Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call this planning meeting to order. Commissioners, please introduce yourselves.

Elizabeth Filbrick, La Plata County Commissioner.

Marcia Porter Norton, La Plata County Commissioner. I'm Shannon La Garza, County Manager.

Mark Banger, Assistant County Attorney.

Great, thank you. Let's all please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands,

All right, we'll go to the next section here, and that is to move to today's agenda. There are two main sections on our agenda. One's the consent, which we have nothing on there. And then the other is the decision agenda. The consent agenda, if we have one, is designed to approve projects in a single motion that, while important, do not require board or staff discussion. Do any of the commissioners wish to remove anything from today's agenda?

No, Mr. Chair.

Neither do I. With that, I would entertain a motion to approve today's agenda.

Move to approve today's agenda.

All right. There's a motion. All those in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Aye. All right. Motion passes. Thank you. Next is identification of potential or perceived conflicts of interest. Do any of the commissioners need to disclose any?

I have nothing to disclose. Thank you.

Mr. Chair. And neither do I. Thank you. We don't have any minutes, no presentations, no consent agenda. So let's just jump into this. And this is the decision agenda, project number 2023-0120, Vista de Vaqueros Novatos, subdivision preliminary plat. Staff report, please. And I think I said it right. Maybe. I know.

Good morning, commissioners. Lynn Hyde, community development director. I also have Erin McKelvey, the county engineer, with me here today. In front of you today is project number PL 2023-0120, Vista de Vaqueros Nevados. I also am thinking I'm saying it correctly, but stand to be corrected. So this is a preliminary PLAT application. It is the second step in a phase of a major subdivision project. The first step is the sketch plan application, which goes to the Planning Commission. Then there is the preliminary plan PLAT application, which requires further, the full engineering, the PLAT existing conditions, and proposed PLAT. And then after that, pending approval is the final plat plan phase. So we are in the preliminary plat phase. This does say preliminary plan, but we're within the preliminary plat phase. This project was approved, the sketch plan, that first step by the Planning Commission, July 8th, 2021, for a proposed 13 residential lots. That did receive approval. Then December of 2023, we received, the Community Development Department received a complete application by Research and Planning, and it is for a development application for a 12-lot subdivision. 11 of these lots range in size from two to three acres with one larger 22 and a half acre lot proposed. Access is via County Road 300 with an internal private road that accesses the proposed lots. To provide some context for the location, here you can see County Road 300 to the south and the parcel goes north from County Road 300. In the vicinity map and in the aerial, you can see there are smaller, relatively smaller, I'll say lots nearby that are residential. There's also a lot of agricultural land in the area, which this subdivision is consistent with some of the clustering of smaller residential lots, leaving one larger lot for agriculture. The parcel falls within the Florida Mesa Planning District and carries the large lot residential designation. Here is an aerial. This is taken from our oblique photography that you can see the parcel outline here is shown here. So there's no development presently on it. In order for the plat to be seen on this slide show, it is tilted, so north is now to, as you're looking at it, to the left, and the County Road 300 is, as you're looking at this, towards the right. There's a lot on this property to look at, so I'm gonna walk through it. When you're looking at the right, that's County Road 300, or the southern, side of the parcel. Working north is Daller Lane, which accesses the smaller lots as well as the larger lot at the very northern end of that, at the cul-de-sac. You can see the lots 1 through 11 are on either side, east and west, and have buildable areas defined within the lots. It was found that each lot has buildable area, which is part of our review of subdivisions for the lot and design standards. The larger lot does have some easements present on it and there was a buildable area identified on the subdivision outside of those easements. So assuming somebody at some point may want to build a structure there, there is adequate buildable area on the property even with the existing easements. That larger parcel on the north is the 22 and a half acre lot that is proposed. Stats analysis includes sewer water access, land use, and ensuring there's no unmitigated adverse impacts. For sewer, the applicant has proposed on-site wastewater treatment system. The La Plata Public Health Department did review this and did not have any issues with the concept that they would be able to receive those permits. There are two commercial well permits. In addition, each home is required to have a private cistern. On a future slide, I have the water plan, and I'm going to defer that to Aaron McKelvey to talk through, as he's the expert in that area. Access comes from Highway County Road 300 to the private lane. And staff has no issues with the adequate level of service of the roads to serve this subdivision. The density is one unit per 4.25 acres. That falls within the recommended density for large lot residential in the Florida Mesa, which anticipates one unit for three to 10 acres. The residential uses have been determined to be suitable and staff found that this was consistent with the goals and objectives of the Florida Mesa District Plan. As far as unmitigated adverse impacts, I think dust is probably the largest potential issue that was raised, that was raised by A concern during the sketch plan, the applicant has proposed covenants that would outline the owner responsibilities surrounding dust mitigation should that event arise or condition. Generally, staff did find that this is consistent with the code's purpose of encouraging a variety of housing types and housing stock. There is the potential loss of agricultural lands. I can't speak to if that land is actually actively being used for agricultural or not, so I say potential loss because I would defer to the applicant if it's actually being used for that purpose right now. However, the code does allow this if the land is suitable for non-agricultural use and it's presumably suitable if it's found to have the adequate infrastructure to serve it. In addition, staff found this to be consistent with the comprehensive plan as well as the district plan. So with that, staff was recommending approval. Before we get to a little bit more of the presentation, I want to take a moment to allow the county engineer to speak to the water design system since it is unique for this, somewhat unique for this subdivision.

Hi, I'm Aaron McKelvey. I'm the county engineer. So the water supply for this subdivision is a shared system off of a well, and that well is on lot 12 in kind of the lower left-hand corner of the drawing there. And then it's a two-inch water line that that is in an easement across lot 12, and then it cuts over to the road, and it runs parallel with the roadway. Their plan is to stub out water services to each lot up to a meter. So this is a shared system. It's less than 15 taps, so it's not regulated by CDPHE. So it meets our definition of a microsystem. And so we have certain standards in the county for microsystems, certain pipe types. One of the requirements is two days water storage, minimum of two days. The code does not specify how that storage is accomplished or where that storage needs to be. Sometimes that can be in a central tank. The applicant is elected to require separate cisterns for each lot, and that satisfies the code requirements for that part of the microsystem standard. The other requirement for microsystem over four lots is that each lot needs a meter for each service. Next to the well, there's also a treatment building that's shown in the plans. I think that kind of covers the overall water system.

Thanks, Erin. All the agency comments that have been received either have no objections to the proposal or have been resolved and addressed through recommended conditions of approval that are provided within the staff report. One public comment has been received for the preliminary plat application, which was from the Florida Mesa RDAC, which stated the project is welcome due to the future greening of the property and resolution aspects with existing neighbor conflicts. And I'll let you read the rest. We do have two changes to conditions of approval. I'm sorry, I have the wrong acronym here. It's conditions of approval, so COAs. There are two recommended changes to COAs and this came from the applicant's request and staff has no issues with it. So the first one is condition of approval number one, which previously stated that building permit each lot owner shall design and install a 1,200 gallon underground cistern on the property. The applicants informed us that that specific size may be challenging to find. HOWEVER, ALL THAT THE COUNTY IS REQUIRING IS A MINIMUM 700-GALLON UNDERGROUND STORAGE, WHICH IS TO PROVIDE FOR THAT TWO DAYS OF STORAGE. SO AFTER DISCUSSING THAT WITH THE APPLICANT, WE AGREE THAT SHELL DESIGN AND INSTALL A MINIMUM 700-GALLON UNDERGROUND CISTERN IS ADEQUATE AND SHOULD PROVIDE FLEXIBILITY FOR FUTURE PROPERTY OWNERS BASED ON WHAT'S AVAILABLE IN THE MARKET FOR UNDERGROUND CISTERNS. It is a process to change conditions of approval once they are approved and the plat's recorded. So staff really does want to make sure we get this right and provide flexibility so we're not seeing this issue present itself at a building permit issuance, unbeknownst to a future property owner. The more we can provide that flexibility while meeting our standards is preferred. The second is, prior to plat recording, adding disturbed before site. So it should say the disturbed site area shall be reclaimed. And that's to make sure it's clear we're not asking for the entire property to be reclaimed, only the area that's been disturbed. That also, staff agrees with that. Recommended change being added in there. So as I stated for what's happened in next steps, the sketch plan was approved. Currently we're looking at the preliminary plat and the final plat is the remaining step in the review process and that has to be recorded within a certain amount of time and the conditions of approval met prior to recordation. And I provided a suggested recommendation that varies slightly from what you saw in your agenda packet to reflect the two conditions of approval that were modified. I would like to see if there's any input from the Assistant Accounting attorney as well to make sure I got this in a way that looks OK. And he's had no time to review it. So I did send it over. And perhaps if you have any suggestions to the change or if the commissioners do, should they choose to accept that recommendation, certainly feel free to wordsmith that. But with that, that concludes my recommendation. The applicant is here, I believe, as well as a presentation. And I would welcome any questions.

Thank you very much. Commissioners, questions for staff?

My only question was, you very quickly mentioned that treatment would be required. Does this trigger a public water system?

No, it's under 15 taps. So it's below that threshold for a public water system.

I saw the agency comments from the ditch company and those got resolved correct yeah I was trying to read through all the emails and look through the findings and conditions I think that's my only comment and the two days of water is that for each lot and is 700 gallons two days of water yeah perfect okay any other additional questions commissioners

All right, thank you. Then we'll go on to the next step here, and that is applicant and or agent, please come forward, state your name for the record, and are you in agreement with the findings and conditions that have been presented just now by staff?

Well, good morning, commissioners. I'm Naomi Reese, Reese Research and Planning, agent for the applicant. We are in agreement with the findings and conditions as they've been resolved, revised at my request. This project has been a long time coming. It's seen three community development directors, four planners, two land use codes, and we lost our surveyor, Hal Church, when he passed away last fall. The project has remained relatively consistent through all of that with occasional redesign in response to external conditions. Vista de Vaqueros Novatos, It's a really good project. It's entirely compatible not only with the surrounding properties but also with all of Florida Mesa. It's located a short distance from Durango off of County Road 302 on county roads that are mostly paved and are not over their levels of service. It provides current market, attainably priced, small, buildable lots on central water system in a quiet neighborhood designed with families, work from home uses, and retirees in mind. There's a significant portion of the property left in a large agricultural lot to preserve irrigation, agricultural land use, and most importantly to many others is the view shed from County Road 302. That's the portion of the property that can be seen from 302. The clustered small lots have municipal and industrial irrigation water. And with the other CCNR components, we'll add significant vegetation and groundwater to the land. The project will create an entire area with enhanced irrigation and environmentally beneficial vegetation. As someone who is paying attention and lives nearby, I wish more projects came in looking like this. And I applaud my client for hanging in there all of these years. Okay, so I would love, I'm going to leave it there. Lynn has done a great job presenting the project, and I would love to answer your questions about the project. And if there's anyone in the remote audience who expresses concerns, I would love the opportunity to come back up and respond to those.

Thanks. We'll allow that. Okay, thank you. Commissioners, are you comfortable with that? Yeah. We typically do. Okay. Commissioners, any questions for the applicant?

I HAVE A QUESTION, NOT A CONCERN, ABOUT THE CISTERNS. AND I GOT AN ANSWER FROM OUR, I TRY TO GIVE OUR STAFF, READ THE PACKETS OVER THE WEEKEND AND TRY TO GIVE THEM AT LEAST SOME KIND OF A CHANCE OF THE QUESTIONS I'M GOING TO ASK. BUT IN THIS ERA WHEN WE'RE SEEING LESS AND LESS WATER, I know it can be argued as to why, but we're in long-term drought. How does this water system work? So from the well, it enters a centralized system to the house, correct? And the cistern is for if the well goes dry. Am I stating the audience?

No, the cistern is to provide that we have that space of storage. I mean, I originally proposed it at 1050. Erin talked me down to two days from three days. Okay. So, yes, everybody should have a little bit of storage in their house in case there's a break in the line or something goes wrong with the well. I mean, there should always be that possibility for every home.

And then my question is, goodness forbid we ever are in a situation where that well would go dry, those homeowners could use that cistern for hauled water. Correct. Okay, yeah.

And as a side note, which is not something we've talked about, every home is also required to be sprinklered, and they'll be using these separate sprinkler systems that are not attached to the central water system at all. It's a separate water tank that is housed internally, and it has an outside spigot, and they have to be filled with hauled water that pulls up to the outside spigot, refills, and then maybe twice a year or whenever the homeowner decides, at least twice a year I think, they empty the tank, they're required to use that recycled water on outside vegetation, and then it gets refilled with hot water and it's not connected to the central system in any way.

Okay. I wish I didn't have to ask questions, but in the year we had, and we hope that Super El Nino kicks in, just really making sure we're asking questions about current water, and we know that's in our code, but then future water, should water hauling be required for residential use?

Well, and that was one of the reasons why I like the idea of the individual cisterns, because it does provide for families to be able to continue to have a water source, even if something does go wrong.

And refresh my memory, of the lot, how much is retained in open space agriculture? About half. About half. Okay. All right. And that will continue to be stewarded?

That is one lot, and it will continue to have agricultural assessment. The property is currently agriculturally used. It's being used to house mama cows giving birth in the spring, and then they're there for a short while, and then they get moved elsewhere. So the property does have a legitimate agricultural use now, but what it doesn't have is a huge amount of irrigation and vegetation. And so this actually solves a pretty significant problem for the entire neighborhood.

Okay, thank you.

And I did make sure also every lot has to have, has a share of M&I water so that they can continue to irrigate. They're not irrigating with well water and the irrigation system is also entirely separate from the central water. It comes in through the ditch and they're irrigating on a schedule that's already built into their shared improvements agreement.

Thank you. I greatly appreciate that you thought through all of the ditch water distribution because that up on Florida Mesa is a, it's a big discussion across the board. Right.

We've had that discussion about your particular property.

Yeah, no, it's been an interesting scenario across, you know, I mean, we look next door at Montezuma County and they, you know, decades ago managed to pipe all of their irrigation water and so they solved all of these problems. in a thoughtful process. We're still trying to figure all of that out, particularly up on Florida Mesa where irrigation does feed most all of our well water up there. So I appreciate the project is well thought out. I thank you very much. It is desperately needed small lot development that can be at an affordable price for people. I really appreciate this. Attainable. Attainable.

Thank you. I'm happy to hear and pleased that each lot has a meter, so there's accountability.

Oh, and the price goes up if they go too high.

Good, because I've heard horror stories on some properties and even so much just trying to get metered for Southwest Housing Solutions subdivision too as well, because each home is not metered. Trying to understand how that would work. So, thank you. All right. Any other additional questions? All right, thank you very much. Thank you. I'd like to go back to Mark on this and just your review on this. Are you comfortable?

Yes, and I said a slight variation on the language you learned.

And then if you could update that, and then I want to just see Ms. Reese to be able to just kind of give, like you're good with that, and then we can go on to the next steps. Okay. So during that time, what I'm going to do, though, is open this up to public comment, and I'll hand this over to Sarah.

Thank you so much, Commissioners. I would like to bring this to the public comment section of the agenda. So if anybody in our virtual audience would like to make comment relating to this item, please raise your hand for me in Zoom. For those of you watching the meeting on a computer, tablet, or smartphone, you'll find a raise your hand button on your screen. And while you raise your hand, I'll describe public comment for everybody. The board does limit testimony to three minutes per person, and they may not directly answer your questions, but they will take your comments into consideration. And if you are watching the meeting, I'll put a time clock on my view that can help you gauge your time. Commissioners, nobody in your virtual audience has raised their hand to make comments on this project. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone in the room? All right. Seeing none, I'll go ahead and close the public comment portion of this meeting. And then I will go back to Lynn. Yes, please.

Well, I was just going to say, the recommended motion is now up in front of you, and I believe Naomi Reese could confirm that she looked over my shoulder and was comfortable with the language as it is stated, but also defer to her on that.

Are you comfortable with the findings and conditions that are set? I am totally comfortable with that. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. Commissioners, any other additional comments or questions? If not, I would entertain a motion.

I JUST WANT TO MAKE THE COMMENT THAT, YOU KNOW, NOBODY LIKES TO SEE AG LAND BEING LOST, BUT BY THE SAME TOKEN, IT IS VERY MUCH UNDERSTOOD THAT FOR MANY PEOPLE IN OUR AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY, THEIR LAND IS THEIR WAY TO MAKE A LIVING AND THEIR WAY TO HAVE THEIR FUTURE. SO IT SEEMS LIKE I CONCUR WITH WHAT COMMISSIONER FILBRICK SAID THIS PROJECT SEEMS VERY WELL THOUGHT OUT AND VERY MUCH HONORING WHAT GOES ON OUT THERE ON THE MESA FROM MY UNDERSTANDING. I'M GLAD THAT IT WAS REVIEWED OBVIOUSLY BY THE ARDAC AND I APPRECIATE ALL THE THOUGHT THAT'S GONE INTO THIS PARTICULARLY AROUND THE WATER. SO ON THAT NOTE, I MOVE THAT WE APPROVE PROJECT NUMBER PL 2 3 0 1 2 0 I'm gonna try this this time Vista de vaqueros Novato's subdivision With the findings and conditions as stated in the staff report with the modifications to conditions of approval 1 & 5 as presented by staff

Commissioner, you mixed up some of the numbers when you said the project number. Did I not?

Okay, I'll try it again. Or do I have to read the whole thing or just the numbers?

Just restate the numbers.

Okay, all right. I will correct what I said earlier. Approve project number PL20230120. Okay, there's my motion.

All right, there's a motion. All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Motion passes. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right, with that, I will call this planning meeting adjourned. Thank you everyone