HomeMy WebLinkAbout20203027.tiffSUMMARY OF THE WELD COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
A regular meeting of the Weld County Planning Commission was held in the Weld County Administration
Building, Hearing Room, 1150 O Street, Greeley, Colorado. This meeting was called to order by Chair,
Elijah Hatch, at 12:30 pm.
Roll Call.
Present: Gene Stille, Tom Cope, Lonnie Ford, Elijah Hatch, Skip Holland, Dwaine Barclay, Sam Gluck, Troy
Mellon.
Absent: Butch White.
Also Present: Maxwell Nader, Jim Flesher, Angela Snyder, and Tom Parko, Department of Planning
Services; Lauren Light, Department of Health; Mike McRoberts and Evan Pinkham Department of Public
Works; Bob Choate, County Attorney, and Kris Ranslem, Secretary.
Motion: Approve the September 1, 2020 Weld County Planning Commission minutes, Moved by Gene
Stille, Seconded by Troy Mellon. Motion passed unanimously.
CASE NUMBER: USR20-0019
APPLICANT: LANCE AND CHERYL MESSINGER
PLANNER: MAXWELL NADER
REQUEST: A SITE SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN AND USE BY SPECIAL REVIEW
PERMIT FOR A KENNEL (CAT RESCUE SHELTER) IN THE A
(AGRICULTURAL) ZONE DISTRICT.
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: LOT A REC EXEMPT RECX18-0015, PART NW4 SECTION 29, T3N, R68W OF
THE 6TH P.M., WELD COUNTY, COLORADO.
LOCATION: SOUTH OF AND ADJACENT TO HWY 66; APPROXIMATELY 640 FEET EAST
OFCR3.
Max Nader, Planning Services, presented Case USR20-0019, reading the recommendation and comments
into the record. Mr. Nader noted that (2) two letters were received in opposition for this application regarding
concerns about cats roaming around and that they were not in favor of the cat rescue. The Department of
Planning Services recommends approval of this application with the attached conditions of approval and
development standards.
Mike McRoberts, Public Works, reported on the existing traffic, access to the site and drainage conditions
for the site.
Lauren Light, Environmental Health, reviewed the public water and sanitary sewer requirements, on -site
dust control, and the Waste Handling Plan.
In response to Commissioner Stille's inquiry, Ms. Light suggested asking the applicant how they dispose of
deceased animals.
Rosi Dennett, 210 Lincoln Street, Longmont, Colorado, stated that she is the planning consultant for this
case and introduced Tonni Loutzenhiser, who is the Executive Director for the organization.
Ms. Dennett said that they have no objections to the Staff recommendation for approval and added that
they can meet the recommended conditions stated in the staff report. Ms. Dennett said that this use will
continue to look residential in character and the existing structures will remain in place. She added that all
the existing mature landscaping will stay in place and a privacy fence will be added along the front of the
property to enhance the buffering and screening. She said that this use can easily be compatible with the
surrounding area.
Tonni Loutzenhiser, 1002 Martin Road, Longmont, Colorado, said that the shelter would be a support to
the TNR program. She said that the TNR program is where they go into areas where they are asked of
residents to help neuter, spay, and vaccinate and release cats back. They often take kittens out because
they want the populations to decrease. She added that their mission is to improve the lives of the cats and
the people who care of them.
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2020-3027
Commissioner Holland asked who owns the property. Ms. Loutzenhiser said that Messingers own the
property. Mr. Holland asked if anyone resides at the property today. Ms. Loutzenhiser replied that no one
lives on the property.
Ms. Loutzenhiser referred to the question regarding disposal of deceased animals and said that they take
them to their veterinarian to dispose of or Longmont Humane will also take the deceased animals.
Commissioner Ford asked how many cats will be on site. Ms. Toni said that there will be no more than 25
cats inside and about 30 cats outside. Mr. Ford asked if people will only be there during certain hours of
the day. Ms. Loutzenhiser replied yes and said that currently they have (8) eight foster cats on the property
and they are taken care of from 9 am to 12 pm and 4 pm to 6 pm.
Commissioner Holland asked what TNR is. Ms. Loutzenhiser said that the cats are spayed and neutered
and vaccinated and then they return those cats to residents. She added that TNR stands for Trap, Neuter,
Return.
Commissioner Stille asked if there is a charge for cats caught in a live trap. Ms. Loutzenhiser replied no.
Commissioner Barclay asked if the requirement for intake is that they be a domesticated cat. Ms.
Loutzenhiser replied yes. Mr. Barclay asked how long they are in the applicant's care before they are taken
back to the owner. Ms. Loutzenhiser said that she got some cats this morning and they went straight to the
clinic and then she will take them back tomorrow. She said that in the TNR program the cats are usually
with them no longer than three days.
Commissioner Barclay asked if someone is on staff at all times on site. Ms. Loutzenhiser replied no. She
added they also have a foster care program that the cats could be with them for up to one year depending
on how long it takes to tame them and find them a home.
The Chair asked if there was anyone in the audience who wished to speak for or against this application.
No one wished to speak.
The Chair asked the applicant if they have read through the Development Standards and Conditions of
Approval and if they are in agreement with those. The applicant replied that they are in agreement.
Motion: Forward Case USR20-0019 to the Board of County Commissioners along with the Conditions of
Approval and Development Standards with the Planning Commission's recommendation of approval,
Moved by Dwaine Barclay, Seconded by Troy Mellon.
Vote: Motion passed (summary: Yes = 7, No = 0, Abstain = 1).
Yes: Dwaine Barclay, Elijah Hatch, Gene Stille, Lonnie Ford, Skip Holland, Tom Cope, Troy Mellon.
Abstain: Sam Gluck.
CASE NUMBER:
PRESENTED BY:
REQUEST:
ORDINANCE 2020-17
EVAN PINKHAM
IN THE MATTER OF REPEALING AND REENACTING, WITH AMENDMENTS,
CHAPTER 8 PUBLIC WORKS, OF THE WELD COUNTY CODE.
Evan Pinkham, Public Works, presented Ordinance 2020-17, and stated that they are proposing changes
to Chapter 8 regarding some language that centers around defining right-of-way widths and definitions.
Additionally, they are proposing to amend Appendix 8-O Functional Classification Map as well as Appendix
8-N Transportation Plan.
Mr. Pinkham referred to the Functional Classification Map and said that they like to update it every two to
three years. Additionally, they are recommending adoption of the 2045 Weld County Transportation Plan,
which is essentially an update to the existing 2035 Transportation Plan. The Transportation Plan includes
basic maintenance and construction of county roads and future project lists. He added that it is a total
update from the 2035 Transportation Plan. Mr. Pinkham stated that the projects listed look at projects to
that 2045 date and it is basically a plan that looks at how they are going to develop the transportation in the
County between now and 2045.
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Mr. Pinkham said that they have had several conversations with jurisdictions in Weld County and
implemented a lot of the comments received into the Draft Transportation Plan. He added that they also
received comments from the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization, Cities of Broomfield,
Thornton, Greeley, Brighton, and the Town of Windsor. Additionally, they held meetings with several of the
communities and they are continuing to hold these meetings to gather comments and concerns they have
with both the Transportation Plan and the Functional Classification Map. They also had a public input
survey online and gathered some input from the general public as well.
Mr. Pinkham referred to the Functional Classification map and said that they have some corridors that they
would like to change the road classification. He read a list into the record of the proposed changes to road
classifications. He stated that any landowners within 500 feet of these corridors were given notice of the
public hearings so that they can voice their opinions on the downgrade or upgrade classifications. Mr.
Pinkham stated that these classifications are used to determine setbacks for buildings and provided the
different right-of-way requirements for each road classification.
Commissioner Mellon referred to Appendix A of the Transportation Plan and asked why all the county roads
aren't listed on there. Mr. Pinkham said that this data was given to them by their traffic model that they
conducted early on in the process and the inventory came from the state system traffic model so there are
some roads not included on that. He added that some of the reason could be that Weld County doesn't
maintain that particular roadway or they don't have a current traffic count on that particular roadway.
Commissioner Cope said that they just received and reviewed comments from two of the cities regarding a
number of classifications and asked if that has been incorporated into the Map. Mr. Pinkham said that they
have just looked at the comments that came in the last couple of days and added that they will reach out
to the cities to have conversations with them. Mr. Pinkham said that typically cities will have several
collectors and it doesn't line up real well with the county's system but they try their best to merge the two
together; however, it doesn't always make sense to have so many identified as collector roadways.
Commissioner Stille referred to the intersection of County 47 and Highway 392 and said that he heard
rumors of the installation of a roundabout. Mr. Pinkham said that there are plans for a traffic signal but no
roundabout. Mr. Stille asked if there are various sizes of roundabouts. Mr. Pinkham said that some of
those are developed in towns and they have their own requirements. The County just installed a two-lane
roundabout at County Road 17 and County Road 54.
The Chair asked if there was anyone in the audience who wished to speak for or against this ordinance.
Tom Honn, 40525 CR 21, stated that he is representing Weld County Farm Bureau and added that
transportation is a very significant thing to the agricultural community. He expressed concern that as traffic
has increased over time, it is very difficult to pull onto a major road from a county road when hauling
equipment or sileage trucks. He added that it would be nice to talk to some of the farmers in the area that
are looking for accel/decel turn lanes or features that could help traffic efficiency, flow and safety.
Commissioner Barclay referred to Mr. Honn's comment that he wasn't aware of any changes and asked
how that communication was sent out. Mr. Pinkham said that they sent notification to an ag community
group and probably didn't cast a big enough net.
Motion: Forward Case Ordinance 2020-17 to the Board of County Commissioners along with the Planning
Commission's recommendation of approval, Moved by Troy Mellon, Seconded by Tom Cope.
Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 8).
Yes: Dwaine Barclay, Elijah Hatch, Gene Stille, Lonnie Ford, Sam Gluck, Skip Holland, Tom Cope, Troy
Mellon.
Commissioner Mellon commended Staff for their work on the Transportation Plan.
Commissioner Holland commended Staff for their work on this project as well.
Commissioner Gluck said that it is awfully hard because you don't plant a tree for you, you plant it for the
future generations and Staff is tasked with planting trees and understands it is pretty tough.
The Chair called a recess at 1:33 p.m. and reconvened the hearing at 1:41 p.m.
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CASE NUMBER:
PRESENTED BY:
REQUEST:
ORDINANCE 2020-13
PLANNING STAFF
IN THE MATTER OF REPEALING AND REENACTING, WITH AMENDMENTS,
CHAPTER 22 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN, OF THE WELD COUNTY CODE.
Tom Parko, Planning Services, presented Ordinance 2020-13 and stated that the last update to the
Comprehensive Plan was in 2008. He said that the kick-off to the public process was held at the Farm
Show and then the pandemic hit, and it changed the way they held outreach. He added that they had to
switch gears and do everything more virtual. Additionally, the Board of County Commissioners hired a
consulting firm to help with the County's Public Information Officer and start putting things on our website.
Mr. Parko said that they wanted to be as transparent as possible but the county is a very large county, so
it is just not possible to hit everybody. He added that they tried to do a lot of outreach and had focus groups.
Mr. Parko said that they met with a lot of the big players in the agricultural industry and municipalities,
surveyors, realtors, and consultants that do a lot of work in the planning department and solicitated
feedback through them.
Jim Flesher, Planning Services, said that the Comprehensive Plan is included in the Weld County Code
Chapter 22 and was originally created in 1973. It has since been updated in 1987, 1995, 2002 and 2008.
The current update includes 10 goals and 37 objectives.
Some items removed from the current code were the strategies and instead the Planning Department will
maintain a list of actions in a strategic plan that can be updated annually and need not be incorporated in
the Weld County Code. The Regional Urbanization Areas (RUAs) will also be removed. Mr. Flesher said
that in 2008 when the Comprehensive Plan was adopted it included transportation plan goals and in 2010
it was separated out as you saw in Ordinance 2020-17.
The additions to the Comprehensive Plan are a Recreation and Tourism Element which addresses a
statutory requirement, a Subarea Planning Guide (Appendix 22-B) and a Comprehensive Plan Map
(Appendix 22-D). The Comprehensive Plan Map includes opportunity zones, appropriate development
scale, and site constraints. Mr. Flesher said that when the Planning Commission sees a change of zone
application Staff will refer to the proposed Comprehensive Plan Map.
Commissioner Cope asked if the change of zone will be an automatic exclusion if it is not shown on the
Comprehensive Plan Map. Ms. Snyder, Planning Services, said that the commercial and industrial
opportunity zones are intended to show ideal locations based on a formula. She said that if you were to
use that formula and show that another location was a satisfactory commercial or industrial location then
you could turn in an application for a change of zone and justify it with other means. She provided Tire
Mountain as an example or areas of the county that are already zoned industrial that are not shown on this
map and they would want to consider land uses and the Comprehensive Plan Map. Mr. Parko added that
we still have a lot of agricultural activity and wanted to make it clear that those activities (such as dairies)
are still allowed in the agricultural zone district.
Commissioner Mellon asked if any input is given to natural geographic features like the Pawnee Grasslands
where a broad brush might not be appropriate. Ms. Snyder said that they have some of those things like
floodplain, but the prairie and other things are covered by other criteria in the county code.
The Chair asked if there was anyone in the audience who wished to speak for or against this application.
Bill Jerke, 22911 CR 39, LaSalle, Colorado, stated that his last year as County Commissioner was in 2008
when they had the last update to the Comprehensive Plan. He provided an overview of how the County
had conducted outreach and set up a technical advisory group that created an update to the
Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Jerke expressed concern that this update process is a top -down approach and
he had difficulty making any input to the update at all. He suggested that this process slow down and be
widened it so that more people would have an opportunity to have more input.
Commissioner Ford asked how he would recommend these landowners be notified. Mr. Jerke said it should
be bottom -up and it is up to the County Commissioners to decide if they want to open it up again or not and
if it is there should be community meetings and they should create a study group.
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Commissioner Gluck said that timing is pretty poor because harvest is starting and there won't be a lot of
farmers coming in September and October. He suggested that Staff try to accommodate that.
Erin Barkey, 34630 CR 19, said she received a postcard from Mr. Pinkham about the meeting today and
the postcard showed that the meeting started at 1:30 p.m. Ms. Barkey expressed frustration that she came
to the meeting at 1:30 p.m. and the Transportation Plan had already been discussed. She said that she
wasn't able to hear what is going to happen to County Road 19, so she had to talk to Mr. Pinkham in the
back of the room. She said that she has a little acreage that she wants to keep in agriculture and she is
not hearing a lot of positivity from this Board which is disheartening. She added that she hopes the Planning
Commission will take time to realize what the agricultural industry contributes to Weld County.
Commissioner Mellon asked if this is a flawed public notice and does it impact the validity of the hearing.
Bob Choate, County Attorney, stated that it is unfortunate that there were two people that came in after the
meeting had started at 12:30 pm because of the misprint. However, there is a three -reading process that
the Board of County Commissioners will have, and he verified that those dates and times on the postcard
are still accurate.
Commissioner Gluck said that it is unfortunate, but he agrees that they didn't get adequate notification as
well.
Commissioner Holland said that they have had a number of meetings talking about the update to the
Comprehensive Plan and referred to Mr. Jerke's comments about not being aware of the update. He asked
Staff to address this issue. Mr. Parko said that in 2008 it was a completely different Board of County
Commissioners and they set out what they wanted to accomplish with setting up a Technical Advisory
Committee of people that they would like to see involved in the Comprehensive Plan. He added that this
is a whole new Board of County Commissioners that has provided direction to staff on how to move forward
with this approach. Mr. Parko said that prior to Covid-19 they did intend to have a bunch of community
meetings but then that all changed, and they had to go through a more virtual platform. He added that
through some of the focus group meetings and trying to solicit information, they didn't get a lot of feedback.
Mr. Parko said that they actually got a ton of feedback from people that went online. He added that they
received a lot of input using a consultant that helped put the surveys together and he thinks that they were
able to get some good feedback. He said that you can't reach everyone, and he would love to send a
postcard to every citizen but how many look at it and throw it away, not to mention the expense involved.
He added that there is a three -reading process with the Board of County Commissioners. Mr. Parko stated
that Mr. Jerke did reach out to him via email as well as to other County Commissioners and he did provide
Mr. Jerke with information on where to go to get information on the Comprehensive Plan.
Commissioner Holland asked if the three -reading process gives this important agriculture culture the
opportunity to express themselves. Mr. Parko said that it is advertised in the paper and a lot of it is through
word of mouth and online and through social media. He added that there is a lot of opportunity to still
comment before the final reading at the end of November.
Commissioner Holland asked if they could suggest something to the County Commissioners of what they
might do to invigorate this input coming from the communities. Mr. Mellon said that there is never an
opportunity for input outside the working day of the county. He added that there is never an evening hearing
and that is one thing that he has hated how Weld County runs. If he could make one change to the whole
process, he would make it so that at least one of the three meetings are held in the evening.
Ms. Snyder said that they put this information out in the County newsletter, Facebook, Twitter and on the
County website. She added that they had multiple meetings with the ag industry people from lists obtained
from the Agricultural Extension Office. Additionally, they held meetings during the day and night and
sometimes people still don't hear. She said if there is something that you think we haven't done, we can
still do that before the Board of County Commissioners meeting. Commissioner Cope suggested placing
radio ads that indicates the Comprehensive Plan is being revised, and please go to the Weld County
website. Commissioner Ford suggested placing an ad in the Fencepost. He said that he lives in rural Weld
County and doesn't subscribe to the Greeley Tribune, but he does get the Fencepost.
Commissioner Barclay said that there is no way to reach everybody and there is no doubt that the
information is out there. He added that there is still time for people to comment before the County
Commissioner's first reading. It is tough to get everyone to see it and comment.
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Commissioner Cope commended Staff on the Comprehensive Plan Map and added that this should have
been done years ago. He added that this is a good tool to be able to look at the map and consider if a
proposed application is located in a reasonable location.
Motion: Forward Case Ordinance 2020-13 to the Board of County Commissioners along with the Planning
Commission's recommendation of approval, Moved by Gene Stille, Seconded by Dwaine Barclay.
Commissioner Mellon referred to the opportunity zones and expressed concern regarding the location of
the opportunity zones along railroads. He has a hard time expecting somebody to consider a piece of
property an opportunity zone just because it is a quarter -mile from a railroad, but one and one-half miles
from a surface road. Commissioner Cope said that an opportunity zone is probably a good wording for it
because it is not dictating or stating that this is what has to be done, but rather stating that you have this
opportunity or option to possibly use this. He said that adequate water and sewage is probably a bigger
issue than surface transportation. He added that this is just saying that these are areas that possibly could
handle this and now the applicant would have to come in with more details on whether this is really an
acceptable site or not.
Commissioner Cope asked how important it is to get this done in the next two months or can we slow this
down. He asked if maybe the County Commissioners should slow it down and say that they want to review
this once they really have an opportunity to do what was intended with all the outreach and meetings. He
added that he thinks it is a good plan. Mr. Parko said that it is up to the Board of County Commissioners
and that discussion will take place on September 30th at the first reading, especially if there is more public
comment at that time. He added that no one knows how long this pandemic will continue.
The Chair called for the Vote.
Vote: Motion passed (summary: Yes = 5, No = 3, Abstain = 0).
Yes: Dwaine Barclay, Elijah Hatch, Gene Stille, Lonnie Ford, Skip Holland.
No: Sam Gluck, Tom Cope, Troy Mellon.
Commissioner Holland said that the County Commissioners should seriously consider additional
mechanisms to make sure that the agricultural community can participate and be involved with these
readings.
Commissioner Ford agreed with Mr. Holland and believes that they need to have mechanisms to let the
agricultural community know what is going on.
Commissioner Cope said that he would like to see this process go forward with more of how it was intended
to go forward and be heard and receive comments from the public. He added that it is important to look at
more than just strictly daytime meetings to allow full participation of the citizens.
The Chair asked the public if there were other items of business that they would like to discuss. No one
wished to speak.
The Chair asked the Planning Commission members if there was any new business to discuss. No one
wished to speak.
Meeting adjourned at 2:52 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Kristine Ranslem
Secretary
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