Land development creates jobs for real estate, banking, construction and innumerable community-based services, as well as eventually creating consumer spending.
All of which creates sales and use taxes.
La Plata County lacks a method for the potential development of a single additional lot or for commercial/light industrial uses or subdivisions to determine if their “use type” will meet county criteria for neighborhood compatibility, density and use type at the chosen property.
The county has been asked for some years to create a “sketch plan” or “concept plan” process wherein an applicant can process a request for approval for a use of a property within a short time frame (like one or two months).
To date, no effort has been made to establish such a process.
Lack of zoning is an issue, but, though zoning may be in the future with a new code, it does nothing presently to cure a real problem. That problem is the decreasing or even total absence of land development due to the lack of predictability with the county process as it exists at this time.
The county continues to make development of its tax base through land development projects time consuming and financially questionable.
One asks why a shortened process for approval or denial of a use type can’t be utilized while we wait for the promised zoning?
I am not advocating wide open land development, but individuals and development companies need a better path to follow to quality development.
Brian Kimmel
Durango
