Rewriting Eagle County’s land use codes will take time, and plenty of public comment
You can comment online, and at commissioner, planning commission meetings
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Eagle County officials will take much of this year continuing the job of re-writing the county’s land use regulations.
A Jan. 21 session brought together the Eagle County Board of Commissioners, as well as members of the Eagle County Planning Commission and the Roaring Fork Valley Planning Commission. The topic that day was how the regulations could address both wildlife and wildfire issues. As it turns out, the two issues aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, since wildfire mitigation can also aid wildlife habitat.
During the discussion, one person in attendance asked if there would be a chance for public input on the massive project. County Attorney Beth Oliver noted that there’s currently a on the county’s website. In a subsequent email, Oliver noted that the page has a link to an “enCode” platform, where the public can provide comments on various modules as they’re being developed.
Consultant Todd Messenger, a director of the Fairfield & Woods law firm, then went over the schedule for those discussions.
The first of those discussions is about natural resource stewardship and hazard mitigation poliies. That discussion begins Feb. 18 with the commissioners, followed by other discussions with an advisory committee and the county’s two planning commissions. The module is set to be released on the enCode platform. All those discussions are open to the public.
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The first module, regarding housing, will begin discussion April 15 with the commissioners.
The second module will be taken up in May, and will focus on nonconformities, review procedures and enforcement. The commissioners will get their first look at that section May 20.
Further hearings will follow in July and August, with public workshops and adoption hearings set for September, with adoption set for October.
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All of those discussions promise to get fairly detailed and time-consuming. But the public will be able to comment during hearings and read the documents and comment via enCode as work is posted online.
“This, in my mind, is the most important thing we’re going to do this year,” Commissioner Tom Boyd said. “I do think as a community we can find the right way forward. 鈥� It will have the biggest impact on a bright future for Eagle County.”
