There are a few common refrains that residents share with the La Plata County Commissioners – “When will Denver TV be available here?” and “What can I do about my neighbor’s barking dog?” Both of these issues we have addressed.
The first, through successfully petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to allow satellite carriers in La Plata County to make agreements with the Denver network television affiliates to carry those channels’ signals here. We hope this will happen soon, though we are still combating opposition from Albuquerque stations.
On the second issue, we adopted a nuisance barking ordinance aimed at addressing noise challenges, while recognizing that ours is a rural county and that dogs being dogs will bark! Gwen, Brad and I continue to push for the Denver TV issue to be fully and finally settled and are paying close attention to how the nuisance barking code is working.
Both of these are slow-moving, but useful, examples of how shaping and responding to community changes takes time, discussion, patience and perseverance. And this applies to an overarching concern that we hear about from many of you: La Plata County’s land use and planning regulations are unclear, time-consuming and unpredictable.
The effect of this long-standing reality is to make development, particularly commercial growth, a cumbersome process for developers, decision-makers and county staff. This is something we have committed to addressing since I was elected in 2012, and we’ve been making steady improvements toward that goal. Just like with Denver TV and barking dogs, we want to do it right. That requires being thorough, including all viewpoints and crafting policy that considers the past and the future, while acknowledging the challenges in moving from one to the other.
In May, the planning commission certified a new comprehensive plan for La Plata County. If that sounds like an everyday occurrence in government, I’m here to tell you that this was a major accomplishment. The new plan, which commission chair Jim Tencza presented to the county commissioners two weeks ago, had not been updated since 2001. The planning commission, county residents, stakeholders and staff worked steadily to address the structural elements of life in La Plata County.
Things like water, natural resources, public safety, housing, economic development, agriculture, historic preservation and other areas are included articulating policy goals for each as the county grows. This document, which took more than two years to craft, gives us the framework for the county’s future, linked to its past.
Now we fill in the details.
First there is the land use code – the regulations that will reflect the vision laid out in the comprehensive plan. The code will answer questions like, “How wide does my driveway have to be? What infrastructure will I need to install for my business? How many units can I build on this piece of property?”
The code also can define the types of land uses and development that fit best in a particular area of the county based on what residents there say is important to them. By taking the guess work and associated cost, time and aggravation out of the process, we see a new land use code as a useful tool for today’s residents and the county’s economic future.
The county will be working with residents to capture community-specific input to update the district plans that neighbors crafted in the late 1990s. The district plans consider the elements in the comprehensive plan as they apply to a particular area like Florida Mesa, Fort Lewis Mesa, Vallecito, the Animas Valley, North County or Southeast La Plata County. A district plan outlines what makes sense in terms of growth, land-use and development for that area.
The land use code provides the tools for implementing the district plans. That can mean encouraging development in some areas, prioritizing ranch lands and open space in others, and sometimes both, using the planning and land use tools that put our county’s values and personality into practice.
The draft first section of the land use code will be ready for your input soon, and the planning commission and staff will begin district plan meetings late summer or early fall. Each step – from comprehensive plan to land use code to district planning – takes a lot of work, conversation with residents and time. We are committed to getting it right the first time so, in the end, the county will have the foundation it needs to fortify our economic and community vitality.
Have something on your mind? Please come talk to your board of county commissioners at a community meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Sunnyside Elementary School.
Julie Westendorff is chairwoman of the La Plata County Board of Commissioners. Reach her at 382-6219.
