Keeping rural and urban areas separate is among the highlights of a visionary document that La Plata County will consider finalizing this summer, county officials said this week.
The document that will guide how residents want their community to grow over the next few decades has reached the end stages of its development, officials said.
“This is the community vision going forward,” Commissioner Kellie Hotter said. “It’s where we see ourselves growing.”
In a joint meeting with planning commissioners Thursday evening, Hotter and her fellow board members were updated on the progress of the county’s comprehensive plan, which has been almost two years in the making.
The plan is the first of two detailed policy documents that will eventually lead the county’s future growth decisions. After the comprehensive plan is complete and has been adopted by planning and county commissioners this summer, a zoning plan will be created.
Among its features, the proposed plan maintains separation between established communities and rural areas, said the county’s long-range planner, Jason Meininger.
Residents in the area expressed a desire that cities and towns in the region not “run together” as they often do on the Front Range and in metropolitan regions around the nation, Meininger said.
More than 180 meetings involving the public and various county advisory and official boards, have been hosted to discuss the plan, said County Manager Shawn Nau.
But Hotter said that, until it’s official, the plan is “still a work in progress,” and residents’ comments could prompt changes.
Hearings before the planning commission about the comprehensive plan are expected in May, officials said.
The final comprehensive plan will be an advisory document, but the zoning plan that follows will be binding legislation, officials said.
The zoning plan would give future developers “entitlements” to develop their land in designated ways, Nau said. It also could make it harder for some property owners to change the way they use their properties or develop in a way that is contradictory to the zoning designation, Meininger said.
Work on that plan won’t begin until the comprehensive plan receives final approval.
Hotter said she hopes residents will take their concerns and wishes for the comprehensive plan to the planning commission in the weeks ahead.
Although county commissioners welcome public comments when the matter hits their arena, “The majority of the work and vetting lies with the planning commission in the next few months,” Hotter said.
