Transcript

0:00:28Commissioners, are you ready. Yes, thank you. Thank you. And we're recording. Okay, good morning. Today is May 28th, 2026. This is a meeting of the Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County. We have commissioners Stolzman and Levy present in the hearing room, Commissioner Lo Chimin, is excused. And we are here this morning for a quasi - judicial hearing on Docket LU - 26 0008 - SPR - 26 - 0017, Elnick Earthwork and Residence. We will start with a presentation up to 20 minutes by the Planner Pete Lange. Commissioners will ask questions if we have any. We'll then allow the applicant to also have 20 minutes to present any information they would like for the commissioners to have. We will also take time to ask the applicant any questions we may have. After we do that, we will open up the Public Hearing to take comment from members of the Public, both in person and virtually.

0:01:41Members of the Public have up to three minutes to speak to this case. And we will then close the Public comment period. Pete will provide any additional information that he may feel we need. The applicant will have the last word before Commissioner Stolzman and I deliberate and make a decision. And before we start, would like to ask our usual question about any disclosures? I have no disclosures. And I have not either. So Pete, the floor is yours. Thank you, Commissioners. Good morning. Pete Lange Community Planning and Permitting. This is duck at L - U - 26 - 008 - SPR - 26 - 0017. Elnick Earthwork and residents at 55 - 05 Old Stage Road. The EPC and owners, Alan Elnick, Joycelyn Parlapiano is with Rodwin is the agent. The parcel of zone forestry, it's approximately two acres. It is a legal building lot. There is an existing 2, 468 square foot residence. And this is a limited impact special use review for 1, 146 cubic yards of non - foundational earthwork and site plan review for deconstruction of the existing residence and construction of a new 3, 399 square foot residence. The maximum residential floor area allowed on this parcel is 3, 407 square feet. Here's the vicinity map. You can see the subject parcel indicated in red in the middle there on the

0:03:18west side of Old Stage Road, just west of City of Boulder. Aerial photograph. Comprehensive plan. There are several layers on here, including archaeologically sensitive area, as well as the North Grasslands Natural Area and its associated buffer. There's also a view protection score of 0. 24 along Olt Stage Road. Elevation contours, this is the 40 foot contour map, which doesn't show a whole lot of detail. So this is a more detailed zoomed in version showing two foot contours. The orange circle on the left - hand side is the existing residence. Geological hazards map, the entire parcel is within a debris flow susceptibility area. There's also small area of landslights, susceptibility on that northwest corner. This is the narrative as submitted by the applicants. Not going to go through the whole thing. It's in the staff packet for anyone who wants to read it. But basically, as noted, they are looking to deconstruct the existing residents, build a new residence in the same location. And then, uh, kind of realign the driveway, uh, getting up there, which is where most of the non - foundational earthwork comes from. I've included the fact sheets as submitted by the applicants. Again, not going to spend a lot of time on them. They're just in here in case we need to come back to them. Here's the site plan submitted

0:04:53by the applicants. Uh, old stage road is on the right. Uh, and it shows the proposed driveway, uh, working its way up the parcel to the west or left. The crossed hashed sections. That's an exist part of the existing driveway that is proposed to be removed and revegetated, uh, within the House located at the western end of the parcel. And the grading plan as submitted by the applicants, again showing that driveway with the anticipated, uh, earthwork as part of it. Here is elevation as submitted by the applicant. And kind of moving through these, the south elevation. So this is, uh, essentially the front of the house and would face towards the, um. The neighboring property. This is the east elevation. So this is what would be facing old stage road. North elevation. And then the West elevation facing back into the, uh, hillside. Uh, the applicant's also provided some, uh, prospective images. So again, just in here for context, understand what is being proposed. Site photos, this is looking west uphill. That kind of white thing in the background is the existing dome residence that you'll see in subsequent pictures. This is looking, uh, northwest towards the adjacent parcel. Southwest, the other adjacent parcel. Northeast.

0:06:35And southeast, uh, towards hog back ridge. Uh, this is the existing driveway. You can see the stakes in the middle. That's the center line of the proposed driveway continuing up, uh, using, reusing much of the existing. Before getting up to the existing DOM residence that is proposed for deconstruction. And then this is on the west side of the residence looking north. Looking west another accessory structure that is going to be deconstructed. And then looking south. Again, this is looking north. You'll note, uh, my colleague Ian Brighton who is standing more or less at the corner of the parcel. So that kind of gives you a perspective on the, that would be the Northwest corner. And then this is a view looking back down the hill just to kind of show the steepness of the terrain on this parcel. This docket was referred out via the standard procedures. Uh, staff received responses from the agency's listed here. Those are all summarized in the staff recommendation packet and are attached as, uh, attached to that packet. Staff also received responses of no comment or no concern conflict from the agencies listed there. Steph did not receive any responses from these agencies. And then notice was mailed to 34 property owners in the area. Staff received one comment from an adjacent property owner sitting they wanted to ensure

0:08:13that their parcel would not be used as access for construction traffic. They also expressed concern about whether the proposed development would require a second well. Looking at the LU criteria, uh, number one, except as otherwise noted the use of comply with minimum zoning requirements, uh, in this case, earthwork over 500 cubic yards is allowed if approved through the limited impact special use review process. Staff did note evidence of previous unpermitted grading shown in the picture there. We don't have an exact timeframe, but it happened sometime before 2000, uh, and looking at aerial photographs, uh, staff is determined that the hillside has continued to deteriorate over time. And as such, staff recommends as a condition of approval that that slope be restored and revegetated as part of the project. Uh, and these are just some Google Earth images kind of showing, uh, from 2012 to, uh, to 2024, kind of how that slope has continued to slide over time. Number two, use will be compatible with the surrounding area. Uh, in this case, staff did find that the grading is necessary for a driveway, which will meet the multimodal transportation standards. It is a fairly long driveway at about 650 feet. However, looking at other driveways in the area, uh, they range anywhere from about 50 feet to 550, uh, with, uh, up to 2000 feet,

0:09:43uh, that is on the other side of the ridge. So staff kind of considers that an outlier. But generally driveways are between that 50 and 550. So staff found that the driveway, um, length and the grading is in character with the rest of the area. Going to number seven, the useful support multimodal transportation system. In this case, the design is proposed does show grates at 16 percent through curves, which does not comply with the multimodal transportation standards. Uh, so staff has recommended as condition of approval. That plant submitted from permitting due comply with those multi - metal transportation standards. Staff is also recommended standard staging requirements to ensure that, uh, traffic along Old Stage Road is not adversely impacted by the construction. And then number 13 that proposed you shall not alter historic drainage patterns.

0:10:38Obviously due to the extensive amount of earthwork required, uh, for this, there will be impacts to the drainage on site. However, staff found that those impacts could be sufficiently addressed and mitigated through a drainage letter, uh, to address that as part of the building permit process and staff recommended that is a condition of approval along with standard stormwater controls and revegetation conditions. Moving to the site plan review standards, uh, going straight to number eight development shall not have significant negative visual impact. In this case, obviously it is going to be very visible from the public right away and adjacent parcels. But everything in this area is. So stuff did not have particular concerns about that. The existing structure is approximately 28 feet four inches. And the proposed new structures at 25 feet five inches. So it's actually about three feet lower than the existing one.

0:11:35Uh, and other structures in the area tend to range between about 15 and 30 feet above existing grade. So staff did not have any concerns about the proposed height. Uh, staff did recommend conditions of approval for lighting information materials and colors, uh, be provided at building permit just to ensure that everything, uh, meets the cumbes of plan and the code. Number nine, the location of the development shall be compatible with the natural topography. In this case, um, most of the grading associated with the residents is in an area that's already disturbed and obviously the driveways addressed through the LU criteria. Um, so staff did not have any concerns about that. Uh, and found that the grading for the residents itself was not excessive. And then number 13, the proposal shall be consistent with the comprehensive plan. Any applicable intergovernmental agreements. And the code, uh, as noted, the applicants are proposing 3, 399 square feet of residential floor area where their maximum residential flurry area allowed is 3, 407. As such, staff recommends approval of approximately 3, 399 square feet not to exceed that 3, 407 square feet. Staff found that the difference of eight feet was not a substantial concern. So we recommend essentially approving it up to that maximum RFA. And as condition staff found that it can meet the code, the comprehensive plan

0:13:04and that there are no, uh, real IgAs involved in this one. As such community planning and permitting staff recommends that the Board of County Commissioners conditionally approved Dockhit LU - 26 - 008 - SPR - 26 - 0017. Elnick Earthwork and residents, a subject to the conditions in the staff recommendation. And I'm happy to answer any questions. Great. Thank you very much, Pete. Excellent. Commissioner Stolzman, any questions? No, I do such a thorough job in the write - up and then in your presentation. And I thank you for that. Thank you. I have no questions either. Thank you. Um, so we'll now turn to the applicant. And as I said at the outset, you have up to 20 minutes to tell us anything and everything you'd like us to know. Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Scott Rodwin with Rodwin Architecture. Could you pull the mic a little closer where you want to make sure it picks up on the recording? You want to thank Pete for working very collaboratively and constructively with us in the applicant. And also Ian from Transportation. This one, uh, had a couple of issues that we were concerned about right off the bat, making sure that we're putting the house in the place that the county actually recommended as being the most appropriate location for the new house, which

0:14:15was essentially replicating the location of the old house. And reusing as much of the existing driveway and disturbed area as possible in order to minimize overall impacts to the site. We've been even subsequent to the initial submittal working with Ian from transportation to further refine the county is desired approach to the driveway, which is really the biggest impact of the site. And subsequent to our initial submittal. Ian gave us very clear direction about exactly how the county would like us to meet the multimodal standards. And we feel very comfortable meeting the counties specific requests for that. So we have no objections and really don't feel the need to augment's initial description. We don't have, um, any issues with it at all. So thank you. Great. Uh, questions. The only question I have is I do want to make sure that you did review all the conditions of approval in the staff comments and that you have no objection to any of those conditions. We reviewed all of them and we have no objections to conditions.

0:15:22Okay. Good. Well, that's great to hear. Uh, so we're now ready to take public comment, uh, I assume, sir, you're the applicant, the owner. Okay. So, uh, I'll just say for the record, then appears to want to speak to this case. We have no one who has signed up virtually. Uh, so we can close public testimony of, Pete, anything additional. Pete Lange Community Planning and Permitting, nothing additional from staff. Uh, lest the commissioners have any final questions. Okay. It doesn't appear that we do. And, uh, we do want to give you the last word. We're all good. Thank you for your time. Okay. Great. Um, well then we will close the public hearing in Commissioner Stolzman and I will deliberate and render a decision. Just to get us kicked off, I find that the staff did a good job evaluating the project really appreciate the care that you've taken to minimize disturbance and fit into the neighborhood and bring a good project forward. And so I would support the staff recommendation. Yeah. And I agree.

0:16:27You know, I think that, well, we can adopt the findings and find that it meets all the criteria. You know, you've got a site where it's pretty unavoilable to have a long driveway. Um, the disturbances they are. So, you know, it seems pretty unavoidable to have that amount of non - foundational earthwork. And, um, you're within the residential floor area allowance. So I would support conditional approval. All right. So I will move that we conditionally approved Docket LU 26008 and SPR dash 2600 subject to the conditions listed in the staff packet. Second, all in favor. Aye. Aye. So we have approved that two to zero. And, um, that concludes our business for today. So we will be adjourned and congratulations. You're on your way. Thank you.