La Plata County may start, once again, on a total re-write of its land-use code, aiming for better results than the failed efforts in 2004 to 2007.
County Manager Joe Kerby made the proposal to the county commissioners at a work session Tuesday afternoon. No action was taken.
Planners have made 27 updates to the code since 2012, and they want to finish two more this fall, he said, but the process of “base hit” changes is too slow for what needs to be done.
“Incremental updates has been the strategy for the last four years. A real priority has been fixing those areas that we perceive to be the most broken,” Kerby said. But incremental changes make for a disjointed code and can create other issues. Staff is recommending much faster and more dramatic changes, he said.
Planning staffer Jason Meininger said it has been almost three decades since major changes to the code.
“The code is really outdated, and we need to spend time, effort and resources on this,” Kerby said. The Class 2 land-use permit process was changed to streamline it, but the standards were not, so it’s not a timely or effective path to get a land-use permit, he said.
Planning Director Damian Peduto said, “We’ve potentially cut the (permit process) time in half,” but if an applicant can’t afford the up-front costs, “the streamlined process doesn’t help.”
County Commissioner Gwen Lachelt said, “That’s one of the greatest complaints we get, the up-front cost.”
Commissioner Julie Westendorff agreed: “We don’t have what we want – a code to allow projects to move forward economically. The economics are hard enough with the cost of land.”
The goal is to develop and implement a new code in 18 months, Kerby said. Ongoing work to update the 2001 comprehensive plan will wrap up in 2017, “and staff can ramp up to work on the code,” he said.
Meininger will lead the project.
Efforts to update the code go back years. A re-write started in 2004, and a 400-plus page code was adopted in summer 2007, but it never went into effect. In February 2009, county commissioners revoked it after studies showed it could promote unwanted rural sprawl instead of discouraging it.
Shortly after that, the commissioners moved to update the comprehensive plan so it would, in turn, guide the creation of a new land-use code. But the comprehensive plan was scrapped in November 2011 because of controversy.
Kerby suggested using a consultant to help get the new code done without overloading planning staff members. He wants to issue a request for proposals, with responses due by the end of August, and have a consultant start Oct. 1.
A primary goal will be to reduce the time, effort and money it takes applicants to get through the permit process and to develop a more equitable way of allocating infrastructure costs.
“One of the common complaints is our process and regulations aren’t clear or predictable,” he said. “We hear all the time that developers need consistency, clarity, predictability. We need a code that provides for infrastructure development. We have hodgepodge development.”
Staff needs a code with more flexibility to work with developers, he said.
Kerby estimates the project would cost “in the six figures.”
Lachelt and Commissioner Brad Blake agreed the county should move forward, while Westendorff was not ready to sign on.
