OURAY – After receiving public comment at a May 27 community forum, and reviewing nearly 40 public surveys, the Board of Ouray County Commissioners on Monday signaled intent to move forward with proposed changes to Section 9 of the Ouray County Land Use Code, which provides visual impact regulations for development in the county.
While the commissioners received both negative and positive comments from members of the public on proposed changes to visual impact regulations, all three agreed at their regular Monday meeting that they had received enough positive feedback to move forward in the process to restructure Section 9.
That path includes a BOCC-approved resolution to direct the Ouray County Planning Commission to make formal recommendations on changes to the current codes in Section 9, whereupon planning commission-approved changes to Section 9 go back to the commissioners for their ultimate and final approval.
The commissioners agreed that up to three more work sessions are needed before they are ready to draft a resolution directing the planning commission to work on changing the current visual impact regulations.
“We received a high percentage of respondents that said this is important and worth-while,” Commissioner Lynn Padgett said at Monday’s meeting. This feedback stems from the May 27 forum, at which Padgett presented the proposed changes to Section 9 to over 100 people in a packed Ouray County 4-H Event Center. “I was very pleased, overall, on the turnout in the town hall-style meeting. We had good attendance.”
Among the proposed changes at the meeting, only buildings that are visible from view corridors would be required to comply with the visual impact regulations with the visual impact corridor, defined to include locations that are 1.5 miles on either side of all numbered county roads, Forest Service roads and Bureau of Land Management roads.
If a structure is visible from the view corridors, under the proposed regulations, a developer will go through a new tier system aimed at simplifying the process. Under Tier 1, builders will have to comply with objective criteria, but will get a streamlined process producing a known outcome. The criteria for Tier includes a maximum of 2,350 square feet in total size and a 20 feet height limit.
For more flexibility with size and design, Tier 2, offering a combination of techniques to mitigate its visual impact, may be used. These techniques include the use of natural materials, varying roof lines, integration of the home with natural environment and repeating natural elements (form, line, color, texture, and scale).
Finally, if a development doesn’t meet the Tier 1 or Tier 2 standards, staff decisions can be appealed through the Board of Visual Appeals and to the commissioners for a final decision.
Expressing the belief that the proposed changes to Section 9 are needed to comply with the county’s 1999-adopted Master Plan, the commissioners emphasized the need for protection and preservation of visually significant areas of Ouray County.
Roughly 70 percent of the majority of respondents completing surveys, Padgett said on Monday, indicated that they agreed with the goals of the master plan, with 72 percent agreeing that minimizing visual impact through planning is “very important.” Padgett also said that only 39 percent of the respondents said it was “extremely important” to provide a simpler set of regulations than the current Section 9.
As for comments made at the meeting, many residents remained skeptical of the changes.
“We had three levels of comments from those opposing this,” Padgett said. “One level is the ‘government is bad, I hate all government’ broad-based opposition. The second level was the ‘I hate regulations in general’ and ‘all regulations are bad.’ And then the third level was comments that were very specific to the proposal and to the current Section 9, and those were the most helpful.”
Commissioner Keith Meinert agreed, adding that many of those legitimate and specific concerns that were brought up by members of the public, like a proposed 200 foot setback on the top of the escarpment and questions about non-conforming parcels, may have to be ironed out by members of the planning commission during its portion of the process.
“I think those discussions are going to have to be revisited by the planning commission,” Meinert said, adding that other areas of thoughtful concern include whether or not the proposed tier system is actually less confusing than the current approval process and that the notion of blending is more subjective than the current point system.
“I feel like the legitimate comments we have received are exactly those issues that we had expected the planning commission to review and I would be very reluctant for us to take all of those comments at the BOCC work shop level and try to resolve them all before we pass it on to the planning commission,” Meinert said. “I think we have started in a direction that has attracted thought-provoking comments, and now it is time for the planning commission to grapple with those comments.”
Commissioner Heidi Albritton said the “bulk” of the feedback she received following the presentation was positive, indicating the proposed changes were “generally going in the right direction.” Albritton said she did hear some concerns from residents about possible negative impacts the proposed rule changes could bring to the region’s economy.
“I did get a few that were not happy with the direction and the bulk of those comments had to do with the economy,” Albritton said, adding that some worried that the changes would discourage real estate transactions. “So I would like to have a discussion with realtors and have them tell us how they see this as bringing an impact or what ways this regulation would make it more expensive to do their job. I am willing to listen to their concerns, if they can tell us why or how.”
The commissioners agreed to hold at least three more work sessions to resolve questions about the proposed regulations before drafting a resolution directing the planning commission regarding changes to Section 9 before it comes before them for approval. In those work sessions, the commission will hear concerns voiced by members of the real estate/construction community about the proposed regulations, as well as discuss the definition of building height and how it relates to the 2006 International Building Code.
County resident Bob Luttrell, a member of the planning commission speaking as a citizen, said the work on the proposed rule changes is a step in the right direction.
“I absolutely think the county is going in the right direction and is doing the right thing and probably at the right time,” Luttrell said.
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