The Fremont County Board of Commissioners conducted five public hearings April 12th highlighted by a hearing on a rewrite of a proposed amendment to the county’s Zoning Resolution regulating contractors’ yards and small wind energy systems. Commission Chairman Ed Norden noted that the board first considered the amendment last fall when letters had been mailed to 99 contractors to seek their input on proposed changes. The changes were not intended to make it more difficult to operate small contractor’s operations out of their homes but to bring many of them into some sort of compliance and avoid widespread violations.
After input from contractors last fall the Board of Commissioners took a different approach and rewrote the amendment. Instead of tying contractors’ yards to specific Home Occupation classifications the amendment was rewritten to focus on setbacks, screening, or fences on different acreage sizes. Instead of addressing Special Mobile Machinery (SMM) equipment associated with contractors operations, the amendment places a limit of five motor vehicles specifically used in a contractor’s yard.
No public comment was offered on the proposed change and the board voted 2 to 1 to adopt the amendment. Commissioner Mike Stiehl voted against the amendment saying he preferred that there be a limit of three vehicles associated with contractors’ yards and that existing non-conforming uses could be lost if a family reassigned the ownership under a different name.
The commissioners heard no public comment regarding a set of regulations that would govern the installation of small wind energy systems by homeowners. Commissioner Norden said those regulations also underwent a complete rewrite from what was first proposed last fall. He said four or five pages of regulations were scaled back to two pages. As approved on a unanimous vote the new regulations would permit homeowners to erect a small wind turbine for each building on their property. Turbines would be restricted to a height of 100 feet, could not be lighted, would have to be constructed of a non-reflective material, and have a distance setback from a neighboring property line equal to the height of the tower.
The commissioners also adopted some minor changes to the Pathfinder Regional Park Use Policies and fees. The policy document deals with use of the park and arena on the county owned portion of Pathfinder Regional Park west of Florence. To encourage more public use of the arena the commissioners adjusted the rental fees. Previously it cost $50 to rent the arena for five hours plus $10 per hour for each additional hour. Because some citizens have requested to use the arena for shorter time periods, the commissioners adopted a new fee schedule charging a flat rate of $10 per hour plus the standard $100 deposit. With lights now available at the arena a fee schedule was added for nighttime use under the lights. In addition to the hourly rental rate it will cost $60 for the first hour of lights and $30 for each additional hour. The policy was also changed prohibiting any activities or events in the arena that would require vehicles or equipment. A copy of the county’s new Pathfinder Park policy and fee schedule can be obtained at the CSU Extension Office in the Fremont County Administration Building.
In other business at the April 12th meeting the commissioners:
- Approved a new hotel and restaurant liquor license for Echo Canyon River Expeditions on Eight Mile Hill;
- Approved a Special Review Use Permit for the 8-Mile Ranch Kennel operated by Jeff Charles and Kareen Buckner on 41 acres on the south side of Highway 50 in the Eight Mile area;
- Approved a Special Review Use Permit for AT & T to erect a 100-foot wireless communications tower on school property directly southwest of the Cotopaxi School;
- Appointed Larry Brown of Penrose to an alternate’s seat on the Fremont County Board of Building Code Appeals;
- Reappointed County Assessor Stacey Seifert to the Regional GIS Authority Board;
- Approved transfer of ownership of Penrose Plaza Liquor to Kwik Stop Liquor;
- Approved a Temporary Use Permit for the Cañon City Music and Blossom Festival carnival to operate May 3rd through May 9th at Elm Avenue and Oak Creek Grade Road;
- Approved a resolution to dry up two-tenths of an acre of irrigated land at Pathfinder Regional Park as part of securing water service in the park from the City of Florence.