Chaffee County's Land Use Code was last updated in 2014. In the years since its update, a lot has changed in our region. Yet during this period we've also affirmed that many of our long-standing historical values still resonate with the community. Updating Chaffee County's Land Use Code bring alignment between these guiding principles and priorities and the development and land management needs now and into the foreseeable future. 

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The Chaffee County Comprehensive Plan adopted in December 2020 identifies updating the County Land Use Code as a key strategy. Holistic future land use planning has not been a significant tool for leaders and decision makers in the past and is intended to be adapted and amended to ensure flexibility and compatibility with future conditions.

 

Current Project Timeline ~ November 2023 - December 2024:

​The County engaged Fairfield & Wood, a law firm consultant with a focus on land use, in fall of 2023 to assist the County with completing the Land Use Code update project. They have worked to integrate the input and direction that was previously provided into a refined structure for the Land Use Code that will be proposed for adoption in Q4 2024.

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Original Project Timeline ~ January 2022-December 2023:

The Land Use Code Update Project kicked off in January, 2022 was expected to conclude in late 2023, actively involving the community over a span of ~24 months to create, review, and ultimately adopt overhauled Land Use Code regulations. ​The County changed consultants in fall 2023 and updated the project completion estimate to Q4 2024.​

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Project Overview:

Chaffee County will update its Land Use Code through a combination of technical analysis, current code diagnosis, community engagement, collaborative drafting, and public adoption process.

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Updated Code will aim to be:

• Reflective of best practices;

• Progressive to support sustainability goals, smart growth, and emerging trends in the community;

• Simplified, graphically formatted, and user friendly;

• Consistent with other relevant standards and policies within the County.

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Project Process:

The County has engaged consultants to facilitate the project and be the primary author for the code documents.

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With the consultants assistance, County leadership will seek input from wide-reaching organizations, stakeholder groups, and members of the public, both formally and informally. Community will be engaged through an established advisory committee, small focus groups, interviews, surveys, planning commission work sessions, and adoption hearings, as well as presence at various community gatherings to solicit input.

 

The original approach addressed the code update through module sections. Modules included selections of code topics that are logically organized and grouped. Each module included its own series of analysis, community engagement, and public hearings. As the project evolved, the modules were aggregated into a final code draft that will be presented for consideration as one document.

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The LUC Update will be accomplished through a process of diagnosis, collaborative drafting, and public outreach and pair those conversations with detailed review of existing master plan documents, such as the 2020 Comprehensive Plan, and the current zoning and subdivision regulations. This analysis will result in an assessment report that will serve as a roadmap for the update process overall.

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At each step, we will engage the public, key community stakeholders, County staff, and the County’s ultimate decision makers - the Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners.

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Follow Along and Engage:

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