Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I'm ready, Chair. Oh, sorry, Sarah, could you start the recording, please?

Recording in progress.

I'm ready.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I'll call to order this regular meeting of the La Plata County Planning Commission at 6 p.m. on August 27th, 2026. Brittany, would you call the roll, please?

Yes, Chair. Commissioner Morris?

Present.

Commissioner Giannola? Present. Commissioner Vattenberg?

Present.

Commissioner Haar?

Here.

Chair Vygotsky?

Present.

Moving on to approval of the agenda. Staff, do you have any changes to the agenda?

No changes, Chair.

Commissioners, any changes, and this would include on the consent agenda?

No. No. No.

Seeing none, may I have a motion?

Move approval of the agenda in general. I'll take a second.

A motion to approve the agenda as posted. All those in favor by a show of hands? All right. The agenda is approved. Thank you. Commissioners, any potential or perceived conflicts of interest you wish to disclose? No.

No. No.

No, thank you. At this time, I will open general public comment. This portion of public comment is for items that are within the purview of the Planning Commission, but not on tonight's decision agenda, or items that are on the consent agenda, which we have one item on the consent agenda this evening. And if an item's on the consent agenda, this may be your only time to speak on it. Is there anyone wishing to make public comment in the boardroom at this time? Seeing none, do we have anybody online?

Let us know that you'd like to comment virtually. Please raise your hand in Zoom. For those of you watching the meeting on a computer, tablet, or smartphone, there is a raise your hand button at the bottom of your screen. If you're calling from a phone, please press star nine to let me know you would like to speak. Seeing no one in our virtual audience who would like to comment.

Thank you. With that, we will close public comment and move on to approval of the minutes. First, we have the regular meeting minutes from June 11th. Present at that meeting are commissioners Haar, Heppner, Giannola, Morris, and myself, everyone. Are there any changes to those minutes?

I do have one little change. Please. Want me to mention that now? Yes. Under the attendees, I think we mean to say Melissa, right?

Instead of.

Melissa.

I think we're missing an A.

An A. I just noticed that. That's all.

Thank you. Move approval of minutes of June 11th with the suggested correction.

I'll second.

A motion by Commissioner Haar, second by Commissioner Giannola. Those in favor by a show of hands? All right. Thank you. The minutes are approved. Next, we have the regular meeting minutes of July 23rd, 2026. Present at that meeting and voting tonight are Commissioners Haar, Heppner, Giannola, and Morris. Any changes to those minutes?

No. No.

I'd accept a motion I'll make the motion to accept the minutes from July 23rd 2026 Second motion by Commissioner Morrison second by Commissioner Haar those in favor of the motion by a show of hands All right, thank you those are approved with four votes all Next I'll move on to the consent agenda all matters posted on the consent agenda are considered to be a routine and will be enacted by one motion without discussion Is again is there anything that needs to be moved off the consent agenda at this time In that case I would accept a motion on the consent agenda Approval of project PL 2 0 2 4 0 1 9 8

Herrera Minor ADU with the findings and conditions stated forth in the staff report.

Second the motion.

Motion by Commissioner Haar and second by Commissioner Giannola. Any discussion of the motion? Brittany, would you call the roll, please?

Yes, Chair. Yes, Chair. Commissioner Morris? Yes. Commissioner Giannola? Yes. Commissioner Heppner?

Yes.

Commissioner Haar?

Yes.

Chair Bogdanski?

Yes. Thank you, everyone. The consent agenda is approved as posted. And with that, we can move on to the decision agenda. And I'll call project PL 2025, 017, Webb's Market and McKinney's Tavern Sketch Plan.

My name is Eric. I'm a planner with the Community Development Department. And before you this evening is the Webb's Market and McKinney's Tavern Sketchband Proposal, project number PL20250017. The subject parcel is located at 13906 Cannon Road 240 in Bayfield, Colorado. The applicant and the agent, Naomi Reese, with Reese Research and Planning, is here in attendance this evening. We also have the other agent, Noah Kamach, who's also with Reese Research and Planning. He's in the virtual audience. This is a proposal to expand the existing store to include food service and a tavern. The expansion of this, the proposed expansion, the 7,971 square foot expansion, would include a small tavern, covered outdoor patio, kitchen for food preparation, laundry and shower facilities, a small 25-hour gym that would cater to locals, and an expansion of the parking area. Historically, the Old Helen store and a single family residence has existed on this parcel since 1938. In 2014, the County Planning Department did approve a conceptual development plan. It was two phases, excuse me. The first phase was approved in 2015 that included a 900 square foot liquor store and the associated infrastructure for future development. The second phase of this conceptual development plan was not submitted in the allotted time period allowed. and therefore that conceptual development plan did expire. That meant that in order to proceed forward with the proposed development, the applicant did have to submit a major land use permit application, which does include a sketch plan. A little bit of context and location for you here. This is a pretty zoomed-out view of the La Plata County map. You can see the subject parcel there up at Helen's Store, just south of Lemon Reservoir. The city of Durango is roughly 15 miles to the west, southwest, and Bayfield, town of Bayfield, is about 18 miles to the southeast-ish. This image, this is a Google Earth image that was taken from counter at 240 looking northeast at the parcel. That is the existing structure. You can see up here in the corner a little bit of the old Helen store. The image on your left does show the subject parcel highlighted in red at the corner of counter at 240 and 243. The photo on the right is an aerial image of the subject parcel highlighted in red as it exists today. As you can see, this is the existing structure here. And then over here would be the Helen store behind this. This area is located in the Florida Road Planning District. It is classified as ag, rural, residential, and local commercial. This designation does envision a semi-rural and scenic care, the preservation of semi-rural and scenic characteristics. as well as the expansion of commercial development adjacent to areas identified for the use. As you can see by the image here, the subject parcel is surrounded by other rural residential properties, a little bit of local commercial there on the corner, and you see some suburban residential off to the west.

This is a site plan that was submitted by the applicant.

It does show the existing structure here in blue. A little bit of the pink here does note the expansion of that would take part next to the existing structure. This pink area here would be the new addition, and we have a detention pond over here, and then this would be the expansion of the parking areas. This is a schematic, a detailed schematic of the site and the development proposal. Here's the existing market. This would be the addition with some storage and office space. Over here would be the new building with covered patio, the kitchen for food prep, shower and laundry facilities, and this would be the 24-hour gym. You can see around here this does show this would be like a drive-through food pickup for to-go items. The image up here in the corner, this is a conceptual rendering of what the exterior of the proposed development may look like. Since this parcel has been utilized in a commercial capacity for many years, the addition of the tavern and the marketplace would be an appropriate use for the site. There will be a minimal increase in density as the lot size would provide adequate buffering from County Road 240 and the surrounding residential properties. This proposed use is in general conformance with the La Plata County Comprehensive Plan and the Florida Road District Plan. There would be no cumulative impact to the site. There was geohazards and wetlands that were found on or near this parcel. Those items will need further review during the preliminary proposal stages of this review. The site is served by two commercially approved wells for water. The Division of Water Resources and the Fleet of Water Conservancy District both said that the wells did have capacity to support the proposed use. There is an on-site wastewater treatment system that was approved for commercial use, although the original approval did not contemplate the addition of the restaurant at the time. So comments from the La Plata County Public Health Department did state that they would like to see further review and need a submittal of a restaurant plan at the next stages of the preliminary stage review. The property will be accessed from County Road 240 directly. And this land use, the expansion of this tavern and marketplace would be, you know, add to a historical economic area that is located within La Plata County. Request for agency feedback was sent out to 13 different agencies. Of all those comments that were included in your agenda packet this evening, Of the comments that were received, a few wants to note here. As I mentioned, the Division of Water Resources and the Florida Water Conservancy District did have no objections and stated that there was capacity to serve this proposed use. Again, the Wapata County Public Health Department did say that they would like to see some further review done at the preliminary plan stages of this proposal due to the restaurant and its potential for high-strength waste that would occur associated with that development. Comments from the Plata County engineer did emphasize that at the preliminary plan, further review would be needed. He would also like to see documentation submitted that would show the wetland delineation, hydrogeologic study, traffic impact study, and a drainage report. All these items will be further reviewed during the preliminary plan stages of this proposal. In this area, it is located for your district plan, even though it's not, this development is not consistent with the agro-residential designation in that district plan. It is consistent with the local commercial designation, and specifically it calls out the Helen's Store area as an area where new neighborhood commercial uses should be directed to concentrate, so. Public notice was sent out to all the landowners in the 500 feet of the parcel boundary. We did not receive any public comments for this proposal. And then there is no registered district advisory committee for this district, so we did not send out a notice. Next steps in the process, should the sketch plan be approved this evening, the applicant can submit an application for a preliminary plan that would be reviewed by the Board of County Commissioners. And after that would be the final plan, which is an administrative review. Staff does recommend approval of project number PL20250017, Webb's Market and McKinney Tavern Sketch Plan proposal. I'd be happy to take any questions that you all may have. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Let's hold questions for the moment. And if the applicant has a presentation or anything to add, and then we'll do questions.

Well, good evening, commissioners. I'm Naomi Reese, Reese Research and Planning, agent for the applicant.

I'll take his presentation down so we can see it.

Just so you can see it. Just please hold technical adjustments.

Oh, there we go.

Okay. We all know this place, this historic place. Helen Burkett opened Helen's Market there in 1936, and she continued to operate it in place for 60 years until she passed away in 2003. The store reopened as the outpost of Helen's in 2017, and the land use approval for the project at that time did contemplate a future expansion. So this isn't really a new idea. My client, Lou Webb, purchased the property in late 2024. And he has reopened the grocery store, selling a fantastic array of fresh and convenience foods, hunting, camping, fishing supplies, beer and wine, and most importantly, serving the real needs of the neighborhood. In March of 2025, we held an open house at the market. to introduce the concept of the expansion project to the neighbors. We wanted to share a concept, get their feedback, and we wanted to hear what they wanted most to happen on this property. The turnout was phenomenal. We had over 200 people stop by the market that day. Everyone was a neighbor or someone who drives past the market every day on their way home. Most importantly, everyone, and I do mean everyone, was supportive. They were excited to not only have a small grocery store to serve the neighborhood, but they were also excited by the expansion concepts. The business keeps them from having to drive into town, and more importantly, it provides a meaningful space to serve as a local community hub and a gathering spot. This business and its expansion really matter to the people of that community, just as it's described in the district plan as well. The neighbors will appreciate every approval that moves this project closer to completion. And there were no comments received for this phase of the project, but we did recently do the liquor license phase, and there were positive comments received at that time, nothing negative. We appreciate the recommendation of approval from staff, and we are excited to fully design and submit our project application. We'll continue to gather input from the neighbors as we finalize design. The store is already a great place, and we're just as excited as the neighborhood to grow it into an even better place to be a good neighbor. Be sure to stop by the store next time you're driving by. You'll find a well-stocked inventory and a warm welcome. And with that, I'm ready to take any questions. I believe that Lou would like to say something as well. If there are any concerns from any neighbors, I would like to reserve the right to re-comment afterwards.

Did you want to say something, Lou?

Oh, I just. Just please identify yourself for the record.

OK. My name is Lou Webb, and I am the applicant. And I just wanted to say thank you for hearing our proposal here and taking it seriously because we really feel that this is my community. I've lived there for 20 years within seven-tenths of a mile of this location and sold that home that we built 20 years ago. building our new home 400 yards from this location. So it's easy to get to work. Anyway, thank you all. I appreciate it.

So what questions do you have?

Thank you. Questions for the applicant or staff?

I do. So when I look at the property and the expansion, it looks great. I think it's absolutely beautiful. But I contemplate and wonder about what are they doing for water, the water resources? pretty huge. I see there's two wells on the site. One is marked on the map as being abandoned. And I don't see any, there's no comments from Upper Pines Fire. So it makes me wonder about what's the plan for fire suppression?

Well, first of all, in terms of the water, there was an original well there for Helen's store. And that is being abandoned because it's actually in the right of way now, the county road. And the store, when it was approved in 2017, they drilled a new well at the store location. That water is adequate. And it has a Florida Water Conservancy contract. And it purchases M&I water and complies with all of the annual reporting and that sort of thing. That water is not great quality. And so we're actually in the process of drilling a well just on the other side of the river. And we have gotten permission to run lines under the river. And we are moving forward with Florida Water Conservancy to enter into a new augmentation plan with them. We're going to Water Court as soon as possible. Those things take a while. And we will be using that water, which is a much better water source. The water is much better quality. But we have to go through the whole process to do that. But meanwhile, we do already have one well. In terms of fire suppression, it's true that the fire department did not comment because Lou was actually on the board and they didn't want it to appear that there was any sort of conflict of interest. But at preliminary phase, they will have to comment, even if he recuses himself from conversations or whatever happens. And I don't know what their requirements will be, but of course we'll comply with everything they require. Thank you.

I have a question for Ms. Reese. Can you tell me about the structure that's proposed to be demolished?

Well, Commissioner Giannola, we have actually taken that to the Historic Preservation Commission and done a full review of what's happening there. The building is not structurally sound or habitable or useful in any way. It's actually infested with rodents. And so what Lou has done is basically He worked with the fire department to see if they wanted to use it for a training exercise. And I don't know if that's still the plan or not. Is that still the plan?

They did. Multiple training exercises there, smoke-filled and firefighters falling through a floor because there was a basement there. I have gotten permission to demolish the store because it's just rat-infested, vermin-infested, but I am going to place a monument there that commemorates Helen Burkett. I actually knew Helen before. When we first moved here, met her several times, and her daughter Marie was a very good friend of mine. So I want to commemorate Helen's store, but I'll do that with the money.

And I had originally, when I talked to the Historic Preservation Commission about it, I originally talked about the idea of doing some sort of signage there, because everyone knows the intersection is Helen's store. or Helen's intersection. And so a monument would be very appropriate there. And we have discussed making a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners for some sort of historic marker. There is concern because it's a busy intersection about people pulling into the right of way. So it bears other complications and decision making. Just as if Lou does a monument to Helen herself, That will also require some conversation with Road and Bridge to see what's actually safe in that location.

Anything ?

No. I mean, no, right? I mean, I will tell you that in Lou's old house.

The coyotes might think the rats are worth salvaging.

In Lou's old house, he had, over his front door inside, he did have some rock that came from Helen's original house. So that was already salvaged some time ago, and I bet that's about it, right?

Yes, and some corrugated roof that I used in my bathroom.

Okay, great.

As a decoration.

Other questions? I just have a couple of questions. And I know at this phase of the process, you don't have a lot of technical details. But part of my intent is just to get my questions on the record for other bodies to look at. With the addition of two baths and a cafe there, and I know the health department had a comment about it, do you expect the septic field that you have to be sufficient for the food waste? Or what do you speculate you'll be doing to deal with the additional water flow and the different type of waste, right, that you're having to deal with?

And restaurants do have additional concerns, especially because of the grease that potentially comes out of them. The grease is actually supposed to be collected before it goes into the septic system. And grease would obviously really be damaging to a septic system. But the whole thing has to be analyzed and designed by an engineer. It's not up for us to say. And whatever our engineer says is what we're going to be doing.

I understand that. Give me a definitive answer. But as I say, I'd like to get it on the record. Also, on the diagram, it says a detention pond. Well, let me ask first. The parking area, you've got a concrete lane that goes around for the takeout, I assume. And then is the rest of the parking lot going to be gravel or are you going to concrete at all?

Gravel, right? I will either do gravel or make asphalt.

The reason I'm going there is your detention pond, that's what it's called. I'm no water expert, but I think it's a retention pond because you've got standing water in there and cattails growing. And if you pave it over, I wonder whether that's large enough to handle all the surface runoff. because it is fairly small. I noticed you graded the driveway toward the pond, which is a good thing, even with gravel, but that's a concern. And also on the other side, you've got several parking spots, and if that's black topped, where's the runoff gonna go for there? It just would head out toward the septic field.

Well, the detention pond that's there was part of the 2017 project. It was engineered as part of their drainage analysis, and that's what was required to be constructed through engineering and through county approval. So that's what's there now. We will have to do a new drainage study as part of this expansion project, and if required, There are requirements to improve that detention or retention facility. We will be making them. My personal recommendation to my clients is not to pave because of the drainage concerns, especially so close to the river. I would just assume that this continue to be a gravel surface. But there are potentially reasons to especially around through the drive-through to have that as a more solid surface. The whole thing. We'll have a civil engineer for every bit of this, including the drainage.

As I say, I'm bringing these points up.

Whatever we do, we will do so that it complies with what is necessary.

Right. Okay. And I appreciate the intent there. You're not going to sell gasoline, are you?

Hell no. You'd be surprised at how many people have asked me that. And it's like that close to a river, not even kind of.

That's what I thought. I doubt it would even be allowed. OK, the surface runoff, the detention-retention pond. See, my understanding is the detention pond has an outflow pipe that once water reaches a certain level, it goes out.

Well, this close to the river, actually, Division of Water Resources has a say in how the whole thing is engineered. And we've already had some preliminary conversations with them about that.

You have sturdy, bear-proof doors. You've seen those, huh? Yes. Trash.

The trash yesterday I went over, and I have contacted waste management multiple times to get a bear-proof container. They said we're on the list, but it's taking a while. Just yesterday I was out there, and I've set up a game camera on it, and I've got some pictures of the bear that's getting into it. We've secured it from the top with rebar and... Two by fours and everything.

The bear still gets in it.

So I went yesterday, cleaned it up, and then I wired the rebar down in another way. So hopefully the bear won't be able to get in. Makes it a little harder to throw the trash away, but whatever.

A little bit about the use. So we have a restaurant or a tavern that has indoor and outdoor seating.

There's, yes. I mean, the indoor seating is on the second level. The outdoor seating is adjacent to the drive-through kitchen area. Okay. And that would be small.

Okay. The outdoor seating is not part of the tavern.

Okay.

All the tavern seating is indoors.

Gotcha. Thank you. Any outdoor music contemplated live or amplified?

We'll be committing to noise and our restrictions never appear. I mean, to be honest, what used to happen at the Black Dog down the street was something that the entire neighborhood talked about because the way the sound travels up and down the valley is of concern. So we absolutely will be talking to the neighborhood about that and making sure we're not doing anything that's going to disturb their peace. And Lou lives right there.

My home is right there, and I don't want the noise either.

He literally will be the first house that's hit with any noise.

That's fair.

Potentially somebody strumming a guitar inside the tavern a couple nights a week kind of thing. But no rock concerts.

OK. Just thinking of neighbors down the valley and how sound travels if 20 motorcycles roll out at 10 PM after the music stops. OK. That could happen. Well, if there's no other questions, we can go to public comment. So thank you both and staff. Thank you. I saw there was at least one name on the list. I'd like to open public comment for this project. I don't know if that name is for this project or the next. And does it say, or?

It's Hamilton.

OK. So we'll open public comment. And we'll have up to three minutes per person to speak. And we'll open it up to anyone in the room. But first on the list here, we've got Chris Hamilton. If you want to come up and identify yourself for the record, please.

Hello, my name is Chris Hamilton. I live at 289 Skyline Drive in Enchanted Forest, so I'm literally just up the road from this. We have some experience already with Mr. Webb and how this works, and we've been greatly favorably impressed. We live half an hour away from town. It's a long slog in, it's a long slog back out. Wintertime, it can take you 40, 45 minutes to get in. Roads get bad. That happens. Having a place nearby where you can buy stuff that you screwed up not getting when you were in town is invaluable. And so far, to my great surprise, we've needed one thing, and it was laundry detergent. We thought, there's no way this guy's going to be able to carry laundry detergent. And we show up, and by God, there is laundry detergent. And it was not horribly expensive. It was weird. Everybody who has a store in the middle of nowhere like that, they have to increase their margins because their volume is so low. I'm not sure if you guys... are involved in a business around Durango enough to understand some of the basic economics. But our labor costs are very high. If you're going to run one shift, that's going to cost you $150, $200 a day for that shift for one employee. If your margins are 25%, you've got to have an $800 day to pay the person. That's not rent. That's not utilities. That's not anything else. My son, my daughter, they go down and he has chocolate bars that they're becoming addicted to. My son rides his bike. He's 15. Occasionally he can con my daughter who's 19 into giving him a ride. He's not going to make it on chocolate bars. He's not going to make it on laundry detergent that's a reasonable price. He's going to have no choice, but he's got to expand. And if you stop him from expanding, it's going to be the same thing that happens to this store that's happened to every other one there since Helen was there herself. I grew up here. I was born in 1971. That place has never thrived. It's always been a borderline business. And when it's there right now, it's great. We love it. We would like to keep it. So as a resident who's there, who lives with it, who will see the impacts, who will drive by it, I ask, please, let the guy expand. Let him build a business that's big enough that it can sustain itself, that it can stay there. So 10 years from now, my son can go pick up his chocolate bar driving. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else in the room that would like to comment on this project? Please.

Well, you have questions.

So we can't take questions at this time. It's just comments only. And if you have questions, you could address it to the applicant or their agent after if they're willing, if they have time for that. But yeah, comments only at this time. Sir, if you want to come up and identify yourself for the record.

My name is Ryan Robinson. I live at 437 Oak Lane, which is at the top of Aspen Trails, directly across from the store. And I would just echo a lot of the things that Mr. Hamilton just said. We don't need to beat that up. Just the convenience of it all and the total safety issue in the winters of just like roads are terrible. You know, you just don't even go get what you need until it gets better or whatever. And, yeah, I'm just in full support of everything he's trying to do, and I think that it's a wonderful plan and it's exactly what our community needs. I would say I represent a lot of the people in Asking Drills. I've worked in that neighborhood for eight years now and showing support for this project. So that's all I have.

Thank you. Any other comments, sir, if you want to come up?

Hello, my name is Chas Schaefer and I'm at 25025 County Road 501. That's actually at the far northeast end of the county. I'm one of three owners of Granite Peaks Ranch up there at the end of the trailhead. And if any of you know any of the commissioners, could you talk to them about the condition of that road up there?

The potholes are getting deeper and deeper.

All of which to say it takes longer and longer to get to town. And as I get older... and swear that I'm not going to drive at night anymore.

It's a tough little obstacle.

And the thought that Mr. Webb has proposed something that's halfway to town for us is really welcome. And I certainly hope you'll expedite this in every way you can, because I'm getting older. Thanks very much.

do we do we have anyone online that wishes to comment if anyone in our virtual audience would like to make comment relating to this item please let me know by raising your hand in zoom or pressing the raise your hand button or by pressing star 9 from your phone there's no one in our virtual audience who wishes to make public comment

Thank you. And anyone else in the boardroom wishing to comment? Sir, please come up.

Hi, I'm Robert Tate. I live at Visito, 2356 County Road 500. We take that journey three times a week. We have friends at Lemon. Any type of convenience store with any type of food in it is much appreciated for us to limit the amount of time and mileage we have to take, both in summer or winter, just like the other gentleman said. So we would much appreciate the continuance of this proposal and support it 100%. Thank you.

Thank you.

Any anyone else?

All right seeing none I'll close public comment and and just note that if anyone has questions about the project Staff will be here after the meeting And with that bring it back to commissioners for any discussion or further questions Approval of project PL 2 0 2 5 0 0 1 7 Webb's market and McKinney's taverns sketch plan proposal which

the findings and conditions outlined in the staff report.

I'll make a second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Herr and a second by Commissioner Morris. Is there any discussion of the motion? Brittany, would you call the roll, please?

Yes, Chair. Commissioner Morris? Yes. Commissioner Giannola? Yes. Commissioner Heppner? Yes. Commissioner Haar? Yes. Chair Vigaski?

Yes. Thank you, and the sketch plan is approved. Thank you. With that, we can move on to our next project, PL 2026-0126, Glacier Club Development Agreement, Sixth Amendment.

Chair, may I just give a minute in case folks are heading out? Yeah, of course. Okay, thank you, Commissioners. Dan Armitano, Deputy Community Development Director. Good evening. I am presenting this evening for a development agreement amendment for the Tamarind Glacier Club.

This is PL 2026-0126. I'll start out with some background for you all.

So this is a pretty minor amendment to the Glacier Club DA development agreement related specifically to caretaker and guest units. Just some background on the DA itself. So it's been in place since 2002. It's been amended five times. So this would be the sixth amendment. But the most recent amendment was done back in 2015, so. It's been a few years since I've gone through this process. This is being considered as a county-initiated amendment. This is something that staff brought to Glacier Club's attention after it has come up a few times. But it's really been a collaborative process working with Glacier's representatives. They assisted and maybe even took the lead on drafting some of the changes to the amendment. But it really was staff that initiated this. And so DA amendments do require approval of the board, so you all will be making a recommendation to the board this evening. Here's the context map just showing the Glacier Club. I think most people are familiar with it, but it's obviously off of Highway 550. good ways north of town. And I don't know the exact numbers off the top of my head, but over 800 units approved as part of the DA. Those developments go through approval process prior to construction. And it's decent ways towards build out at this point. I'm not sure the exact number of units that have been built at this point. But I'm sure the representative from Glacial Club can answer more specific questions should you have them. So to go into a little bit of detail about the caretaker units. So the caretaker unit is described and defined in the DA as a fully functioning living unit. It includes a kitchen, bathroom, living area, bedroom, et cetera. And it needs to be occupied by family members, guests of owners, caretakers of the property, or employees of the property. businesses within the Glacier Club property itself. So there's some pretty specific occupancy requirements that are tied to it within that definition. And then those occupancy requirements are currently further explained in the regulations within Section 3.7 of the DEA itself. There's some language that states that the units must be located within single family dwelling units within the property. That language has been part of the issue that we found a little bit confusing and I think challenging for some of the property owners that have proposed these units because they've wanted to build detached units. This second bullet there is describing the plat restriction. So on the subdivision plats for developments within the Glacier Club, it's required that there's a notice that states that caretaker units can be built and that occupancy requirement that I just described as well, namely those being restricted for use by family members, guests, or employees of either the property owner or businesses within the Glacier Club. That item has been somewhat problematic as well. And then the other requirements are more or less, well, the next one's design-based, so it must be between 400 and 1,500 square feet in size. Only one caretaker dwelling unit is allowed per lot. And they must be on lots with appropriately sized building envelopes. And then lastly, and I think importantly to note, these cannot be used as short-term rentals. They must be rented, or they cannot be rented for a period of less than 30 days. So really why we're bringing this up is because we've had a few inquiries over the last couple of years, not a ton, I think four instances in the last two years of projects that have actually moved forward with either building permit applications or planning inquiries. But enough for us to note that there's some confusing language and some challenges within the DA that's perhaps not consistent with what the land use code allows for ADUs. So when we've gotten inquiries about these units, most owners, as I mentioned, want to build detached units. And that's not currently allowed under that existing language. It states units must be within a single family dwelling within the property. Somewhat poor wording there, so we're intending to correct that. And then not all Glacier subdivisions that have been approved include that appropriate plot restriction. Broadly, we sort of concluded that that was perhaps an oversight as opposed to a desire to prohibit these units within those subdivisions. So the current standards really prohibit owners from building what they desire, which is often a detached full living unit. And what's being proposed instead that we've seen are detached additional living spaces, which the county does allow through our typical process. It's basically just a unit with everything except for a full kitchen. So there's just the undercounter refrigerator, there's the bar sink, and no range or oven included with that. But if you look at the floor plan, it's more or less a normal dwelling with just this wet bar area instead. This is an example of some plans that we received. I don't believe this was ever approved or built. I will note this approach does conform with county requirements for additional living spaces, but it's sort of the way around being able to build a detached unit up there that's not a caretaker unit. So the proposed amendments, again, these are pretty straightforward. We are bringing in a minor change to section 3.6, which is accessory structures and uses. That does include these caretaker units. Currently, that just states that these are permitted subject to administrative review and approval by county staff. That's been a little bit confusing because the director determination and an admin permit are both administrative review. So we're clarifying that to state director of planning approval in all area conceptual plans. Director of planning approval isn't exactly the director determination language we have in the code now, but that's what's used elsewhere in the DA. So we felt it was simpler to go with that language as opposed to changing director of planning to director determination elsewhere in the DA. So again, trying to keep the scope of this pretty narrow. And then in section 3.7, which does govern these caretaker guest units. So just striking this language within single family dwelling units. And then this is going to read like a paragraph instead of bulleted items. So each caretaker guest unit shall be not less than 400 square feet nor larger than 1,500. So keeping the square footage requirements, keeping the no more than one per property, and keeping the requirement that they can't be rented for less than 30 days. So we're striking the plat restriction and that specific language about the occupancy because that is captured really in the definition of the units themselves. There's also some language I understand in the CC&Rs for Glacier that help to address some of these issues as well. So sort of to conclude here, this amendment will allow for a lot of the same flexibility that property owners have elsewhere in the county when they're building an ADU, except for those additional specific restrictions related to design, use in terms of no short-term rentals, and those occupancy requirements. And I just want to note again, this is a collaboration between us and the Glacier Club representatives. So we worked on this for a while, kept it pretty targeted and focused, felt like it was a pretty simple change to make. And we're looking forward to resolving this issue. We did notice everybody within the Glacier Club of this amendment did not receive any formal comments. And so to conclude, we are recommending that you all recommend that the board adopt this amendment to the Glacier DA. And I'm happy to take any questions.

Thank you for that. Before questions, does, well, I guess you are the applicant.

I don't know. Yeah, I'm not sure. Mr. Burkhart's here with the Glacier Club, so he may have some comments if he wants to add anything.

Would you like to add anything or just reserve for questions?

I can be very quick. Thank you, Dan. I think Dan did a great job covering this. Greatly appreciate staff taking the lead on this, or at least working together with us. I think it's important to realize that this is a simple amendment, and so it's great to keep it simple, and I'm glad we've managed to do that. Also noting once again that staff is on board with it. It's helpful. It's mutually beneficial to the county and the Glacier Club, and so I think, and all the existing property owners at the Glacier Club. So it seems like, similar to the land use code, when we have these issues with a development agreement that everyone's on board with, it's great that we can kind of move through this process as quickly, and we really appreciate staff support to help us do that. Otherwise, we do, for the record, we do agree to the, I believe there's one finding. Maybe not. We agree with all of the findings and conditions in the staff report. And if there are any, and otherwise, we'd gladly answer any questions you may have.

Thanks, and if you could just identify yourself for the record.

I'm sorry, I'm Mr. Burkhardt. It's Daniel Burkhardt, Dan Burkhardt of Burkhardt Planning and Permitting.

Thank you. Thank you both. Questions for either?

I'm just curious, how did you come up with 30 days?

It's actually already in the agreement, so I'll pass that one to Mr. Burkhart.

So the 30 days has been in the agreement since 2002. The covenants of the Glacier Club is actually six months. So there is no renting for less than six months.

Okay, so even though this development agreement says 30 days, I'm still... That was part of my question was who's enforcing the CCRs and this amendment if they don't completely jive with each other.

Well, it's fairly typical to have the, I'll call them the public regulations, be more stringent than the private regulations on several pieces. Glacier, as you may know, is very well managed, very highly managed, and I believe the people that live up there appreciate it that way as well. There's a design review board that meets monthly at a minimum that everyone can take their grievances to if they do have grievances. So There are plenty of eyes on this. Glacier is also still developer controlled, if you will. So as these things move forward, there's always someone to take the grievance up with if this ever were to become an issue. At this point, all the ownership and owners are fully on board with this that we're aware of.

Thank you.

With no other questions, we can open public comment. I'm not seeing any members of the public in the board room. Do we have anyone online wishing to make public comment on this project?

If anyone in our virtual audience would like to make comment relating to this item, please let me know by raising your hand in Zoom, by pressing the Raise Your Hand button, or by pressing star 9 from your phone. There is no one in our virtual audience who wishes to make public comment.

Thank you. We can close public comment. And I'll just note, I appreciate the notice that everyone was noticed, and not seeing any comment here speaks a lot. Thoughts or emotions?

I move to approve PL 2 0 2 6 0 1 2 6 the Tamron Glacier Bay development agreement sixth amendment Thank you a motion by Commissioner Heppner and second by Commissioner Giannola discussion of the motion Brittany would you call the roll please?

Yes, thank you everyone the recommendation to the board is approved With that we can move on to other business staff anything

Just one item to note for you all, and I think this is something you've been made aware of, but we're, and I know you know that we're working on the updates to our comprehensive plan for the strategic growth element and the water supply element. We're in the current stage of collecting comments. Having meetings with public. We had two meetings this week. One on Monday was strictly virtual, and then we had one on Tuesday out in Bayfield, and probably around 10 or so attendees for those first two meetings. We do have two more meetings coming up next week on Monday and Tuesday. The first one on Monday is at the Durango Public Library. It will be both in-person and hybrid, so folks are invited to attend in person as well as online. And then the second meeting on Monday, actually the fourth meeting, sorry, the fourth meeting on Tuesday, apologies, is out in Breen at the Breen Community Center out there. So Welcome certainly the attendance of planning commissioners if it's more than two of you, please let Brittany know Don't let Brittany know let me know or someone else on staff and Certainly encourage the public to attend those meetings as well. So it's been good dialogue with our Consultants on those two items thus far. So that's all for me

Any other items?

No? Move to adjourn. Second.

All right. We are adjourned at 6.55. Thank you, everyone.