Temporary Moratorium Adopted for Certain Land Use Applications During County's Code Update Efforts

The Chaffee County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) unanimously voted to adopt a temporary moratorium on the acceptance of certain types of land use applications, effective June 7th, 2022. The hiatus on acceptance of applications, adopted via Resolution 2022-41 at the BOCC’s regular meeting on June 7th, will allow for the county to ensure focus on the on-going Land Use Code (LUC) update project and support long-term land use decisions that are in alignment with the standards and procedures to be considered within the updated LUC. This pause on acceptance of development applications also gives the County opportunity to work on developing water adequacy standards for proposed land use reviews, while it also pursues more comprehensive studies evaluating water adequacy and availability for long-range planning.

The temporary moratorium will be in place through December 31, 2022. It applies to acceptance of applications for Major Subdivisions, Minor Subdivisions, Conservation Subdivisions, and Land Use Change applications requiring Major or Limited Impact Reviews. Other application types, including Heritage Water and Agricultural Subdivision Exemptions, boundary line adjustments, and special event permit applications are not subject to the moratorium.

The moratorium does not apply to Land Use applications that are already in process with the County Planning department before June 7th, those that have pre-application meetings for Minor Subdivisions that have been scheduled before June 15th, and that have a complete application submitted to the Planning Department before July 15th, 2022. Applications meeting these deadlines will follow the existing process and policies under the current effective Land Use Code.

Logan Simpson, the consultant firm engaged by the County to facilitate the LUC update, will be working with the County on the land subdivision standards and land use change procedures in the next phase of code update. This module of code update is anticipated to run from August through December, 2022. Once these segments of code are amended, land use applications will be accepted and considered through the updated LUC policies. This timeline is anticipated to coincide with the end of the temporary moratorium.

The current Land Use Code was last fully updated in 2014. The Chaffee County Land Use Code update project began in January 2022 and is forecast to be completed in late 2023. The Land Use Code Update project is an outgrowth of the priorities and goals named within the Chaffee County Comprehensive Plan adopted in December 2020. The LUC Update project’s objective is to assess and holistically update the County’s current Land Use Code and related processes, incorporating the key principles and recommendations from the 2020 Comprehensive Plan in order to codify new Land Use policy.

Information and ongoing updates for the Land Use Code Update project can be followed at www.TogetherChaffeeCounty.org, where the public can also sign up for the mailing list to receive updates directly through email.

If the public has questions regarding Land Use Applications or the temporary moratorium, the County Planning Department can be reached at 719.530.5566 or glaudenslager@chaffeecounty.org