La Plata County’s land-use and business permit policies were the focus Thursday at a forum with the four candidates running for county commission seats.
The candidates – Democratic incumbents Gwen Lachelt (District 2) and Julie Westendorff (District 3), and their respective challengers, Republicans Lyle McKnight and Kayla Patterson – shared some similar views on the county’s infrastructure needs, while the newcomers took a stronger stance against the county’s planning processes.
The questions were provided to the candidates in advance, making for a highly structured and mostly noncontroversial forum at the DoubleTree Hotel in Durango.
Both Republican candidates have backgrounds in small business, while Lachelt has a long history in extractive resource policy and Westendorff has worked as a real estate agent, tribal prosecutor and Bayfield town judge.
The forum, hosted by the Durango Chamber of Commerce, centered on the county’s land-use and permitting policies, which the new candidates said should be more business-friendly to pave the way to attainable housing, infrastructure maintenance and a sustainable economy.
“The permitting process needs to be predictable and affordable,” Patterson said. “If we have a business environment encouraging responsible growth, we can support infrastructure costs.” She said that land-use planning conversations must involve those most affected by it – businesses and developers.
The incumbents noted that the planning process has made strides since they took office in 2012. A $700,000 update to the county’s comprehensive plan had been rejected a year before. After the 2012 election, efforts to update the comprehensive plan were revived and planning staff is due to complete updates next year.
“There has already been a culture change in the planning department compared to five years ago,” Westendorff said. “The planning department is equally frustrated with the land-use code.”
County staff members are planning a complete overhaul of the land-use code, which is intended to work in conjunction with the comprehensive plan and speed up the permitting process for businesses.
When questions turned to two major ballot initiatives – mill levy proposals for road and bridge infrastructure, and a new airport terminal – all agreed the capital projects are essential, though McKnight and Westendorff are uncertain if this year is the appropriate time to ask for airport funding.
Should the road and bridge mill levy fail at the polls for the second consecutive year, candidates said they would look at reprioritizing projects and reorganizing the budget, which would likely mean diminished services.
“I’d review priorities, see what projects qualify for energy impact grants, and see where money could be moved in the budget for road and bridge,” McKnight said.
All four candidates responded “yes” when asked if they are in favor of fracking, though Lachelt and Westendorff emphasized that responsible regulation is more to the point.
“Fracking of oil and gas wells has occurred here for decades,” Lachelt said. “I worked for best practices to give landowners a say where oil and gas occurs on their own land, and also for best practices where fracking chemicals are used. Colorado now has one of the nation’s strongest fracking chemical disclosure rules.”
While Lachelt touted her record on oil and gas policy, her challenger took a shot at it during his closing remarks.
McKnight slammed Lachelt for poor attendance at county meetings, where he has been a regular audience member for the past year, and accused her of putting environmental activism ahead of her civic duties.
“My opponent was elected in 2012 on a platform of long-range planning and restoring the public trust and confidence,” he said. “Four years later, we have someone with the worst attendance record, someone who has done nothing but pursue her activist agenda.”
McKnight also referred to an article penned by an energy policy analyst for the Independence Institute, a Denver-based, right-wing think tank, which accuses Lachelt of misusing funds to campaign for energy regulations.
It refers to a trip Lachelt took last spring to Washington, D.C., to advocate for the Bureau of Land Management methane waste rule before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Lachelt later told The Durango Herald that McKnight only dealt a blow to his own campaign with his remarks, and that neither the county nor the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, a nonprofit she founded, granted any funds for such engagements.
According to county records, Lachelt has a 93 percent attendance rate at business and planning meetings since she was elected in 2012. (Westendorff has a 94 percent rate, while District 1 Commissioner Brad Blake, elected in 2014, is registered at 97 percent attendance.)
“I have a strong attendance record, and all commissioners miss meetings sometimes. None of us take it lightly,” Lachelt said.
“The information from the Independence Institute is not credible and came from outside money used against my campaign. So much of our work in La Plata County has to take place at the state and federal level. When I am not in La Plata County, I tend to be in Denver or D.C., working on county business.”
jpace@durangoherald.com
