All three commissioners, along with two members of the planning commission and two county staff members were present at Tuesday’s work session, where the group informally accepted the newly-drafted sections of visual impact regulations. The changes are intended to minimize the visual impact of both individual structures and development as a whole by blending with natural surroundings and the existing physical environment. During the discussion, Commissioner Keith Meinert reiterated the notion that the intent in redoing Section 9 is not intended to only make building regulations stricter but rather fix some holes in the code.
“We need to identify that this is not an attempt to make our current regulations more harsh,” Meinert said. “We need to fix some of the breakages in our code and in many cases what we are doing is making our regulations easier to comply with.”
The working draft states that all buildings at or within 1.5 miles of the centerline of U.S. Hwy. 550, State Hwy. 62, all numbered Ouray County Roads, U.S. Forest Service roads and Bureau of Land Management roads are subject to compliance with Section 9 unless the developer or landowner can prove that the structure is invisible from those aforementioned view points. Meinert said this will put the burden on the applicant to demonstrate that a particular development or structure is invisible, otherwise it must comply with visual impact regulations.
The bulk of the current Section 9 draft is arranged in various tiers for property owners to develop property within the county. According to the draft, the Tier 1 process provides owners “a simple, objective set of criteria which, if met, will allow for a simpler approval process.”
In addition to meeting requirements for all buildings located within the view corridor, (no-reflective materials, revegetation of road/driveway cuts, outdoor lighting regulations, blending with natural character of landscape, etc.) Tier 1 applications shall not exceed 2,350 square feet, they have a maximum building height of no more than 20 feet, and no breakage of skyline shall be permitted on ridgelines.
It was decided on Tuesday that further discussion is needed in regards to defining ridge, ridgeline and escarpment when referring to this segment of the Tier 1 standards. An applicant may appeal the decision of the building official or Land Use staff if the project does not meet the Tier 1 standards, otherwise, he or she can apply through the Tier 2 process of Section 9.
Tier 2, according to the working draft, “requires a more detailed Land Use Staff review as well as additional submittal requirements” if an applicant desires more flexibility in building design and size.
Like the Tier 1 process, the Tier 2 process requires that no skyline breakage be permitted on ridgelines and a minimum setback from the centerline roads shall be 100 feet. And while Tier 2 states that it gives flexibility to applicants on building design, it also states that there are several mitigation techniques that may be used, including the utilization of native vegetation or landforms to soften the visual impact of the building, stepping the building’s height and locating the building to allow for the least amount of disturbance possible.
Finally, for those applications that fail to meet the requirements of Tier 1 or Tier 2, the draft document states that applicants may seek to submit their application for review by the Board of Visual Appeals and the Board of County Commissioners.
While officials have made progress in drafting the new version of Section 9, there are several issues that have yet to be ironed out by the group, including how smaller, non-conforming parcels of land will fit into the new draft, as well as how recreations of historic structures will be regulated.
Once the commissioners have a working draft ready for public presentation, a lengthy approval process for the new Section 9 will begin. The commissioners will take public comment at their May 27 meeting, which starts at 6:30 p.m., and will then hold more work sessions (if needed) before sending a recommended draft to the Planning Commission, where it will go through its public approval process.
After that, a Planning Commission-approved recommendation for Section 9 will be formally sent to the commissioners for their approval.
A working draft of Section 9 is expected to be available on the county’s website, ouraycountyco.gov, by Friday, May 14.
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