Board of County Commissioners Business Meeting - workshop

Good afternoon, everyone. We are here for our afternoon study session, so let's go ahead with some introductions around the room and online, please.

Jeff Baker, Commissioner.

Michelle Holstein, Commissioner's Office. Rhonda Fields, Commissioner. Leslie Summey, Commissioner.

Bernie Rose, Senior Planner. Jason Reynolds, with Public Works and Development.

And... Jessica Campbell, Commissioner of District 2.

Woo! Here we are. So, we're here with Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Rose. I see Mr. Rose's name as Senior Planner Presenter. So, would you like to get us started?

Yes, certainly. So, I'm here to present case number LDC26002, which is an update to the Development Application Manual. to follow up on a previous code we adopted last year in September 2025, where we changed our code from commercial mobile radio services to wireless communication facilities. We're seeking approval from the board regarding this amendment and asking to proceed to the next steps of public hearing and public referrals.

Just a second. Do I know where that is?

Yes, you do.

Okay. I was like, that looks awfully familiar. Okay, thank you.

Do you want to say where it's at?

Nope. Okay. I am not calling attention. No, that is our old potter's house.

Yes, it is. And that's an example of trying to conceal it a little bit.

Yeah.

Yeah. So they used to have it on top of the church there. That's right. That's right. A bunch of facilities. And then when the church got torn down, this is what came in.

So that, it doesn't look like that right now.

Okay.

It looks like it fits better in the neighborhood. Yeah. There's stuff around it now.

Yes, there is.

Wow. Commissioner Fields, you were going to say something? No. Oh, okay.

She was just tracking.

Yeah.

I used to go over there when it was a church.

Oh, okay. Yeah, so just a little update. The reason we did our update last year is there's many forms of wireless communication. Commercial mobile radio service is just one form of wireless communication. And here's a couple examples. There's satellite, infrared. broadcast radio, microwave, Wi-Fi. So this amendment last year was to bring us up to date to all these different forms of wireless communication. This amendment is to the dam, and it's to get the dam to align with the code that was passed last year. So with that, there is a, it aligns with the dam, it aligns the dam with the LDC, establishes new review criteria for eligible facilities requests, which is a way to expedite review of these. There are cases where it's just minor modifications to it. They used to have to go through quite a lengthy process to get to that. Now it's an eligible facility request, which is quite a bit shorter. It adds a new fee for eligible facility requests, which we had not had before. It's streamlined submittals. We have diagrams that shows the process, and I'll show you those here shortly. It also introduces a shot clock for each case. There is a shot clock that we are required to get these cases done in a certain amount of time. We have been processing eligible facility requests. Before this, this is just to kind of finalize everything. This is an example of a eligible facility request. We are doing them rather quickly because you have a case of an existing facility and if they meet certain criteria, they are allowed to move forward to the next step. And I'll kind of show you that a little more later. Or do you have any questions so far?

No questions?

So this is the new form they have to fill out, and there are six criteria that have to be met that makes it an eligible facility request. We contacted wireless providers to create this. Other jurisdictions were far ahead of this than we were, so there was plenty of information to develop this document. And we had them help us with it, and so we also contacted other jurisdictions to see how they did it. like these requests like you can go to Denver get one of these done in a day and in Castle Rock it's like a week and a half so we are doing trying to do them in a week so we also remained with our eligible facility request these the non eligible the ones that we're processing where you don't get to go the faster route and you have to maintain that this also includes a shot clock as well And we had to outline the submittal requirements and things like that for both cases. We contacted other jurisdictions to see what they were charging for these documents. In the end, we used our information for how long it was taking us to do this. So for a planner, that was the cost you see there at the bottom, and then the planning technician taking the fee in. So we're recommending a fee of $645. This is for an eligible facility request determination letter is what you're getting. And that allows you to move to building permit. It's an expedited process. Yeah, look at that. Yeah. I got a lot of those off the website. So I didn't get a hold of anyone. So that did seem extremely high for me. And so now you can go to our website. Go to planning and development under wireless facilities and you can get access to the form for an eligible facility request at that location. It's kind of where you got to hover over wireless facilities and then that thing pops off to the side and that's how you get into them. So we have several options in this case. Proceed with the code amendment, direct staff to consider modifications or

direct us not to proceed so uh with that do you have any questions commissioners there's one commissioner baker thank you madam chair i'm trying to decide how to phrase this in the timing right now considering everything the county has going on is is this Well, can you foresee, and this is really a question for Mr. Hayter, can you foresee any adverse consequences with anything else we've got going on pertaining to wireless facilities at this point?

I do not see any adverse consequences. I can elaborate if you would like me to. Without concern. Without concern? Yes. If you can. So we already updated the land development code to address all the facilities. This is really about in many ways just getting the development application manual online. And even in the period where the Land Development Code did not expressly address eligible facilities, we were still following federal law with regards to the processing of those applications. So I've got no concern with what we've done, at least during the time that I've been here and what I've seen in that regard. So no concerns.

Thank you. That allays what little concern I had about that.

Okay. Great.

And I will add that we're doing it for free right now. So it would be important to get that fee.

There was some confusion with fees with regards to what we could charge, and Ernie and I conferred on that, and you dug into how to come up with those. Because it does surprise me to see these numbers like what Middleton has, because fees are to cover the cost of processing the application. They're not to generate revenue or something like that, because then it becomes a tax.

so we all know tape so so it's surprising for me to see some of those numbers and and that's why you know Ernie diving is to calculate who touches it how much time they spend on it what does it take just to clarify this is the development application manual or is it part of a code amendment can you clarify what's coming to the board ultimately for approval

development application manual.

So is the manual the code? No. Okay. So the board, you'll come back to the board on consent or something to approve, adopt the manual, or are you just asking them to do that today?

Very good question.

I'm just looking at the slide where you talked about the code. So I just want to make sure we're clear about what you're asking the board to do.

What are you asking the board to do?

We're asking for a fee, one, to establish a fee. And I don't know. We do have to come back, is my understanding. So all that Jason does. So it would be a consent agenda.

Both the manual and the fee.

So it's not a code amendment. You're just approving. Yeah. Okay, just clarifying.

Thank you.

Yes, thank you very, very much.

And we'll proofread the slides next time.

It's okay. It's all right. I just wanted to make sure.

Yeah, maybe. It's been sitting there a while.

Approval of a fee and approval to move the manual for both of those items to move forward to the consent agenda.

I'm glad you did that because my computer has gone nuts over here and I'm like, I can't get into Granite Kids. Sorry. And Commissioner Campbell has her hand up. Go ahead, Commissioner Campbell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So for the eligible facilities that will be on a fast track, I'm guessing there's no, what is the community input on that? And if they are in a more residential area, are they eligible or not eligible? How does that work?

If we could go back to that form. Yeah, I got it.

There you go.

Yeah, so they have to meet the six criteria. And so far, the ones we've processed, you see the criteria on the side. The modifications have to be within the existing framework of the facility. You can't go, well, you can go 10% more. We've had one case where they went 10%. which amounted to like two feet or something. But the applicant has to answer all those questions off in the determination criteria. And also, we are cognizant of if it's in a neighborhood where there's been issues with it or it's a tower that may not have been supported so much we would look at it slightly differently but if they meet this criteria there's nothing that we can say to prevent them doing it so far we've had minor modifications to equipment maybe a couple of antennas added at a lower height they've been pretty simple ones so far we haven't had a complicated one Yes, that did meet the criteria. They have to give us the original case. We have to research the case. If you look at number six on there, does the modification violate conditions associated with the citing of the approval? So we have to look at those conditions as part of it. So if there's a condition in there that says you can only have four antenna, then that would be an issue. We have not run into that yet.

Mr. Hayter? I think your question was more about the public engagement aspect of that.

Oh, okay. So at that point, I think we would have to get the public engaged. But they would fail this and then it would be moved to a full-blown case. They wouldn't be able to do this, which would initiate the public comment because there's a neighborhood outreach required for that.

Okay. Mr. Hayter? Commissioner Campbell, I think to maybe more directly address the aspect of public engagement, even if we have public meetings, it's really about sharing information because if a facility does fall within 6409A of the FCC regulations and it is, this change does qualify, there's nothing that either we or the public could actually do to not allow, to lawfully, yes, there's little we could do to lawfully disallow the application and then the approval from going forward and thus the modifications to the tower. So in that context, I think the public engagement is really about information sharing because our authority to limit an eligible facility would be very, very limited. If that addresses your question.

Roger. And that does. And these criteria, sorry, I was having a phone computer issue. Okay. These criteria are coming from the new federal rules, and that's what we're updating to comply with federal rules.

Correct.

Yeah, I wouldn't call them new.

Yeah, they've been around a little bit.

We've been slow in getting this up to date in our code and now in the DAM.

Okay, thank you.

All right. Anything else? Thank you. Can you go back to what the question is? There you go. That's where Ernie landed. That's where Ernie landed. Thank you, Ernie. So staff is recommending approval to move forward with the proposed amendment as presented. Commissioners, do we have thoughts or thumbs? We have three, four thumbs up. Commissioner Warren-Gully, I forgot to say a long time ago, was absent and excused. That's because Matt Hayter wasn't in the room, because somebody else would have looked at me and said, and then I would have gotten it. No, I'm good. So thank you. We got more thumbs up.

Thank you for your time today.

Thank you for your time. I'm excited that you came in. Like I said, I was having a good time thinking about this. I knew it, Jason. Jason should be in this part.

We have flagged for the county attorney. I don't know what the status is, so if we can just sit tight for a minute. Then we can go. Commissioner Campbell, we'll go to the exec session link so we can do the motion and such then.

All right. Thank you very, very much, gentlemen.

Have a great day. And then we can... Good to do a motion then, John? Yes. Okay. Let me just get everything organized.

Should we introduce everybody before we do the motion?

We can do that.

Okay, we'll do that. Commissioner Campbell, can you hear us?

Maybe.

You're on mute if you answered.

I can hear you. Yay!

Perfect, yes.

Good afternoon, everybody. Are we ready, Kevin? All right. We are going to go around the room with some introductions.

Jeff Baker, Commissioner. Michelle Halstead, Commissioner's Office.

Rhonda Fields, Commissioner of the County Court. Leslie Summey, Commissioner. Tiffany Ballou, County Attorney's Office.

John Gustafson, County Attorney's Office.

And then... Jessica Campbell, Commissioner District 2. Wonderful.

And Commissioner Carrie Warren-Gully is absent and excused. May I have a motion to go into executive session, please?

Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner Baker.

I move that the Board go into an executive session pursuant to Section 24-6-402. Parent 4, Parent B of the Colorado Revised Statutes to receive legal advice regarding the purchase of real property in Aurora by the county instead of the Arapahoe County Housing Authority for affordable housing purposes. and pursuant to sections 24-6-402, parent 4, parent B, and E of the Colorado Revised Statutes to develop strategy and instruct negotiators and receive legal advice regarding the former 18th Judicial District Financial Disillusion Intergovernmental Agreement.

Is there a second? Second. It has been moved and properly seconded to go into executive session. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Aye. There are no opposed. Just ayes. And therefore, the motion passes. Again, Commissioner Warren-Gully is absent and excused. We have four ayes. We are in executive session.