A follow up discussion to last month’s appeal by an ad-hoc committee seeking changes to Fremont County’s site development regulations highlighted a brief agenda of business for the Fremont County Board of Commissioners regular meeting Tuesday.
Dave Reynolds of Reynolds Construction asked if the Board had made any progress in addressing some of the committee’s concerns regarding site development regulations and the time it takes to process applications. Commission Chairman Ed Norden said the Commissioners had met with staff and discussed several recommendations to expedite the process. Norden said the board felt that Reynolds' recommendation for a one year moratorium on the regulations would not be necessary. He said that’s because there are no current pending applications for site development and because the board feels that the language changes proposed will address many of the issues raised by the committee at the July 27th meeting.
Addressing the request from homebuilders that a regional building authority be considered similar to the way things operate in Pueblo County, Norden said the last time that subject was discussed was a couple of years ago when the Commissioners and the City of Florence had indicated they were willing to discuss how the formation of a regional building authority might be accomplished. He said the county and Florence were willing to meet if the homebuilders could get the City of Cañon City to be a part of those meetings.
Reynolds also requested that the county make building inspectors available for inspections on Fridays and Saturdays saying the county’s four day work weeks make it difficult for contractors to progress on projects when they can’t get building inspections. Fremont County Building Official Mike Cox later told the Commissioners that prior to the four day work weeks his inspectors reserved Fridays to handle paperwork in the office. He said inspectors need office time to review plans, issue permits, and keep projects on schedule like contractors are asking. Commissioner Mike Stiehl also pointed out that Saturday inspections have always been available for a $84 fee but that inspectors went to four ten-hour days several years ago to save the cost of fuel and windshield time spent driving from one end of the county to the other.
In other routine business the Board of Commissioners:
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Approved a $186 property tax abatement to Tracy Mateicka for the 2009 tax year;
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Approved a twelve month extension of the deadline for contingency items for a special review use permit for an AllTel Wireless tower near Texas Creek;
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Approved a resolution establishing fees associated with the installation of solar panels used to generate electricity in residential and commercial buildings. The permit fee for residential solar installations will be $172 with a $214 permit fee for commercial solar installations.