’t just ‘OK this looks good’ it was all these great comments that we read in the [Zoom] chat all night long. It was so heartening, It was uplifting, to have that affirmation from the people of the community.”
County Commissioner Keith Baker was intimately involved in the early Comprehensive Plan process representing the commissioners. He brought extensive Navy strategic planning experience in the national security arena with him when he settled in Chaffee County. Baker noted that the process involved updating what had become an out-of-date, 20-year-old plan.
“The 20-year interval between comp plan updates left the county in a capacity deficit, so it took an extraordinary amount of time to overcome some inertia, and then develop skills to work on the update in earnest. As staff and the planning commission developed those skills, my involvement tapered off – this IS, after all, the planning commission’s responsibility by statute,” said Baker. “Our community development team and planning commissioners – and more than a few members of the community – spent untold numbers of hours to make this a reality. My heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been involved in this process to bring it to fruition. This is a major milestone for our community.”
From a practical standpoint, keeping this plan moving could mean millions of dollars in funding for Chaffee County. But making that a possibility depended upon carefully constructed language, so that state and federal agencies for critical categories like transportation, or housing, could see the alignment of the specific category plans, and the Comprehensive plan. Next will come the alignment of the county’s land use code.
“lt was critical that the language be perfected, so those agencies have a foundation to apply for significant grants,” explained Horne, affirming that that funding could total millions of dollars. Among the critical areas where careful terminology had to be developed to protect future grant funding; the Transportation plan, the Housing plan and even Full Service Restorative Justice.
A classic view along the Collegiate Peaks Scenic Byway (U.S. 285) in Nathrop, with Mt. Princeton in the background. Photo by Jan Wondra
“We had to align the multi-modal transportation plan draft, with the transportation section of the comp plan,” said Allen who said she credited Transportation Board Chair Kate Garwood with insisting on an end result that readies the county to apply for what could potentially be millions in transportation dollars. “We ‘word-smithed’ it for hours and hours to get it right. Because so much state and federal money depends on the alignment of the transportation plan, the county comp plan and the and land use code.”
That same care had to be taken in other areas, where the way forward to grant applications has been paved with the correct language that can be dropped into grant applications.
Now that the comp plan is in place, the work is still not over. Early on, Baker says they identified a collateral objective of the comp plan update. For a plan to be successful, there needed to be a planning and coordination culture in the county.
“Too often the most benign mindset for planning at any level and in any setting is it’s a ‘necessary evil.’ Properly done, planning is a beneficial activity,” he explained. “It fosters conversations, enhances communications, and helps build a closer-knit culture – whether it’s a corporation, a non-profit, a small business, or a county or municipality.”
The next hurdle will be turning the broad and visionary strokes of the Comprehensive Plan into revised Land Use Code (LUC). The solidarity exhibited by the planning commission will be necessary, as the LUC will take the members into extremely technical reviews.
The overriding vision for Chaffee County has remained the same through the years. It was strongly articulated during the Envision process that predated the past 18 months and remains true now. Residents of Chaffee County are committed to “Keeping the town in town and the country in the country.”
Kudos to the Planning Commission! The work they did was badly needed and should serve as a great guideline for the future development of the county. THANKS!