The Nederland Planning Commission met on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at 7 p.m. to vote on changes to Town code concerning housing and the keeping of animals. Commissioners also discussed the prospect of amending the Use Group Table to allow for private businesses to operate on public lots through special partnership.

Commissioners were presented with an update from Godot Communications Inc. (GCI), who has been contracted by the Town to develop a branding and creative identity campaign for Nederland. GCI is currently in their first month of community engagement, having been contracted to conduct up to 80 hours of feedback sessions with community stakeholders and to meet with at least 225 local residents.

GCI’s community sessions have been focused on defining Nederland’s identity through different group activities. The aim for gathering such data is to create a visual identity advertising campaign that would manage the existing tourism and educate tourists on the local wildlife and environment, as well as the town’s history.

For more information about the GCI branding and creative identity plan, and for coverage of the Evening Networking Event, hosted on Monday, October 30, and the Community Action Planning Workshop held on Tuesday, October 31, please look for the full article here in this edition of The Mountain-Ear.

Town Administrator Miranda Fisher led the Commission in a discussion concerning the prospect of allowing a Special Review Use (SRU) process for considering proposals that involve a private business partnering with the Town to operate their business on a public-zoned lot.

The suggestion was brought up during discussion by the Board of Trustees (BOT) on October 3 of the TEENS, Inc. proposal to lease town-owned land at 750 West 5th Street, to construct and operate a childcare facility. Trustees gave a nod of four at that meeting to have the Planning Commission consider changing the Use Group Table, dictated by Chapter 16 of Nederland Municipal Code (NMC), to allow SRU for such proposals.

The SRU process goes before the Planning Commission for review and a public hearing; any matter concerning changes to Chapter 16 of NMC also requires a public hearing by the Commission.

Though Fisher reiterated that the discussion before the Commission was on the suggestion of changing the use group table, the subject of the proposal from TEENS, Inc. was not easily avoided as Commissioners and members of the public continued to comment on or ask questions regarding the proposal.

For more full coverage of the TEENS, Inc. proposal and childcare plan, please look to the article in this edition of The Mountain-Ear.

Though some Commissioners felt that allowing private businesses to operate on public land would set a dangerous precedent, others believed that the SRU process was a fair compromise given that it allows the Commission and the BOT to thoroughly consider such proposals and to gauge how well each proposal would benefit both entities of the partnership and the community as a whole.

Currently, TEENS, Inc. is the only example in Nederland of a private/public partnership, which is considered to be successful in that it benefits all involved and serves a greater need for the community.

Commissioners gave a nod of four, directing Town Attorney Jennifer Madsen to draft a formal ordinance, and asked Town staff to provide a sample lease agreement for a private/ public partnership for Commissioners to review. The Commission will vote for recommendation to the BOT of the drafted ordinance during their November meeting.

Fisher led the Commission through a discussion involving changing the use group table to allow use-by-right for parking lots, and paid parking lots, in certain zoning districts, including Central Business District (CBD), Neighborhood Commercial (NC), and General Commercial (GC). Currently parking and paid parking is defined under “other commercial activity” and is considered allowable in the aforementioned zones by SRU, as long as the lot offers no more than 20 parking spaces.

The proposed rezoning of 100 East 1st Street from High Density Residential (HDR) to CBD served as the catalyst for the suggestion from the BOT. Fisher noted that the Board wished to specify paid parking directly in the code language and asked for the draft language to also standardize the method of paid parking to be preferred and permitted in Town.

Paid parking was a line item in the 2023 Town Budget, though the project never began; Fisher said that paid parking will be budgeted for again in 2024.

Commissioners gave a nod of four for Madsen to draft a formal ordinance to be voted on for recommendation to the BOT at their November meeting.

The Commission also discussed two more potential changes to NMC; the proposal to make multiple changes to the use group table in regards to loosening restrictions on “affordable” and alternative housing, and the proposal to allow up to a 50% yard and bulk variance for deed restricted “affordable” housing through review by the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA).

Both prospects were discussed in detail during a Planning Commission Work Session on October 19. During that session, in regards to the use group table, no changes were made to the allowance or prohibition of single family dwelling units, mobile homes, or accessory dwelling units (ADU).

However, multi-family units were separated by type on the use group table, giving duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes their own considerations for what zoning districts in which they should be allowed use-by-right or SRU, or be prohibited from entirely. At the end of the work session, plexes were set to be allowed SRU in all residential zones, NC, and public zoning, as were tiny home villages.

Commissioner Roger Cornell objected to allowing both plexes and tiny home villages SRU in HDR and Mountain Residential zones, believing that a fourplex would be too big of a unit for the size of most parcels in those zones, and that tiny home villages would not have to adhere to yard and bulk and setback requirements.

A tiny home village is defined as being up to three small 100 to 800 square foot tiny homes, each with its own foundation and each required to adhere to the parcel’s set yard and bulk and setback requirements.

A nod of four was given for Madsen to draft a formal ordinance to be voted on for recommendation to the BOT at the Commission’s November meeting.

As for the proposal to allow an up to 50% yard and bulk variance, Commissioners were in agreement that the Commission should be the authority on such decisions, as opposed to the BZA.

Fisher and Madsen discussed the logistics of allowing such a prospect, considering that the Commission operates on a strict schedule and votes to recommend to the BOT, while the BZA organizes to meet whenever a decision needs to be made on specific criteria, and those decisions are binding.

With the goal of the proposed code changes being to remove barriers for developers of “affordable” and alternative housing, Fisher did not want Commissioners to force developers through a process reminiscent of the SRU hearing, but to instead devise a process that focuses on three specific criteria, being consideration of the adjacent land’s use, consideration of the size of the parcel, and consideration of the characteristics of the surrounding neighborhood.

Commissioners gave a nod of four for an up to 50% yard and bulk variance on deed restricted “affordable” housing to be allowed through a review process and public hearing with the Planning Commission. Madsen will provide a draft ordinance at the November meeting to be voted on for recommendation to the BOT.

In addition to the discussions on the two code changes affecting the implementation of housing, the Commission was also tasked to vote on two housing-related ordinances.

Ordinance 850 involves amending code language to allow for ADUs to be built before construction on a primary residence begins, allowing for the property owner to live in the unit while construction continues. Construction of the primary residence must also be completed within three years of the date on the certificate of occupancy issued for the allowance of the ADU.

After a brief discussion concerning whether ADUs should be subject to the same set yard and bulk and setback requirements as the primary structure, the vote on the ordinance was tabled until the Commission’s November meeting.

Ordinance 851 involves allowing Town staff to be the authority over approving or denying applications for an up to 15% variance for all yard and bulk requirements, except for height.

Commissioners were generally in favor of Town staff being empowered to handle such matters. A motion to recommend approval of Ordinance 851 to the BOT was made and approved unanimously.

The Commission was tasked with voting to recommend approval of Ordinance 852, which would repeal and replace Articles V and VI of NMC Chapter 7, which involves the keeping of pets and livestock. Though, due to many more revisions needing to be added to the ordinance, the matter was tabled until the November meeting.

Commissioner Michael Dye, who is on the subcommittee for the Keeping Animals Ordinance along with Commissioner Cornell and others, spoke with a local rancher who provided additional insight on what additional language could be added to the ordinance in order not to be read as “specist.”

Commissioners also wanted to ensure that the language and intention of the ordinance was clear in that if a specific animal is not defined in the ordinance, under definitions for pets or livestock, then that animal is not permitted to be kept by the property owner. Madsen gave her professional opinion that the ordinance was legally sound, and specified that municipalities are given the authority to regulate animals, to determine which are allowable and which are not, by the Colorado Revised Statutes.

Due to the Commission’s future meetings being scheduled too close to the Thanksgiving and December holidays, Commissioners voted to approve date changes for those meetings. November 29 and December 20 were approved as the new meeting dates.

The Planning Commission meets on the fourth Wednesday of every month. Their next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 29, 2023, at 7 p.m. Meetings can be attended online via WebEx.

For more information go to: https:// townofnederland. colorado.gov/planning-commission