Transcript

0:00:27Commissioners. Are you ready? Yes, we are. Thank you. Thank you so much. And we are recording. Let us. We're here for a meeting of the board of county Commissioners in Boulder county. Today is Tuesday, January 13, 2026. We're at the third floor hearing room of the county courthouse at 1325 Pearl street in downtown Boulder. And so with that, I'm going to go ahead and call our meeting to order. And that's number one on the agenda. And then we'll move to number two. Our 09:00 a.m. morning session, which is starting with two a and that's our 2026 Boulder county rear organization public meeting. And first, we've got an opportunity for commissioner's statements. Commissioner Claire Lieber. Would you like to start? I would be happy to start, and thank you. And good morning, everyone. I don't know how to start. Well, as we look forward to 2026.

0:01:30I want to say to everyone listening. How honored I am and excited I am to work with all of our department heads. And elected officials to advance the work we do together for the people of Boulder county and I'm. Grateful to be able to continue working alongside my colleagues Mortolochuman and Ashley. Stolesman. In my view, a county commissioner's role is first and most importantly, to work together. As a team, to be responsible stewards of public funds and to support our staff as they deliver the services that our community needs. I said this last year, and I want to say it again to all of the employees of Boulder County. I will endeavor to make you feel valued in this organization and to see and appreciate what each of you does. I hope that you will help me in this effort by sharing with me your successes and your challenges and helping me learn more about what you do. Some of my most memorable moments during my five years as a county commissioner have been visiting with county employees to see how they work and serve the people of our county. Looking forward to 2026. We have tremendous opportunities to transform lives. I will start with implementation of Boulder county ballot issue one B, which provides locally controlled funds for mental and behavioral health. We know

0:02:58from numerous surveys and assessments that people across the county struggle to access the mental health services. They need people in crisis do not know where to turn. People who. Are finally ready to leave a life of addiction. In the streets can not get the support they need. Youth at risk of self harm need help right away, yet may face a waiting list and people stabilized in a hospital are released without the support they need to maintain that stability. And the list of needs goes on and on. The voters recognize this need and approved new funding. Now it's our job to meet that. Need and put those funds to work. This time next year, I hope to be reciting the data on how these funds have made a difference. In 2026, we can turn to other continuing challenges to achieving economic security, chief among them being the high cost of childcare. We know that high quality childcare is the key to a child's future and key to their parents ability to finish their job training or education or keep a job. Changes in funding and regulation at the federal level have meant that Boulder county can assist fewer families with the exorbitant cost of childcare. I look forward to participating in a cohort funded by the Buell foundation that will be looking at what can be

0:04:20done to help. Families, afford child care and give children the start in life that they deserve. One proven remedy for poverty and all of the economic stress that comes along with it is direct cash assistance, also known as money. With no strings attached. You'll hear a bit later about what we've been able to do with our Arpa funded nurturing. Futures program. And I hope that in 2026, we can find a way to make that cash. Assistance permanent. I will continue my work on regional transportation funding through the Northwest mayors and commissioners Coalition and through the Denver Regional Council of Governments and as the governor is appointee to the Front Range passenger rail District board of directors, and I will also continue my work on the Boulder county regional opioid. Council to grant out opioid settlement fund. Funds in the most impactful way possible. Consistent with the uses that have been approved by the attorney general.

0:05:17Before I close, I do want to acknowledge the difficult circumstances under which we are living. And under which our county employees are working. Addressing solely the direct impacts to the county. The Trump administration is attempting to reverse funding for critical services that keep families fed, supported financially and safe. This administration has terminated grants for mental health and substance use treatment in our jail and in community. Settings and restricted funding for permanent support of housing services. The Board of county commissioners is committed to resisting those efforts with the assistance of the state and the attorney general. But we must be clear. Neither the county nor the state has the financial resources. Required to shoulder what is rightfully a federal obligation. If not reversed, we will see long term damage to the welfare of. People across this country and here in Boulder County. I feel this so acutely because we and local government are closest to the people. Our job is to take care of people, keep them safe, provide the services that allow them to live full. Lives and take care that our environment is there for future generations. This is what gets me up. Every day. It's what I look forward to working on. It is what the hard working employees of Boulder county do on behalf of the 330,000 people who call our beautiful

0:06:42county home. And I'm honored to embark on another year with all of you. Thank you. Boulder county. Significantivo cago diadia Lisa gre Todo Corasan. I'm so grateful to the staff throughout Boulder county who support and allow me to do the significant work and be. In so many different places, sharing the work that this organization does. I try to pull some 2025 highlights, so mine's a little different tone to share. Just for people to understand outside of this hearing room, land use hearings, board and commission interviews PMIs or our administrative meetings. The metro area, county commissioners or national association Latino elected official meetings. What else? Mark 2025 for me, and so I wanted to share a little bit about that for you. I got an opportunity. To tour some really amazing places. This past year. With the workforce Development Council board meeting at the renewable. The national renewable, and we still call it Renewable Energy Laboratory here in Colorado to look at climate and green jobs, secure workforce in different places with that organization. I got to go to the Capitol Hill in DC, as the rest of our commissioners did in different ways to lobby myself on housing affordability and what that means for this country and Colorado. And also us here in Boulder county.

0:08:12Just locally, I've got an opportunity to tour central. Amistatta's offices. The Museum of Boulder and seeing the bending the arc exhibit with different electives and community members. And, of course, our own celebration here. At this building at the national landmark, status connected the history of LGBTQ rights and marriage equality. With a lot of our county staff and community members. I went to and learned about Okarche which is Oklahoma, Arapaho and Cheyenne. To learn about buffalo herds and infrastructure needs to do. A return of buffalo around the country and different programs that are happening in that area. The Veterans Community Project. Here in Longmont. Locally, that is addressing and eliminating that unhomlessness in our own community. And those were just a few of the tours that I wanted to highlight and appreciate folks interactions. And partnerships, of course. It's been an honor to work with different staff teams. We got an opportunity at KGNU. Radio earlier in 2025 to share about progress on the Huntos, our survive and thrive. $7.8 million Arpa funding distribution. That happened in 2025. The racial equity training work that has been happening around. Our organization with different partners, not just through gear, but the continental staff work that has really moved us into plans for 2026 of racial equity action plans countywide and a lot of collaboration. Got to go out

0:09:45to Naiwad in a couple of different places. But really proud of the CPMP team and different staff work that's happening to find a permanent space for native american artists. Eddie running Wolf the pieces that are being refurbished currently to find a place to do some permanent recognition of that history in our own community. This year, I'll be taking a pause after. Five years of facilitating regional elected collaboration through the consortium of Cities. That included, while I've been here at the county gun violence ordinances and some significant conversations and outwork discussion. And a lot of thought leadership around regional minimum wage with that group and emergency preparedness workshops. In partnership with our own office of Disaster Management. Wanted to share a little bit about the collaboration with different levels of staff leaders on the executive advisory board around cultural brokering and what that means in our organization. After a bit of a pause and bringing that back. With a team of staff leading that to get us to recommendation. That happened at the end of 2025, and we'll move some of the work forward for 2026.

0:11:00The vision zero. Work that continues to happen. And my work on the Highway 287 corridor committee. In 2025, we met with our state leaders CDAT and others to look at a regional community outreach. To educate folks about the need for. A safer corridor of 287, and that will be kind of our north area. Of 287. I was invited to speak at a few places in 2025, and one of those is the national association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals Gala. Near our region and with our neighbors out in Johnstown, in Wald county, with Sue Boulder. Environmental studies. We did a few town halls around the county in different communities, including lions and other neighbors. Was off at the Yawca annual event. Just, again, really working towards how do we bring more people into this chairing room, into local government and certainly our youth. And different groups of young folks, including the Colorado Youth Congress, who was here in this hearing room. Just two months ago. To learn about local government. And specifically Boulder county. And those opportunities I want to share on a personal level that 2025 was hard. It's the briefest, easiest way to say what 2025 was. I can only speak. From my perspective, but I think it's really important. As a woman of color, as an immigrant, and as the first Latina here

0:12:28on this team. Of elected officials to share that. My resolve is to continue. To continue to ask who's here in the room and who we may be missing in. Our work, whether it's in the offices of my colleagues, as I continue to partner with our coroner, DMV, our elections office, the sheriff's office and other electives. Or maybe it's our partner entities, our Boulder county public health or VCHA or housing. Authority or our own departments as we look at all the work that we do, everything from preventing cybercrime, preparing land use applications or distribution of rental assistance or even ccap. I still believe even while under threat. Of the federal government for being a brown body in this country at this time that I'm here for a reason. I'll continue to listen and learn and connect, folks, and collaborate. And hold the door open. For the critical experience. Opinion, perspective and skills of all the folks who work and live in Boulder county together. We'll overcome the continued financial. Restraints. Together we will maintain the relationships that have been developed, strained and restored. It's a new year, and I'm hopeful that we may all work together to focus not only on our strategic priorities, but also to focus on the equitable outcomes that we have the opportunity to build together throughout Boulder County. Commissioner Ashley Salzman.

0:13:58Thank you both for your great comments and happy new year. So in times that are really uncertain and unstable within our community, we have to provide each other the stability that we're seeking, and we've seen this before. We've survived floods together, we've survived fires together. Global pandemics together. Mass shootings together, people being lit on fire together. We've struggled through some pretty difficult things together before. And what I know in our community is that we really can band together and provide that support. That we each are seeking. And it starts from yourself. If you're feeling alone and afraid. Then check in with each other. Check in with your neighbors. They're feeling alone and afraid. Too. And check in with your colleagues at work. I do talk about checking in with your neighbors a lot, because that's really an important foundational part of community is knowing who your neighbors are, knowing what they need and what you can do to help them and your neighbor. It can go a lot of different ways. It could. Be your coworker, your colleague. It can be your physical neighbor that's across the street adjacent to you. It can be your neighboring to. Town. Maybe you see something going on in the neighboring town that's a little bit challenging. And you have the skills to help out with that. So this

0:15:12is a year for stepping up. And helping out. And I see that from our community day in and day out. I see innovative solutions in the climate space, I see innovative solutions in the immigration space, I see people genuinely helping each other. And so that gives me. So much strength and hope. And that's what is going to take us through this year. So for our county staff, and for us here at the county. What does this even look like? Well, it really looks like what we talk about, we say demonstrating the best in public service, which is sort of a cheesy slogan, but at what it looks like for people. Is collaborating on solutions that make a difference for people's lives every day. So for emergency preparedness last year. The number that I remember every time because it's a funny number. 3456. There were 3456 junipers removed by our team in multifamily houses. And that's just a number. And those are just some bushes that explode when they're lit on fire. But it makes a huge difference. Those bushes are hard to get out. They cause hives on a lot of people's arms. And the symbol of being able to remove those big, overgrown, over dead bushes is really the first step toward being ready and being prepared, and that can spark more change, and

0:16:18then we can get more accumulated life debris. We can get more hardening. We can get more ready for the next. Disaster that's coming our way. So I see it in the emergency preparedness. I see. It in wildfire pre. Prevention, people helping each other best in public service. This year, we're going to be adopting and updating our code so we'll see more there. But we have experienced a lot. Of emergencies. Just the windstorm was an emergency for a lot of people, and at the same time. If you went up to gold Hill during it, there were people smiling, helping each other, prepared. Ready, so let's. Get everybody to the same level of prepared and readiness. Let's help our neighbors. In community justice. I am so proud to live in a county where we have a chief justice judge Delamoni, who's really taken on the goal of reducing the number of people. That are unable to stand trial. And are waiting for a complex mental health issue and her, alongside the public defenders and the Da. And the sheriff and our community justice team have done that best in public service over the last many years, but they've really worked to change the state of who's in jail. And who's getting care elsewhere. And they've hit a plateau and we're going to need to keep working. On

0:17:29it this year to try to help people even more. But if we focus mental health resources on this complex problem, and we help our neighbors, I know we can make more headway in. Human services. I can barely talk about it because I watch the human service staff members and on one hand, it is the most wonderful, amazing thing to see, and on the other hand, it completely breaks my heart. And just, they say pressure builds character, and so I'm not sure how much character we all need. But our staff in this area have demonstrated tremendous character, and the community has demonstrated tremendous character. People are really struggling. And if you want to see people helping each other, just go talk with the human services team. The community is really fortunate to have your efforts and your service, and you're making all the difference in Boulder county. I'm sure it can feel very hard. Given all of the different stress and pressure that you're under with all of the changes. And all of the complex cities and. The complicated problems. Even if everything was just status quo, normal. Come to work. Do your job. It's a complicated, stressful program to run, but given all the additional pressure, let's all think about ways that we can help our human services team. When they're working this year and

0:18:39how we can help relieve some of that pressure and maybe we can all build character together in the climate space our community has led the way for. Many, many years. We're really working to do our part to make a difference in the environment and to address the worst effects of climate change and what I've seen over the last couple of years. And what we'll need to see more of this year is really that critical mass. And tipping point. There is a segment of the community that are just the rock stars of the planet in this space, and we've almost gotten to the point where we have a. Critical mass of people. Once you have a critical mass, there's no going back there's. No stopping us. So we're very close. So every person that's a champion in this space. Just needs to bring a couple more folks along, and then we'll be there, so there's a lot to be hopeful for this year. I see collaboration in our community every single day. One thing we need to remember is that we're not alone. We see neighbors helping neighbors. We see colleagues helping colleagues. We see. We see this every single day. I saw southeast county fled the zone and get their neighbor home after being wrongfully detained. This year, we need to show our trans community

0:19:43members that we have a local army of allies. This year. We need to show each other when there's different hate targeted to different groups. In our community that we can come together, whether you're part of that community or not. And support one another in ways that the community is looking for support, not necessarily in ways that you're looking to support, and so I know we can do it. And we're going to have different challenges this year, but we have a lot to be thankful for because we're in Boulder county and we can help each other and we're going to do this, so I'm looking forward to 2026. I really appreciate my colleagues starting out with that. We're going to get through this together. So we have our neighbors up here together and. It's going to be an interesting year, and we're going to be faced with a lot of things, but the solutions we can come up with together will make all the difference. So looking forward to 26. Thank you. Next one, move to item number two on the agenda, which is, commissioner, strategic priorities update. Okay, so we are now going to move into a brief update from the board on the second year. Of our strategic priorities. And this is not intended to be a comprehensive update on every piece of work

0:20:49that all county staff have undertaken in 2025, because I know that everybody. Is contributing in some way towards achieving our strategic priorities. Instead, this is just a reminder of our strategic priorities and some of the highlights from the past year from departments that report to the board. So if your work isn't represented on these slides, if you don't see your program. Your incredibly impactful program. Don't worry. We see you, and we appreciate your work, so. We're only 13 days into the new year, and we're still collecting data and details about 2025. The office of the county administrator under the incredible leadership of our deputy county administrator, Yvette. Bowden is working on a written report that will be posted later. Still, we want to start the year by celebrating some successes of 2025 and looking forward to opportunities in the year ahead. Commissioners established strategic priorities to strengthen the connection between good governance and the plans and actions required to address community needs. Doing so provides direction for staff, inspires and defines partnerships and functions to build and maintain community trust. In 2023, this board of county commissioners set the. Following strategic priorities, economic security and social stability, climate action and environmental stewardship, and good governance.

0:22:23Thank you for your patience. In 2020, Boulder county adopted Policy 1.6, which commits the county to working toward a vision of being fully inclusive, antiracist, multicultural organization in a transformed society. In 2022, the county's office of Racial Equity was established to support county staff in achieving our vision. With DEI initiatives under attack, it's important that Boulder county stands firm in our commitment to racial equity. None of the strategic priorities can be realized without a focus on racial equity. In 2025, department heads and elected officials, including the board, used the strategic priorities to inform budget planning for 2026, which included addressing the county's structural deficit. Additionally, our strategic priorities were used to develop the departmental 2025 countywide. Racial equity action plans, and this work will continue into 2026. But there were many more areas where the strategic priorities led the work of county departments and offices.

0:23:24So let's take a look at the highlights from 2025. In 2025, shifts at a federal level on budgeting, at the state level in healthcare and food access have made it increasingly clear that programs like SNAP and Medicaid are essential to community well being, ensuring families can meet basic needs during times of uncertainty. In Boulder county. Our community support division is responsible for the timely distribution of public benefits. This team has been working very hard to improve their process so that we can serve our community better in Boulder county. All snap approvals average under eight days. With expediated cases processed in under five days. And this is well below the 30 day and seven day federal requirements of the USDA Medicaid approvals averaged eleven days. This past year, which is a significant improvement from the 27 days averaged in 2024 and well within the 45 day standard. In 2025, our Human Services department piloted a direct cash assistance program called nurturing futures, which provided $300 a month. Of unrestricted funding to 533 low income families with young children. This program strengthened housing stability food security and financial wellbeing, which reinforced the role of income stability as a foundation for community health. This work is collaborative, and we are grateful to all the staff and partners involved in meeting. Economic security and social stability goals in our

0:24:55region. Boulder county works to ensure that everyone has access to the resources that are essential to their health. Well being, including income stability through reliable childcare resources, stable housing, food security, and supportive family services. Through the use of funds from the affordable and attainable housing tax, which the voters passed in 2023 are housing stability program distributed nearly 2.1 million in rental assistance through August 2025 that helped over 300 households, and that's an average cost of $4,556. Per household also. Through the affordable and attainable housing fund. The new voucher assistance and stabilization program helped 127 households throughout the county maintain their vouchers at an average cost of $2,231. While the supportive case management team provides. High acuity services to 80 households with children facing housing instability or homelessness. Affordable and reliable childcare services are totally essential to creating financial stability for Families with young children in 2025 Boulder County Survive and Thrive grant program supported over 120 organizations as well as 40. Two family, friends and neighbors to provide childcare services that are either free or at a reduced rate significantly reduced rate. These services provided by our Boulder county employees are vital in supporting the community. And advancing our board's priorities of economic security and social stability. Boulder County Housing Authority added 208 new affordable units in 2025 through Willoughby Corner in Lafayette through the

0:26:36voter approved, affordable and attainable housing tax revenue. 458 units are planned or under development across the county and. 1210 total are in the pipeline. Boulder County Head Start promotes school readiness for children ages three. To five in families with low income by offering educational, nutritional, health, social and other services. Head start dates dates back to Linden Baines Johnson's war on poverty, and it truly makes a difference for the children and their family. Despite ongoing challenges from executive orders and federal policy, changes. The county's head Start program maintained full staffing and steady enrollment in 2025. In 2025, the area agency on Aging provided a variety of programs to help Boulder county seniors age in place and avoid the upheaval and expense of moving to a retirement community. Among those programs. The AAA hosted a successful falls prevention month in September with over 40 classes. Across municipalities, mountain areas and unincorporated areas of Boulder county. The AAA also worked with Longmont Senior center to strategically plan wellness and nutrition programs for monolingual spanish speakers. The global climate crisis continues to demand urgent climate action and environmental stewardship.

0:28:02Acting now is essential. To protect community health, natural resources and long term resilience in the face of accelerating climate impacts. In 2025, our Office of Climate action and resilience launched the climate Equity fund. Which distributed. $2 million in grants to support 15 community projects that advance climate justice resilience and equity across Boulder county. The selected projects support food, justice, youth education, clean energy, emergency for partners and culturally rooted climate, leadership, energy, smart, supported more than one. Thousand, 200 residents in Boulder county, achieving record breaking participation and nearly doubling the number of home energy projects completed and rebates provided compared to 2024. This program also supported the completion of over 900 home energy projects, including projects which replaced more than 530. Gas appliances with electric alternatives. This team and partners provided more than $1 million in rebates. For these projects with over half benefiting income qualified households. As part of Oscar's new climate resilience strategies energy smart processed 54 rebates for cellular shades to help. Residents reduce indoor heat exposure during extreme heat events. Boulder County Oscar partnered with the Boulder County Youth Corps play Boulder foundation and the cities of Lafayette, Boulder and Louisville for the 2025 Community Forestry Corps program. The CFC planted 152 new trees and provided care. For 181 recently planted trees.

0:29:40In addition, 769 trees were distributed to Marshall fire affected residents in Boulder county. We believe climate action is required of each of us and are proud of the work Oscar and all the partners are doing to support. This strategic priority. Boulder county is also looking inward to make long term changes to our own practices that will advance our priority of climate action and environmental stewardship. This past year, we partnered with three housing authorities Longmont, city of Boulder and Boulder county to complete. Electrification focused improvements on a total of five priorities and 193 units. These improvements included heat pump installations installation improvements and new, energy efficient windows and doors. Boulder county continues to support clean transportation by incorporating electric vehicles into our fleet and installing charging station infrastructure with. The long term goal of moving to 100% electric fleet in 2025. We increased our electric fleet to over 55 vehicles and 122 parking spaces dedicated to ev charging for both county vehicles and community members. Boulder County's parks and open space department celebrated its 50th birthday in 2025, and thanks to Boulder county voters. We have preserved over 100,000 acres of land from development, preserving critical wildlife habitat, natural lands and agricultural lands. Just in 2025, Boulder county parks and open space. Preserved over 1000 new acres with conservation easements and fee ownership of open space.

0:31:13This expands our natural, cultural, and agricultural resource conservation and provides public uses that reflect sound resource management. And community values to highlight just one land restoration project. After being buried for over 80 years under a mine tailing pile. Boulder county parks and open space in partnership with the color. Colorado Division of Reclamation and Mine safety restored a stretch of Sherwood Creek, an important mountain stream that borders Caribou Ranch and Mud Lake. Open spaces, this creek provides important bird and butterfly habitat. And will again support a rich diversity of life in and along its banks as this restoration unfolds. The 2026 budget planning process was guided by commitment to good governance. Our structural deficit continues. Boulder county government costs are expected to go faster than our revenues. County leaders made difficult decisions in 2025. Boulder County's budget supports essential services, county departments and elected offices. 74,000 acres of land and critical infrastructure, including 620 miles of road across the county. I would like to thank our elected officials, department heads and finance staff for their hard work. And all of the collaboration throughout the budget process as they work to balance community needs during a time of rising costs and uncertain revenues due to a successful negotiation with the Boulder County Employees Union. Boulder county employees will receive both a cost of living adjustment of $152

0:32:42per month to their base wages as well as a standard pay incre. Increase. Boulder county also increased the living wage to 52,000 starting January 1 of 2026. Overall, the standard and cost of living pay increases raise average salaries by 4.5% and by 10.6 for employees previously earning the living wage. Boulder county continues the work launched by the disparity. Study in 2025, in partnership with the Government alliance on Racial Equity, the county completed racial equity action plans to guide more equitable government spending with minority and women business enterprise businesses. And drive meaningful community change, being fiscally responsible stewards of taxpayer funding, federal dollars and state grant monies is critical to our strategic priority of good governance. We are thankful to the office of Financial Management team and all the department office involvement to help Boulder county get back on track. Financially. In 2025, the county's wildfire program piloted a new multifamily dwelling rebate program, offering financial support to Boulder county communities to take proactive steps to reduce wildfire risk by removing highly flammable juniper vegetation. The rebate program provides up to $500 per multifamily household unit for qualifying. Wildfire mitigation projects, specifically junkyard juniper's campaign in the neighborhood common areas. The programs open to multifamily dwelling communities such as apartments, condos or your townhome complexes throughout Boulder county, including all municipalities and the city of Boulder.

0:34:15The program saw 50 applications representing six. Thousand 770 multifamily units and the removal of more than 3000 junipers, which I told you before. 3456. Very cool. Mobility for all's ambassador program, consisting of ten community volunteers, centers the voices of historically underserved communities, building trust and empowering residents to shape mobility solutions that reflect their lived experiences. Now, in the 6th year, the program grew through partnership with local nonprofits, housing communities and cultural organizations through the. Website accessibility project. The county's improving online access for residents of all abilities in 2025. The county's website exceeded government standards for accessibility compliance with a compliance score of 86%. Although not specifically part of our strategic priorities. We had two significant milestones in 2025, which align with the county's values. In May, we celebrated the Boulder county courthouse receiving national historic landmark designation for the significance of this building as the site of the first. Same sex marriage license in the United States. We were delighted to welcome the community for this significant moment and to reinforce our commitment to the rights and dignity of our LGBTQ plus community. In October, we officially opened the Joe Pelley center, which was funded with the generous support of Boulder county voters. This alternative sentencing facility focuses on rehabilitation, accountability and opportunity for community members experiencing the criminal justice system. I don't think they

0:35:55would call it experiencing. But is a nice way to put it. The project required significant partnership working between departments and elected officials, public works, community services and it department worked tirelessly to get this new facility open and running, and it is a significant achievement for the county, which will serve the community for many years to come. And I do. I thank Commissioner stolen for calling this out earlier. I think it is one of the most emblematic things that we have done as a county. To reflect our values. The 2026 budget is just a small fraction of the work that will be undertaken, but it gets a snapshot of county's commitment to our strategic priorities despite this structural deficit in the general fund. Boulder county has voter approved funding sources which support a wide range of community needs. We invested in maintaining what we have, including $9.2 million in capital projects and maintenance. For county roads and bridges and $8.5 million for projects and maintenance of county buildings. And facilities and $10.9 million.

0:37:10This is the one that didn't print. In acquisitions. Thank you. Projects and maintenance on parks and open space properties in 2025, the voters passed the county's first mental and behavioral health tax, which will be implemented in 2026. To provide much needed navigation, prevention, treatment and recovery services for those who need help. The affordable and attainable housing tax is in its second year, and a portion of that funding will continue to go to cities and towns within the county to help boost and preserve affordability. For individuals and families in Boulder county. The emergency services, sales and youth tax will continue to provide critical funding for local fire protection agencies. As well as search and rescue agencies. Wildfire mitigation grants supported projects like grassland mowing, forest centering, and community wildfire protection plans to help make Boulder county land and residents more resilient to the threat of wildfires.

0:38:08Worthy cause and Human Services funds provide funding to nonprofit human service agencies that supplement and extend the services Boulder county provides. Funding local nonprofits is more important than ever, as communities nationwide continue to see rising demand for basic services. The countywide sustainability tax supports a wide range of initiatives, including the grade agree fund, which aims to increase nature based climate solutions in Boulder county, as well as the Soil Health Initiative, which provides funds to local agricultural producers to improve soil health and promote a resilient food system. The parks and open space. Tax goes to funding more than the maintenance and acquisition of open space lands. It also supports small grounds for research and biological inventories on open space lands. For more information on these funding opportunities can be found@boco.org. grants. Thank you. We'll now move on to the remainder of our annual reorganization meeting business.

0:39:08Thank you. And so that'll take us to on the agenda, page ten of the packet. Which is item number three, 2026 reorganization resolutions. And we are still sitting as the Boulder County Board of county commissioners. I move approval? Should I go ahead and do this? I don't have a script. I move approval of resolution 2026. One. Second. All in favor? Aye. And item two, which is? Switch spots. We're doing our dance that we do every year. Okay, that's been blission. Right now. Okay? Thank you. So what we just did there was. That first resolution. Appointed myself as chair. Commissioner Stolzman as vice chair. And Commissioner Lo Chime will now be the commissioner at large. This was not a coup. This was. Planned and orally. So now. We will move along in our agenda to item number two, which designates the daily camera and the Times call as Boulder County's official newspaper for 2026. May I have a motion? Move approval. Second. All in favor?

0:40:56Aye. Next. I have to get to the right page. Next is. Item number three, resolution 2026. I'll move approval second. All in favor? Aye. That passes. Agenda item four. 2026. Move approval a second. All in favor? Aye. Number five. We are adopting resolution 2026. Five, which designates the official county holidays. And I'll move approval of the county holidays. I'll just take a moment to read them because I'm particularly excited that we have President's Day, Memorial Day, Juneteen. Th we're happy to celebrate independence. Day, Labor Day, Indigenous People's Day, General Election Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving. Christmas Eve. Christmas Day, New Year's Eve next year. New Year's Day next year. Martin Luther King Day next year, and there will be one floating holiday. So regardless of what happens, in the federal government.

0:42:03We're celebrating all those holidays. So it's a motion to approve? Second. All in favor? Aye. That's a resounding yes. On item number six. Is a resolution 2026. Move approval. Second. All in favor? Aye. We will now adopt resolution 2026. Move approval. Second. All in favor? Aye. And resolution 2026. Move approval. Second. All in favor? Aye. We have a little more business to do so that we can be organized to operate in 2026. Item four on the agenda is to designate our county auditors. May I have a motion move. Approval of Clifton Larson Allen for our auditors for 2026 a second. All in favor? Aye. And then. We will sit as the Boulder County Housing Authority board of directors to adopt Resolution 2026. And just as a point of procedure, am I the vice chair of the Housing authority also now? All right. Move. Approval. Yes.

0:43:20I think we had this discussion. Just making sure. Second. All in favor? Actually just a note. I think we ought to actually do that officially. As the board of directors of the county Housing Authority and appoint a chair and a vice chair. As a separate entity, but I think we can take that as incorporated in our earlier action. Thank you. So item six is to appoint. Representatives from the board of county commissioners to various boards, and they're all listed in the agenda. I don't feel we need to go through each of them. Okay, so then. We'll just have a motion to adopt the appointments reflected in agenda item six. I move. Approval of the slate of appointments. And item six. Second. All in favor? Aye. So we're now organized to operate for 2026. And we have some things that we need to do. Two b of our business meeting, we will again sit. As the Boulder County Housing Authority board of directors, and we will ratify RFP 219 25. I don't know if there had planned to be a presentation, but I'm happy. To put a motion on the table to ratify RFP 219 25.

0:44:51Second. All in favor? Aye. And then we have a consent agenda. Our agenda. Item two, move approval of the county commissioner's consent agenda. Just. As a point of more, maybe a logistics. There's a whole lot of numbers in here, but not letters, and I don't. Know if that's a 2026 change that happened last week while I was out, but. From a reading of and for record might be helpful to bring some letters into. The breakdown of information, but I'm happy to second the motion on commissioner's consent. Items. Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. And then. We will hear from our deputy to confirm our executive session. Topics good morning, commissioners. Natalie Springt commissioner's deputy. For the record, I'm here to confirm that the executive session topics that were noticed at the January 6, 2026, regular business meeting of the board were discussed as scheduled, and this is simply a note for the record, so I'm happy. To take us to item seven. And I do have three different topics.

0:46:03To request authorization for executive session for. So I'll take those on three separate motions. If that pleases the board. Thank you. I am here to request authorization for the board of county commissioners to go into executive session on Wednesday. January 14, 2026, at 01:00 p.m. with County Attorney Ben Pearlman. Pursuant to CRS 24 six. 402, subsection four b, legal advice to discuss the El Dorado Artesian Springs Incorporated versus the board of county Commissioners, et al. Boulder District Court, case number 24 cv 30530. Move approval second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. I'd also request authorization for the board of county commissioners to go into executive session on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, at 01:10 p.m. with county attorney Ben Perlman, pursuant to CRS 24, six four two, subsection four b, legal advice to discuss Orbis versus the. Board of County Commissioners, Boulder District Court, case number 24, Cv two two eight. Move approval. Second all in favor? Aye. Thank you, commissioners. And my final request for authorization for the board of county commissioners. To go into executive session on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. At 01:20 p.m.

0:47:29with county attorney Ben Pearlman, pursuant to crs. 24 6402, subsection four b, legal advice to discuss the legalities of hiring department directors. Move approval. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you. Okay. And that brings us to the end. Of our agenda for the morning. We will be in recess until 01:00, when we will return for a public hearing on a land use matter. So thank you, everybody. Thank you, Gloria. Wherever you went. Yeah. Jersey Green. He's got an interesting cat. Yes. Commissioners. Are you ready? Yes, we are. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. Good afternoon. Today is January 13, 2026. This is a meeting of the board of county. Commissioners of Boulder county. We have all three commissioners present. We are here. For our agenda, item three a, which is a public hearing on the Riverside cabins, lodge and boundary. Line adjustment. And that is docket Su 23. And se. Are we all right? 240 zero five. This is a quasi judicial hearing. And so. We will hear our presentation from the planner, Sam Walker, on his analysis of the application and the relevant. Land use criteria. The commissioners will ask questions of Mr. Walker. We will then give the applicant a chance to tell us. Why they believe that we should grant. These two requests. The special use

0:49:41and the subdivision exemption. Will then take testimony from the public, starting with those who are here in the room with us. And then going to those who have joined us online. Will then come back to the hearing room. Have Mr. Walker respond to any new information. Have some. More questions and then give the applicants the last word before the commissioners proceed to deliberation. So that's how things will go this afternoon. Before we get started, we always want to find out whether anybody has any disclosures. About this case that they need to make. Yeah, commissioner, what you mean, thank you. I just wanted. To make a note for the record. Really? I don't know that it's an. Official disclosure, but I would feel better just sharing. One of the folks who did a public comment. Kat and I did meet last summer, like July. Ish of 2025. But that conversation was really about concerns of zoning violations. Not relative to land use criteria, but because there were some additional pages of comments that were part of the packet. I just wanted to state that on the record, and I do believe I can. Be fair and make an unbiased decision, but just wanted to put that on a record. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Okay. I just was going to say, I have no disclosures. Thank

0:50:56you. Okay. I figured you'd. Speak up if you did. But I will wait in the future for you to say that. And I don't either, other than, I guess. I've been a resident of Boulder County. For almost 40 years. I know that the Shelley's cabins has been there. I've driven by their hundreds. And hundreds of times, but I think. That's nothing different from any member of the community would know. So, Sam, take it away. Thank you, commissioners. Good afternoon. This is Sam Walker with the Boulder county community planning and permitting department. I was the reviewing planner for Su 20 313 and SE 24 five, the Riverside Cabins Lodge and boundary line adjustment at the addresses that you see listed on the screen. Now, there's quite a bit of information in the presentation, so I'm going to. Move pretty fast, but we can always come back and take a look if we need to. So the representatives for the application are Micah Coles, Heidi Campbell, and Tom Parco. Micah and Tom are in the room with us today, and Heidi has joined us online. Both parcel or both? Properties in question are owned by different llcs shown on the screen. The whole property is located within the forestry zoning district and is composed of two different building lots one being about four acres in size, where

0:52:12the lodging use is proposed, and then. A second property that's just under an acre in size where they're proposing to exchange the boundary or change the boundary line between them. So there are several cabins on the site and then a residence as well, and we're reviewing a request for special use review to establish a resort lodge use for up to 34 guests. At a time. In the cabins located on the four parcels associated with the lodging property and then a subdivision exemption request to adjust the boundary lines between that lodge property and a separate building lot. So the parcel is located on the south side of North St. Brain Road outside of lions. Here's a slightly better view of all of the involved parcels. And here's an aerial photo from, I believe, 2024. Maybe. It's probably a. Couple of years earlier than that, actually, because the parking lot isn't shown. One thing I'll point out, because it's a little bit more clear on this than on other slides is that we are accepting this parcel right here where my mouse cursor is that's? A separate, privately owned lot that's not part of. The application. Just pointing that out because the lot lines tend to get a little bit confusing. Here's a regional aerial photo showing the wider area around the parcel in question, or the

0:53:24property. And a comprehensive plan map showing we've identified quite a few resources in the area and across the subject property. These were discussed in the staff recommendation. We have a contour map showing the change in elevation. There's a pretty decent slope. Going down. From the road traveling east, and then it kind of levels out as we approach the creek, which runs along the south and eastern border of the property. There's also floodplain and floodway areas identified again in the south and east. Areas of the property associated with North St. Frain Creek. There are a few geohazards identified. I'll point out specifically the one in the northernmost corner. If I can get the cursor to show. There we go, right here. There is some debris flow susceptibility, but otherwise the parcels are largely without identified geologic hazards. There is zone three, contiguous prebbles habitat across the entirety of the property. And, of course, some nearby public lands in open space. And finally. All of the parcels are located within the forest rezoning district. There's also a 110 foot supplemental setback along north St. Frain Drive. In this area, none of the structures are within. That setback.

0:54:38So I've included two slides that. Kind of touch on the summary of the applicant's proposal. So they're proposing again. A resort launch use on this property. They're proposing that it be open year round and have a maximum of 34 guests. They're also proposing to have two to three special events per year, but those events will not have or have more people on site than they would typically be renting to. They also do not have a living onsite manager. However, they do have a site manager. And some maintenance staff that come by pretty regularly. And then just a restatement that they are open year round, seven days a week. So on this. In the next few slides we'll take a look at their submitted site. Plan. I'll point out that this has been rotated to fit more on the screen, so. North is kind of to the left in this site plan. And then we'll move through it in a little bit more detail. So this is the northernmost area of the property where it connects to North St. Brain drive. I'll also point out County Road 80. Or Longmont Dam Road is very close. The intersection is very close to their driveway entrance and then moving south through the property, we can see their parking area with parking spaces and the main lodge building, which

0:55:51we'll see in the site photos. Moving further to the south, we start to see some of the rental cabins, so we have several. Of them here. And then a constructed play area, which we'll also see in the site. Photos and then finally the southernmost area of the property. This is generally where the proposed boundary line adjustment is going to be located. We'll see an illustration of that on the next slide. But I'll point out several more cabins. Here, the access road looping around the entire property, and then this is that separate building lot. With an existing residence. And the boundary line that's being adjusted is right in there. So this is an illustration of the proposed boundary line adjustment. Currently, the property line between 16198 North St. Vain and 16194. Goes through a small addition that was made to one of the cabins. And so this red Line represents where the current property line is that was identified after the special use review was submitted by staff. It was identified by staff after the special use application was submitted, and so the applicant submitted a subdivision exemption companion application to change. This boundary line to get it out of the actual structure. So this is the proposed boundary line adjustment. So they're just kind of swinging it to the east to get it about equidistant.

0:57:09Between those two buildings, there's not enough space to give either building. Enough room for the required setback in the forest rezoning district. So this is the best case scenario with this boundary line adjustment. Now we'll move through site photos. This is facing. East on north St. Vain Drive so you can see the sign for Longmont Dam Road and the background, and then I'm standing at the driveway entrance to the property. I'll note as usual, I've included aerial photo with an arrow to the left and that shows the location and orientation of the photo that we're looking at on the right. So then panning around and facing west along north. St. Raindrove and then into the property itself. You can see that slope as it travels. Down into the parking area. So now we're traveling down the driveway, facing back again, showing the slope and then facing into the parking area again. A better view of the parking area and then panning to the. I guess that would be the west. This is the main lodge building, and then we're moving kind of clockwise around. The access road through the site. And so this is a seating area that was constructed next to the creek. And then this is the first two of the cabins that we saw on site. This is the third one. And

0:58:22now we're traveling down to the southwest corner. Excuse me, southeast. Corner of the property. This is what's been referred to kind of in conversation as the blacksmith cabin. So this is the separate residence on a building. On a separate building lot with a residence in. A detached garage. And then just trying to show the proximity to Longmont Dam road. So that truck is passing. On Longmont Dam Road. The north St. Vane Creek is kind of behind that vegetation in the photo and then I'm standing on the blacksmith cabin property. Just continuing around the site, we have more constructed fire pit seating areas. These were discussed in the staff recommendation as well. Better view of one of them and then a view down the creek. You can see some private property off in the distance, kind of behind this tree, an adjacent private property, I should say, and then on this slide, I'm just representing the direction that we're facing, which is. Toward those southernmost kind of cluster of cabins. So this is the westernmost of that cluster. Panning to the east and facing directly north is the middle, and then panning further to. The east is the final of those cabins. Then we have a view of another constructed seating area. In the top of a staircase that goes down into the creek. And there's

0:59:36a view of the staircase and a little swimming hole. And then kind of backing up off the shoreline a little bit. We're facing toward a fence that I think roughly delineates the edge of the private property on the western adjacent neighbor and then a view towards that western adjacent neighbor. Just trying to show the existing vegetation along the parcel boundary. Another view from the creek toward that adjacent neighbor. And now we're moving further around the western boundary of the parcel. Excuse me, of the. Property. This is that constructed play area that we saw on the site plan. Another view of the vegetative screening along that western property boundary and then of you kind of looking over the property to the southeast. So these are the roofs of all the cabins, just. Trying to show the change in elevation. This is the south face of the main lodge building. And then a slightly different view from the parking area. And then I have a couple of photos. From the parking area facing across. North St. Frain Creek, because we got some comments during the planning commission hearing about headlights shining across this area. The conditions were revised. I'll talk more about that in a minute. So this is basically the same view, just panning slightly more to the north to show another residence. So referral responses

1:00:53again. I'm going to move pretty quickly. We got relatively standard comments from our building and permitting team. They did note that there was some discussion of some extensive rehabilitation. Work in the application narrative, but there weren't any permits for it, and so ultimately there's a recommendation that we require them to tell us what work was done and then get all of that work permitted before commencing. The use. The floodplain team noted that some improvements, those seating areas were constructed in the floodplain and required a general FDP. That was the original comment. The floodplain development permit has been completed at this time, but. We haven't verified that. The gas cylinders associated with those fire pits have been removed from the area. That's one of our recommended conditions. The historic preservation team noted that the entire property is eligible for historic landmark status and recommended that as a condition of approval, the wildfire team required wildfire partners certification for the property. And then also noted that the lion's fire protection district should approve an emergency water supply.

1:01:53The public health department noted a cap of 28 people on site based on the existing permitted septic. Systems that are supporting. Supporting these. The division of water Resources had some concerns about the proposed use because they aren't certain that the existing well permit would allow enough of a water draw to support the use as proposed. And then the Colorado Department of Transportation noted that a new highway access permit was required and may require some physical improvements as well. Our own access and engineering team noted legal access was confirmed, but required some improvements so that the driveway access and then the internal circulation road meet our multimodal transport. Transportation standards. And then we receive no comments from the fire protection district about the proposed lodge, although they did express no concerns about the boundary line adjustment.

1:02:46Our parks and open space department had some recommendations about revegeting some areas that were denuded after the OR. They never really were improved after the 2013 flood. We received no concerns. Comments comments of no concerns from the conservation easement team and the us fish and wildlife service and then received no response from a pretty. Extensive list of referral agencies that you see there. In terms of public comments, we sent out 18 notifications and received seven total public comments. Three of those were received following the most recent issuance of the staff recommendation for this hearing. Those were provided to the commissioners over the last few days into the applicants today. The comments generally complained about a lack of neighborhood compatibility. And some issues with guests to the lodge trespassing onto adjacent parcels, either by wandering around or driving into the wrong driveway. And then there were some other complaints about unpermitted work that happened on this property. So again, we've reviewed both the Su and Se criteria. I've only included a selection of those for the purpose of today, although all of them were discussed in the staff recommendation. So the first Su criteria requires that the use will comply with the minimum zoning district. Requirements and all other applicable requirements. So this type of use, the resort lodge that's proposed is allowed through this process.

1:04:11In the forestry zoning district. We do have a recommended condition of approval limiting guest residency to 90 days. To make sure that. We meet the code requirements for this use. There's no onsite housing proposed for caretakers or staff members, which was another thing that was discussed in the additional provisions for the use, and then we have a recommendation. Of approval requiring permits for all the unpermitted work on site and recordation of a development agreement and those would both be required prior to commencement of further rentals on the site. Number three. Of the SU criteria requires that the use be in accordance with the comprehensive plan. So there were several countywide goals, policies that we identified as being supported by the proposed use. If it's approved. And then we also had some conditions related to protection of environmental resources. That were identified on site primarily. The riparian areas and the associated vegetation and wildlife. Number six of the SU criteria talks about. The level of community facilities and services being greater than that which was available.

1:05:20I included this because of the DNR DWR comments about the well, so we have some additional recommendations for conditions. Tied to making sure there's an adequate water supply for the entirety of the proposed use not just what's allowed in the division of water resources. Well, permit. And the final su criteria talks about. The access to the property, essentially. So again, we're asking that the applicants make improvements to the driveway access and the internal access. So that it meets our multimodal transportation standards. I've only included two or one subdivision exemption criteria, which is shown here, which is that the proposed lots and development on them will be on harmony. In character with the neighborhood. So staff found that the proposed boundary line adjustment will resolve an existing structural encroachment issue with a minimal exchange of land, so it won't fundamentally change the relationship of either property with the surrounding area. They're also not proposing any new development as part of that. Lot line adjustment. And so we found that the subdivision exemption was appropriate in this case. This application was heard at a planning commission hearing on September 17 of last year. The planning commissioners generally supported this proposal, but recommended several changes to the conditions that staff originally recommended. So I have the text of those conditions shown here. Essentially, they modified our conditions. To

1:06:46try to give the applicants a little bit more option with regard to the historic landmarking that we required or that we recommended be required. They directed us to include a reasonable screening requirement for the parking area as part of the vegetative planting plan. And then required. A more specific language around the water supply because of the lack of external water usage allowed. By the well. Permit for the property. They also recommended. Additional revision to one of our conditions, which. Was our original condition required or limited the property to 28 guests? Planning commission recommended changing that to 34. If the septic systems are improved to support that number of guests, Excuse me. And then they also added a condition seeking to require some signage around fire restrictions and the parcel boundaries and things like that to try to eliminate some of the problems that were identified.

1:07:43In the public comments. Following the planning commission hearing, staff evaluated those recommendations. And find the following. So. We found that. There are recommended revisions to criteria. Excuse me. To condition four. Eliminating or making optional to historic landmarking. Would not allow the proposal to meet all of the standards for the Su and Se applications and so we recommend maintaining that original condition of approval that just requires a historic landmarking of the property. Before any other thing, any other recording of development agreements or issuance of permits. We did add language to condition five. To try to account for the planning commission's direction to include some vegetative screening in order to eliminate the problem with headlights casting across the creek onto adjacent private properties. I will note, as I did in the staff recommendation, that that area is in a floodway. And so we can't have a permanent structure like a fence or a wall, so we're having to rely on vegetative screening there. Staff, however, did support the recommended changes to conditions six and seven to clarify what's required. For the water supply and the septic system.

1:08:58And then we also supported that additional condition regarding signage on the property, but recommended some changes to that to make it more clear what's exactly expected of the applicants, and I have the full text of that staff recommended change in that bullet point on the slide, and then we added a final condition to the staff recommendation. To require typical postapproval requirements for the proposed boundary line adjustment because the Planning Commission didn't review the subdivision exemption proposal. They only reviewed the special use review. So, all that being said, community planning and permitting staff are recommending that the board of county commissioners conditionally approve Su 20 313 and SE 24 five, the riverside cabins, lodge and boundary line adjustment subject to the conditions in the staff recommendation. I have the full text of those conditions on the next few slides if we need to take a look.

1:09:49Otherwise, I'm available. For questions. Thank you, Sam. Commissioner's questions for Sam. I have no questions, thank you. Thank you. Thanks for the presentation, Sam. I'll give you a second there. Appreciate the information. I had a couple of questions. One of them is just. To dig in a little bit more in regards to the 28 people versus 34 people. I heard to talk about the septic system as being one of those, but then the other. One just in the packet, it seemed like. There was also for me a question around the parking lot, and I didn't hear you. Speak about that in the presentation, the way I interpreted the pocket. Was. There's 34 spaces. But then what you just talked about was. 28 people based on the septic system. So just wanted to ask a little bit more about and then what? The final condition was after planning commission conversation that staff is recommending. In that particular item. Sure. So there are not 34 parking spaces.

1:10:58So the access and engineering referral response noted that the parking requirement for this proposal was met. That doesn't necessarily mean they have to provide a parking space for every guest at any given time. So the capped number of guests was tied to the capacity of the septic system. That was given. In the referral response that we got from the Boulder County Public Health department. And so they said the existing septic system on site can support up to 28 people at any given time. And so the recommended condition of approval for today is that the limitation is 28 people. Of any kind, guests or staff staying overnight, if that happens in the future. With the ability to expand that to the 34 that's actually proposed by the applicants. If the septic system is upgraded, but that the number of guests that's been capped or. Recommended to be capped is not necessarily tied to the parking. The parking is tied. To? Well, I don't remember off the top of my head. I'd have to. Pull up the code. Thank you. So, on that topic, And I read it in the narrative, but I'm not looking at the narrative right now. There's something about in the statement. The way I read it was there would be no biking?

1:12:07No. Carpooling? No. Something else to get to the area. So how many parking spots? Are. There currently. In the diagram we're looking at, I think, right now. Do you know? Otherwise, they can have the applicants respond to that one. There's 15 shown in the site plan submitted by the applicants. I believe this is aligned. With the current development on site. Okay, so then that will just be a question. I think maybe. For the applicant, too. So when you have an opportunity later, just have an understanding about what the plan is for parking. And then, obviously, subject piece. Okay, so then that was one of the questions I had, and then. The other one was. Let me see here. If you could speak a little bit more in regards to the historic landmarking. I don't think that was maybe a question or conversation with the planning commission as well. To get to the. Staff's final condition.

1:13:14I'm just trying to figure out what the reasoning is of it and what's. The benefit to the county of historic landmarking as a condition or not a condition, et cetera so I think the idea here is that a, the historic landmarking will allow them to meet the criteria for both special use and subdivision exemption approval. Both of those standards or groups of standards require that an application meets the auras in concert. With the comprehensive plan, in addition to the land use code and other agreements that the county has and the comprehensive plan pretty specifically says that if we identify a historic resource, we should try to protect that as much as possible. So we're recommending a requirement that the historic structures be landmarked and kind of the logic behind that, in addition, is that this is an existing historic use, as was written in the staff recommendation. There's been some sort of lodging use on this property for roughly 150. Years at this point. And so we want to preserve not just the use itself, if that. Use is approved today, but we also want to try to preserve the historic nature of that use.

1:14:18Not allow it to kind of expand and look totally different from how it does because currently it's contributing to the historic and rural character of the county. The historic preservation would essentially preserve the aesthetic that is associated with that. Okay, thank you. And then the other one was. In regards to vegetative screening that was discussed as a condition. In regards to the way I understood it, to address headlights and some of those concerns of users. Of the cabins on the property. And so I was just curious about because vegetation, of course, and I heard you talk about why there were some just because of the property. Uniqueness of the site. The vegetation was one option that was considered, and we also know that vegetation can go away, unfortunately, really quickly. From wildfire or other natural disasters. So I was just curious if you all. In your. Analysis talked about quiet hours or anything else like that that might address some of the neighbor concerns. Thinking about the day to day operations, people using the cabins, but also the two to three events. I believe it was that you talked about that would be hosting no more than 28 people. Either way. But just to address.

1:15:34The headlight concerns. So. The condition requiring the vegetative screening for headlights came out of the planning commission hearing. Specifically it wasn't really something that staff considered before that, but we did have a member of the public. Who? I assume that I don't remember, but I assume that she lived across the creek and was complaining about headlights from people parking after dark. And so the requirement for vegetative screening was what was recommended by the planning commission and that's why we wrote it the way, or that's why it was included in the recommended conditions for today. Was just. That's our kind of best attempt to mitigate that specific concern. I wouldn't say there was any discussion of quiet hours that I can recall during the staff review, but I think the commissioners could probably apply a requirement for those if they felt it was necessary. Okay? And the applicant will have an opportunity to talk about that.

1:16:24I just don't. Know what has been discussed or hasn't been discussed, but it sounds like from what you just shared. The planning commission didn't talk about altern. Alternatives. It just was. That was one recommendation that they discussed in regards to the concerns that were brought up of headlights after dark. That's correct. Okay. I think that's what I've got for right now. Thank you. Thanks, Sam. Just a couple of comments and maybe I'll start. I also had some questions. About the landmarking requirement. I guess the concern. I did have the same question, commissioner. Losing had, which is? Why is that needed? In order for it to comply, and I understand your answer. Part of the planning commission's discussion, as I understand it, was that. Some of the public testimony indicated that the property has been altered to an extent that it may not actually qualify for landmarking, which seems like we would be putting if that's the case and we don't know. We don't have a full write up on it. Yet. But if that's the case, it seems like we could be putting the applicant maybe. In a catch 22. Of you have to get landmark status because we want to preserve historic structures and historic uses. But if we found that it didn't qualify.

1:17:53Then they wouldn't be able to do it. But yet there wouldn't be anything. Historic to preserve. So I can speak to that a little bit, but I'm going to ask to come. Back to it, okay? I don't remember if it was a full committee or a subcommittee, but the historic preservation advisory board found during two separate meetings. In different years that this property as a whole was eligible for historic landmarking. What I am asking to come back to is that I don't remember the exact timeline. Of that relative to the current owner's purchase of the property, the unpermitted work that happened on the site and when those subcommittee meetings happen. And so if I could, I'd like to just come back to that. At that early hearing. Totally fine. I'm thinking it may have happened in 2023, but. That may not be right. Okay. Yeah, please come back to that and. That can wait until after the applicant's presentation. I also wanted to know a little bit more about the changes to the access road.

1:18:54That access and engineering was proposing. Yes, I can pull up the referral response. It was included in the staff packet way deep. In the packet and I couldn't find it again. I can pull that up later, but I actually wrote that down because that was a question for that the planning commission had as well. So, generally speaking, the requirements. That are being asked for. Our widening of the driveway because it's not quite wide enough to meet the standards for this type of access. Installation of drainage along. The entirety of the access road, if I remember correctly. And then I think the most important one was a modification of the turning radius. So in the southwest corner. I'll go two slides. So in the southwest corner of the property where the access road loops around the back of the westernmost cabin. The radius is pretty tight and probably not big enough for a fire engine to get around. It's this curve. Let's see where the cursor is. There we go. It's. This curve right here is not quite wide enough, and so. They also wanted to see that turning radius increased a little bit to give more room for a large emergency vehicle to get through.

1:20:04So I had just a question. Maybe this is possible, but. My memory. I've never been down the access road to this property, but I've. Been down the Longmont Dam road many times. Is there room to do that widening? Of the width. I'm remembering it as being pretty tight. That highway seven makes a band. And that's a steep slope. Was there any analysis of the feasibility is my question. No, I think not in the way that you're asking. I would say, generally speaking, there is a little bit of room there to widen it particularly. To the west, which would be the right in the slide that I have up currently, but you're right. There is a slope there in one of the septic systems is a little bit further to the right. In this image as well, so it would probably be tight. I do think they would have room. But I'd have to go back and read the access requirements. Okay. And the applicant may have some information on that, too. Okay. Those were my questions. Then. Did you have one? Yeah, I did. Thank you. I had one other question. I was just. Trying to find where it reads in the packet. Looks like.

1:21:25It's condition three in regards to building permits. The PSM was interested specifically was on. In regards to the packet, talks about a hot tub that has been put in on the property. And then again. In condition. Five. What I'm thinking about right now is natural resources specific to water, so in condition. Three. There's. Building permits that will be addressed, including the hot tub installation that's happened. And then in condition five. Conditions higher. Which one did I just say it was? Condition five, I believe, in regards to. Oh, yeah. Further down into that paragraph, if irrigation is proposed. For any plannings deprived water source. So I was just trying to figure out in. The different conditions and what has to happen. To make sure that there is a water source for those additional pieces, and so I was just. Curious if putting it in there is they need a building permit on the hot tub. Does that actually address the issue of, do they have water?

1:22:35Sufficient to use a hot tub on this property. I'll try to maybe contextualize it, and maybe that'll make it. Make. Sense. That's great. Thank you. So, like I kind of stated during the presentation, there's quite a bit of unpermitted. Work that's happened on this property. One of the things that was not permitted. Was the installation of the hot tub, which I didn't see when I visited the site. But. On the website where they advertised their listings. It was visible in one of the photos. So hot tubs require a building permit and then to speak to the water supply. The Division of Water Resources Referral response noted that the existing well permit only allows a certain amount of water to be drawn per year, and then that water can only be used internally. For the business on site. They specified in their referral response that it could not be used to fill a hot tub and can't be used for outside irrigation, and so. The staff conditions are designed to a require a building permit for all the unpermitted work that should have gotten one and then b make sure that there's an adequate water supply for the uses that the well permit can't support. So typically, as part of a building permit process, we would verify adequate water supply at permit submittal. We'd require them

1:23:51to demonstrate a water supply associated with whatever they're getting. A building permit for. So I guess it's not explicitly laid out, but if they can't come up with an adequate water supply for that exterior water use, then the hot tub. Couldn't get. A building permit and would have to be removed. That being said, I think the applicants have been working on getting some additional water rights to the property that we had a brief discussion about it a couple of months ago. I imagine they'll be able to speak to it a little bit better during their turn to speak. Okay, that sounds good. And as I'm looking through here, there's a separate condition that's. Talking about the adequate water supply, and it addresses their filling. Of the hot tub. Guess what I was trying to figure out is which one. If there was. Any order, and it may just be that the applicant figures out which order they need to determine. What's available prior to doing other processes to make the conditions all work. If they decide to move forward. I'd say that's correct. Okay. Thank you. Sam, I think I actually have one more question as well. And if this is for the applicant, then just let me know. The concerns that were expressed by some of the adjacent property owners around. People going in

1:25:03the wrong driveway and ending up on the wrong property. Again. I've never been down the actual access to. These cottages. But my impression always was that that's just a dedicated access and. If you turn off on the right road. You're not going to end up in someone else's property. Is that right? Or. Wrong. Yes. I'm hesitating because there is that private residence that's kind of within. The property that we're looking at today. But yes. The access road to this property. Only accesses this property and that private residence. I think the issue that people have. Is particularly approaching the property. And the entrance from. The, if they're heading westbound on the road, it does come up pretty quickly. And because of the elevation, and you can miss it very easily. And so I think people do that pretty frequently. If I remember correctly, the applicants tried to get a sign permit for a commercial sign closer to the road, but weren't allowed because this use hasn't actually been approved. So they could hypothetically install a sign closer to the road to make it a little bit.

1:26:17More obvious, but yes, this is the only access. That they're using only accesses their property in the internal private property. Okay, thank you. For that clarification, okay? I think we will now turn to the applicant for your presentation. You'll have 20 minutes. And then the commissioners may have some questions for you afterwards. Sounds good. And if you'd start by stating your name, each of you, before you speak. Good afternoon, madam chair. Rest of the commissioners apologies. If you could pull that microphone just about this. Far from your mouth. Thank you. Good afternoon, madam chair. Rest of the commissioners? My name is Tom Parku. I'm with. Spruce consulting. My business address is 1067 South Hover street in Longmont. 80501. I am the owner's representative here acting on behalf of Rockmont Investments and Mr. Michael. Coles, who's sending to my left here this afternoon, in case there's any questions for him as well. So thank you for this opportunity to come before the board of county commissioners and talk about. This special use permit for lodging. And as Sam mentioned, the proposed lot line adjustment to correct.

1:27:39An error going through one of the buildings and kind of tidying that all up. Before I kind of dive into a brief presentation, I just wanted to say thank you to Sam. And the planning department, they have been really gracious. And kind and very diligent working with myself and the owners through this process. And it's not just Sam, but I want to say thank you to the rest of the county. Employees and development review, public works and environmental health. Again, they've all been really helpful helping. Us through this application process and getting it to where we are today. So, with that said, I don't know if you can maybe see my slide deck. I will try to reduce the redundancy because I don't want to repeat a lot. Of the things that. Sam has said, I think he's done a really good job. Capturing. What the intent is here. And then. Towards getting through my presentation here, I'll be able to answer a lot of the questions. That you brought up here. So let's see, next. I think that you guys are all pretty familiar with. This property. It used to be known as Shelley cabins, about two and a half miles outside of the town of lions. Crow flies. It is generally located between the highway. And the river. And this slide here just

1:29:15kind of depicts all of the current structures that are on the property. Here. We have several of them, which includes. Cabins and the main loads. They're kind of color coded here so you can see which. Ones. That are associated with Rockmont investments. And then. As Sam had pointed out, that structure there, kind of in the orange, is a private residence. That is not part of this application. Moving on. Sam kind of went over the site plan review. Kind of, again, depicting the overall. Site. With the county. Private property that's kind of been locked off here. Kind of going through and just showing again. Narrowing in and focusing on some of the cabins here. Parking. I think. One of the reasons here is that you do have to. Do special use permit, unfortunately. The prior. Own is shortly after 2013 flood. It was, as you guys know, quite devastating. And for whatever reason. They just decided that. It was probably too much effort to go through and try to reclaim. The property after that devastating flood there. And so kind of working through staff and really kind of understanding what you. Meant anytime you see some use for six months or longer. You do background frauding status. You came in and we did apply for new special. For logical use. So when you go through these

1:31:15pictures here, it just kind of shows you. To what it was like. Some of those small improvements. Especially like you can see around. The reader here. Still coming in, trying to stay true to the original. Which Mr. Cole has done. I think staff too, going through. The attention. Criteria. Number four that addresses. The historic. Preservation comments and designating this property. As a historic landmark. Certainly appreciate that, given the history of this property that's been out there for decades. And being used. As a lodging. I understand where that historic preservation. Board in that recommendation coming from, but there were a couple of meetings that happened starting in 2023. And I think it was born in 2024, where the historic Preservation board went through and tried to evaluate their reasons for designating this property. And Mr. Coles can certainly maybe attest to this. And I know Heidi Campbell's online, but I don't believe we were invited to those meetings to kind of sit down. And understand the logic and the reasoning behind that. We have kind of attempted.

1:34:26And talk with him and engage in some dialogue so we understand a little bit more reasons we don't believe that it really hasn't a historic. Anymore. There has been some changes, of course. With flood going through there, although it didn't damage. Any physical structures on the property. Even before Mr. Cole's owned it. There had been some improvements out there. We even have some folks that live around in that area have also said that it really not historic anymore. They don't believe it's historic anymore. And we really think that that should be more of a voluntary requirement than an actual. Requirement as part of this time and again. I think we're happy to maybe continue some of that dialogue with him, but we just don't believe that. Historic significance out there to kind of place that requirement on Mr. Cole's on his property. So I don't know if you've got any specific questions with that, but that. Was one thing that I would like. The board of county commissioners. To consider is. That have this as more of a voluntary requirement. Rather something that be placed with. Okay, kind of diving into some of the questions here.

1:35:54Are some fire pits. That can both. Get it out there. Nor some propane tanks that were placed in those fire pits, those propane tanks. Have been used. So at any time, staff wants to come out and verify those removed, probably about a month or so that was the biggest concern that we heard from the floodplain development permitting team. We have. And we did receive approval for a flood housing element permit. Again, that was one of the big concern? Propane tanks. Just to let record. Pain tanks have been. And. We can't put them back in. It's just not possible to put those propane. Tanks back in. So we're looking at other ways to provide. Obviously it's not wood burning. It's highly advisable. So we'd like to just keep the gas pins there, but then work on staff. We've got to bring in Tesla, whatever like that.

1:37:00So I wanted to kind of address. That that ties a little bit into the vegetative. Management plan. Why we certainly appreciate the concerns from the neighbor that's across the stream directly to the east. She did mention that there were times. Would come into the living room. But if you can see from the pipeline, That the parking lot structured those parking spaces kind of. Diagonal, kind of away from the house. And providing some additional screening. All the stuff with water. Initially, we kind of said, well, The permit from the provisional water resources out there is only good for. That well for outdoor irrigation. So we were thinking. Hard about how we were going to able to conform to. Making. Landscape or mitigation to help with that view shed or those headlines. I will say that Campbell.

1:38:17On remotely has had a conversation recently with that neighbor. About the headlights. It seemed like that conversation. And I think if we can just try to minimize. I don't think it happens very frequently. Is from what conversation? With the neighbor was. If there was something like 10:00 p.m. or something like that. There's just a sign that can be put out there again. It's hard because it's floodplain. Floodway. We can't put in structures. Just asking people that come there, just be mindful. They're only on temporarily trying to get any kind of. But yes, we're trying to be respectful of that neighbor's comments across. That kind of dovetails. And I like to talk a little bit about where we are with water. And there is a permanent water well out there. Only permitted for one acre foot of water per year. Roughly 326,000 dealers and that's. Been out there for a while. Was older. Well, out there, the division of Water Resources asked that it be kept.

1:39:34That water row has been kept. We have the document on that as well. And so going through kind of the history and some of the historic documents, There was an augmentation plan that was approved in 2015. With the St. Rain and the left Hand Water Conservation District. In this augmentation plan includes. Multiple properties up and down on the river. Specifically. It mentions in here, Shelley's. So prior to the flood. Shelley's cottages. It was a pump, so they were able to take some of the water. From the river and then use it for up to. Three acres of irrigation. Two homes and nine seasonal cavals. And so. At one point in time, there were water rights associated with those caverns. Through this augmentation, plan. We have since had conversations. Left hand water conservation district, and we have the ability to continue to use that water from the river, but we have to apply for what they call a repermint, so we'll. Have to work with the water district, apply for basically a new term of their colony to repermit, but that permit gets. Approved by the water. Then we can continue. Water from the river. For those specific. So we do believe that we have viable water source in addition to. Anything outdoor. A hot tub in particular. Something that could be used from that water

1:41:25source or any type of. Vacation. That may be required from fire to. That in a second here. So I just wanted to mention to the board of county commissioners and. Staff that think we have a plan in place, viable place for additional water sources, and that would be. Condition of approval. We'll have to provide that. There's a condition. Talking about the wildlife partner certificate. We've had them out property actually, a couple of times, so we are diligently working on a certificate with some recommendations that came out of there in terms of maybe looking at maybe some additional. Shrubbery. Structures, but we're well on our way to. Gaining that. Partner certificate. We've had a lot of dialogue. To. The property on multiple occasions. They had. Initially, I think there was some discussion about providing alternative water. Supply for fire like a cistern, like a separate tank. But the fire district. Has since said. They do not need. A separate water supply in terms of a cistern out there. Just because they understand that this has been existing. It would be different if this was new or if there was new structures or buildings out there, but we can also provide that documentation to the county that the fire district is okay without having. A separate water source on there. And I believe, too, that

1:43:21at least I have had conversations with the fire marshal there that they understand that we'll be applying for additional water source through our left hand water district, so that helps. I did want to just note you've got. About three and a half minutes left. I think I can get through this in three and a. Half. A couple of questions. On the onsite wastewater treatment systems and septic systems. Yes, I think your request is to go from 28 to 34, knowing that we would have to upgrade the septic system that has been approved out there for. 28. And I believe Mr. Coles is willing to go through. And that takes another engineer to go. Through and evaluate that and upgrade that system to 34. We would really appreciate that number going from 28 to 34. So we believe we can accommodate that through an updated septic system. There was a question about adequate parking.

1:44:29I believe with the county code. It's based on the number. Of patrons or the folks that are staying there at the cabins. I'd also like to point out, though, that in addition to the parking lot, there's also a parking that's available in front of the cabins, so when you go around, there's space there. A little bit better, I think, with the addition of those spaces in front of the cabins in the parking lot. Definitely need the parking floating requirements there. There was a couple of concerns about access and trespassing. As Sam had mentioned. We did apply for a sign permit that didn't hold until. The determination. Final determination here on this permit. If it's approved, I'll move forward. With that sign, permit and signage to really make sure that people that are coming there understand that here's where our side cabins is. This is private property. Do not go down this road. No more trespassing issues there. Let's see. The access road. One of the things that came out too is this was more from public works, but CDOT. Did provide. Colorado Department of Public Transportation provided a referral that we apply for an access permit. And make improvements. To the access that goes up to the highway. Mr. Coles has since hired an engineer and that engineer has now designed a plan. To fix

1:46:03that driveway access to make it a little bit more visible. Decrease safety risk. But I think see not pointed out. We did submit those plans to the Colorado Department of Transportation. We have email correspondence from them last week that initially plans look good from CDoT standpoint. So we'll continue to work with CDOT to finalize all of that, make those improvements that they're requiring. And then provide that demonstration to the county there. 22 seconds. I think I tried to capture it all, but I would just really appreciate. Boulder county and your willingness to work with us. This isn't quite the process. We did receive unanimous. Recommendation of approval from the planning commission. And we would really appreciate Porta county commissioners support on this case. And respectfully request your approval of the special use permit. Thank you for your presentation. I think we always appreciate it when people appreciate our staff. They work. Hard. Questions for the applicant. Yes, I'll start here. I did have a couple of questions and just wanted to give you all an opportunity to speak. To just help me understand. And in 240 some pages, I'm not going to find it right now, but. There was something I read that was talking about just people accessing the property in regards to the folks that are going to be using. The cabins. On

1:47:45page 43 of the packet, it says Pam's at the title, which is the narrative. It looks like all ten cabin in paragraph two or section two, as it's numbered all ten cabins together. Kind of. Accommodate 34 total gas. I am interested in the parking piece and then would like to hear from staff at some point. Just in regards to what parking requirements may or may not exist at this type of. Lodging. In the forestry. Area of Boulder county. So it's just a question for me to understand. And also further down in here. In your narrative, it's talking or someone's narrative. Here in the packet is talking. About. Special events. We're requesting two to three events. Family reunions or such. For me, it feels like in the Ram reading, it is in conflict. If you're saying.

1:48:42You could have 34 guests, but then you want to have events, so just trying to understand what the goal is what you're doing now and how. That would stay in compliance with any conditions that we would put in here. Yes. Do you want to kind of speak a little bit about the special events? It's my understanding that. It's highly unlikely that you're going to have all nine cabins rented out at the same time. And be at that full capacity there. But I will point out that. That will be embedded in the permit itself. So if it does go to 34. It's incumbent upon Mr. Coles to make sure that it's not exceeded it. Doesn't go above. That type of limitation. Again, in terms of parking, I think there's adequate spaces in front of the cabins, but. I think it's. Correct me if I'm wrong, Mike.

1:49:43It's just these. Special events one or two times a year. The people that are staying on the property. Okay, if you want to speak into that microphone, and since you've spoken, people staying on. The property. Could you please just state your name before you. And I'm sorry. Say what you said. Only people that will be staying in the property. For, like, a special event. Would be limited to the people staying at the property. So special event would be camping at the Riverside cabins in my mind. But the way I read it in here would be a special event. Would be. It was talked about like a family reunion. Or otherwise. But additional gas outside, it would just be having an event for people. That are already staying there. So I think what you're saying, commissioner, is that would there be a time where. If you had 34 guests and then would there be a special event on top of that? Was that your concern? Yeah, I think it was just a curiosity. One of your 34 guests, and I've heard you say nine cabins. I'm reading. Here. It says ten cabins, up to 34 people.

1:50:53And if one of those 34 people had a special event, then it would be more than 34. People. But you're telling me that the maximum of any special event would be within the. People that are already being hosted at the Riverside cabins. Yes. Okay. And then on here it says, no one will be traveling to or from this property. On page 43 again, by bicycle, bus, walking or car pulling. Every employee and guest will have their own vehicle. Back to the question around parking and understanding, and the question that it sounds like was discussed with planning commission in regards to the traffic and headlights, et cetera. I think. We'd like to. I don't know. If Heidi can join us on the call. She's remote. She's here. Okay. She drafted a lot of the application in there, so I'll. Let her speak. To her comments there in terms of carpooling. Okay, thank you. She's here. She's a panelist. And if you can just unmute yourself and then state your name. Before you speak. Can you hear me? Yeah. My name is Heidi Campbell. And I guess in the basis that we're talking about, like, a special event, It's more of okay. I want to have my family union at the property. And I'm going to occupy.

1:52:16We're going to book all the cabins and that's. The amount of people for my family union is 34 people. And then maybe we'll all gather down by the river and have a picnic or whatever. It's just basically a place for my whole family to get together and gather, but we're all sleeping in different spots and just enjoying lions together. If that makes sense. That makes sense to me. If the question was. Coming from me. So that helps me understand what you were talking about here in the narrative, the only other situation would be. If someone calls me and says, hey, we want to book out all your cabins because all these people are attending a wedding in town, and we want to make sure that they all have a place to stay. Then they're all staying there together. But only that amount of people. Nobody can just come and say, hey, I'm visiting. I just want to see the property. We don't have the parking for that. We don't. Have the space for that. That's a hard no. Okay. And that helps me understand in the narrative on page 44, it says, we would like to occasionally be able to host. Two to twelve special events per year, whether it be a small family reunion or reception of some kind. And so when I read

1:53:40that, again, the conflict for me, and I appreciate the additional commentary. If I was hosting a small family union or a reception of some kind as written, then it would seem like there would be other people bringing in food, like whether it was catering or flowers. Or music or whatever it might be for a special event, but the way that you all are. Describing it on the record is that it would actually just be. Potentially a community event or similar that would just use all of the. Riverside cabins. As places to sleep versus hosting of a special event. Is that correct? And that's not to say that that group might not want food catered in. For everybody to eat. But. That's about all. I can think of or say for that part. How many parking spots do you have on site that are in the parking lot? I believe it's 16. Do you want me to still answer or should I? I'm. Not sure. Your team brought you on here, Heidi, and I don't know the extent to which piece. Of the work that you're involved in. Okay, I'll just be quiet. Unless I'm asked.

1:55:02Well, Heidi, this is Tom. Yeah, I believe there's 16 spaces in the parking lot. But adequate parking. Additional parking could take place in front of the cabins as well. But we'll just have to go through and do the actual count and then compare that. To the code, and I can work with Sam on that. We'll make sure we got the parking, all right? Part of the reason I'm asking about the parking and the additional people. To host an event or to have an event, or for an event just to happen with the people who are staying on, however you want to describe it. The concern in areas of Boulder county similar to this. That we hear about is in regards to ingress egress, in regards to an emergency. Natural disaster. And we talked a little bit about, and it's in the packet about multimodal. Needs here, and we talked about the turn getting in there, et cetera. But if it's not clearly defined, and you've talked about signage issues because of the floodplain. Then the worst case scenario is you've got neighbors who are then coming in to take care of your gas inadvertently. And, or there's an emergency, people can get in or out because they've just parked wherever they thought they could park.

1:56:23And that's what I'm hearing as you're all describing it. Can I say something about that? Absolutely. We have signs in front of the cabin. No one is allowed to park in front of the cabins. We want everyone to stay in the parking lot. I've had a few meetings with the Lions fire department. Where they have said that. They like the parking lot. They can get around the property. They have actually gotten around the whole property with the fire truck. And they're glad that we're not having anyone parking in front of the cabins. Because it would just jam things up. Which, again, is why we cannot have big gatherings. We can't. Have anyone on the property. Other than. What we're planning on. The 34 guests here is the property. Can't handle it. So we do have signs that say you can stop and unload your stuff at the cabin. Right here. But then you must park in the parking lot. I also send messages to the guests and call them and say, You need to park in the parking lot. If I see someone that is not in the parking lot, I call them or knock on the door and tell them you need to park in the parking lot. This is per fire code. You can't be here. So we are trying to be pretty

1:57:41strict about that. Thank you. I'll be looking for some input from staff after this section. Okay, great. Commissioner stolesman. Thank you very much. So I was hearing you say during your presentation, that. This was what you said. I'm just repeating it back. You said we don't. Believe that it has a historic use, and that was a reference to the property. And at another time you said, we don't think that there's historic significance, so. I heard you say that, and so I'm trying to understand how you think that you. Can meet the special use criteria and the subdivision exemption criteria, particularly Su three and se twelve. If there's not historic significance. Right. And just going through all. 13 criteria that staff has outlined. We went through them all too, separately. And we just concur. With staff's findings in there, and that's kind of why I wanted to have a little bit more dialogue. I didn't think that the entire application. Rests solely on the historic designation.

1:58:43I understand that. Maybe there would be. Some compatibility there. But again, These cabins have been out there for a really long time, and. I've been trying to understand. Where the historic preservation board is coming from and their rationale. I just haven't been really comfortable. Getting information that says. This is why we want this property. Designated. I again, kind of struggle with that. Having the whole application just hinge on that designation. When I do believe that it meets all the other criteria in there. I just like to have another conversation about. This designation. Yeah. My questions have nothing to do with their interest. That is a completely irrelevant thing for today. I don't see a way for the application. To be approved without historic significance. So I was trying to understand how you do. Yeah. Again.

1:59:47I'm just trying to understand where they're coming from, because in my opinion, I don't think they've provided us enough reasoning for just for time out for. 1 second for me. Just setting aside the historic preservation board entirely. It is an irrelevant point for our conversation today, in my opinion. If you're saying there's no historic significance, then don't pursue historic significance. How do you propose you would meet the subdivision exemption criteria? Well, I guess the conversation and need to have with the owner. There's the landmarking part of it. If that's something. That get madam, if something that gets you to yes on this. Applying for that designation. If you believe that, that. Will make it. So it complies with the intent of the code, then I guess that's what we'll do. Okay, so the next question I have is just around health, safety and welfare. So if you look at our criteria, one of them is around. A proposal shall not be detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of present or future inhabitants of Boulder county. So just if you could spend a little bit of time talking about. Some of the aspects with Egress.

2:01:11And fire. Just today you presented a picture of an open fire pit, which I saw in the conditions is required to be removed, but it doesn't necessarily assert the most confidence. Of an applicant with a real care for health, safety and welfare. So if you could just kind of add some to that around how you'll address some of the concerns of your neighbors. And some of the concerns that have been raised through the process for health, safety and welfare. Yeah. I appreciate the comment there. In terms of the ingress and egress and the access we are going to be making improvements to that driveway. So that will, even though I don't fully have the full accident history there, But making those improvements, coming into conformity with seed out likes there, I think that'll really help there coming down into the driveway. Staff would like to see some improvements there with the driveways. You're coming along through there. We'll certainly take a look at if there's.

2:02:09Any opportunities to cut and wide in there again, we've had quite a few conversations. With the fire district. I don't believe either in their referrals or even discussions. That I've had or the owners where they've had a concern about the width. Of the driveway. But making sure that. It's clear that. The fire apparatus or any type of emergency vehicles can get through there. I don't know. How many times they've had to respond out there. But I don't think it's been a concern in the past, but. There's an opportunity to widen in spaces. We'll do that. In terms of trespassing. Again, I think we've got the good signage plan that we can submit. And get some really good signage out there that really makes it clear. That. This is private property. This is where the cabins are. To eliminate. I think with our new water source and the supply from left hand water Conservation District, I think we'd be able to do some additional things. In terms of revegetation or some screening there. So. We don't impact somebody else's. Evening hours with flashing lights. So I think we can mitigate that concern. Really? Adequately there. And just trying to be the best neighbors as possible and reaching out and continuing that dialogue with neighbors and being mindful of that. Thank you. Those are my questions. Thank

2:03:47you. Great. Thank you. I don't believe I have any questions. Thank you so. We will now go to public testimony, and we will first take testimony from anyone who has joined. Us here. In the hearing room. We have one person signed up. Kat Olman, please come forward. State your name. Our list does indicate that you have six minutes. Have pulled your time with somebody else. And you can watch your time on the clock, the nice big clock up there. Yeah. Just pull it really close. Yeah. Okay. This is not my forte. Good afternoon, commissioners. I appreciate your time and consideration. I have obviously not been quiet about all these things. I reside at 16072 north, same frame drive that is the historic Welch resort. I've been a residence since 2011. I lived through the flood. And the previous entity. I think. I'm going to digress here. My biggest concern, and I do appreciate these strides, I mean, I'm blown away. I'm very pleased with this, but my biggest concern is. As far as what they're doing down there right now is. There is a swimming area that is less than 30 yards from my property line. We share a boundary of 101 yards. There are pathways, maybe by wildlife or people. But there is access to our property. So the swimming area is impeding

2:05:32onto my boundary, and that's where most of my non driving trespassing occurs. And there's really nothing we can do about it. We've seen all sorts of fun things in the river. With people in various states of duress, and I'll leave it at that. So. I'm not good at this, but continuously since 2021, River Size has actively advertised, operated and profited in spite of numerous county directives. It should be noted that prior to this ownership, two of these units were private homes. Well, three. And rental activity was far fewer than what they're proposing. 28 is a doable number. In my mind. Management lived on premise. Respect towards neighborhood was observed. When I've reached out in the past and I haven't for years. I was met with. Resistance and anger. And don't call the county. And they treated me like I was targeting them. I was not.

2:06:43For five years, they've been coming into compliance. Well. After what, three notices? In my. Opinion. No accountability. No action has been taken, and I don't know what the reasons are. But it's been a. Nuisance, especially that area, because that's where all the noise, all the people gather. I've seen large fires. People are probably doing this, that and the other thing. Anyway, the river. Alterations the structures in the floodplain. The unpermitted demolition. Was extensive. And I fear because at the age of these properties that there was asbestos, there was lead, and things that were not properly abated. There are environmental concerns. Concerns with overwhelming the septic concerns. With so many things. There's probably some hazardous waste issues because these properties are 50 to 100 years old. So everything. Having said all of that. I believe there's more than one hot tub on the property. I think there's maybe. Three. I can kind of visually see stuff.

2:08:09Maybe. There's not three anymore. I don't know. I don't go down there. At least two incidents have required lions fire response, and they were both electrical in nature. One time being as it was not a licensed business, my husband had to direct the fire department. To where to go, so that is a huge concern. Public safety. Public nuisance. Public this, public that. I mean. They have talked to other neighbors. But never tried to communicate directly with us. And when I approached them once in 2021, said, hey, let's split the cost of offense. I was met with something I'm not even going to repeat, and they have gone to lengths to discredit me and make us the bad guy. I just want them to do what is right. Legally. And be nice. I'm not opposed to it being rentals. Sorry I'm emotional, but I'm very skeptical that even with provisions, And requirements that it will be enforced or monitored or have oversight. And why wouldn't I have that feeling? Because. It hasn't. Five years. So I guess that's it. I missed some stuff, but it doesn't matter. So thank you very much. Time. If there was more that you wanted to share. Yeah. Like I said, I keep saying I'm not good at this. They've presented themselves as legal and in compliance. To rental platforms, state

2:09:55county entities, guests. Neighbors. And they continue to rent. And whether they tell you they're renting or not, I can't help but see. I dropped by there. I could see the parking lot. So. I don't understand. I know they disliked me because I don't keep my mouth. Shut. But right is right. What I have to do for permits, they should have to do for. Permits. That's simple, so thank you. I'm sorry. All right. You did great. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. Anyone else here with us in the hearing room. Who would like to speak to this case? See no one coming forward. Currently, we have no one signed up online to speak. If you are joining us online and you do want to speak, you can use the raised hand. Function to indicate that. And our staff will promote you to panelists. And if you're listening and you want to call, In the call in number as eight 3356-888-8864 and you'll. Need to enter the webinar iD, which is 1608-4490. Nine, six. And I am looking at the attendee list. No one has raised her hand. And. John, if that's you back there. No one.

2:11:28Okay? We have no one who's trying to join us. To speak, so we will close the public hearing. And, Sam, is there anything you'd like to add at this point? There is. Thank you. Commissioners, SAm Walker with the community planning permitting department. Again, I did have a few things that there were some things that I asked to come back to earlier. So I'll just answer those. So there was quite a bit of discussion around the requirement for historic landmarking and what I asked to come back to earlier was just kind of a very general timeline of when the work happened on the property and when the historic preservation board identified eligibility. So the first identification of historic landmark eligibility was in January of 2018. The historic preservation advisory board found that. The blacksmith cabin. So the separate building lot in the southeastern corner that that cabin was eligible for. Historic landmarking status. And then in December of 2023, HPAB reviewed the bulk of the property where the lodging use is going to take place and found that the entirety of that property was eligible for historic landmark status. The reason that those dates are important is because it's my understanding that the bulk of the unpermitted work that happened on the property was between 2021 and 2023. 2021? Was the year that the applicants. Purchased

2:12:54the property, and then 2023 was the first that the county was made aware of the violations on the property, at least as far as I'm aware. So I did want to just kind of clarify that. For the record, I don't think. That timeline was explicitly stated in the staff recommendation. And then there were also some questions around. The access and engineering and. Multimodal transportation standard requirements and the parking requirement. So just for the record, the access and engineering referral response, they submitted two. So they submitted. One initially requested additional information and then their final referral response. Both of those were included in the staff packet. The final referral response is on page 85 and 86 of the packet or b 26, whichever is easier to find. So they did note that the site plan demonstrated compliance with the parking requirement. So Article 4507 d three of the land use code is the code reference for the parking requirement for a resort. Lodge use, which is 1.5 spaces per room or cabin. So there are ten cabins. In the proposed use, and there were 15 spaces shown on the parking plan. Or on the site plan in the parking lot. I do want to note, however, that. The aerial photo that we have. The most recent aerial photo. It looks like one of those spaces. Is

2:14:16painted off as kind of a walkway. It's not being used as a parking spot. So with the existing parking lot, it looks like they're not meeting their parking requirement, but it should be pretty easy to repaint. That and use it as a parking space and therefore meet the requirement. So if the commissioners are concerned, we could probably modify. The. I'd have to look up the condition number again, but we could modify that condition. For a little bit more specificity about the parking requirement. There was also a question about. The widening of the driveway required. And so I'm just quoting from the access and engineering. Referral here which says that the throat width of the existing driveway from us 36 to the parking area, US 36 being north St. Frame drive. Ranges from 14 to 17ft, where a two lane driveway requires a minimum width of 18ft. And then it goes into some discussion of the width of the internal access road, which I think wasn't as much of a concern in the questions from the commissioners. The only other note that. I had was related to. The. I just read it. The applicant's commented a little bit about the emergency water supply and working with the lions. Fire protection district. So I just had a note that condition eleven doesn't specifically require an additional emergency

2:15:35water supply. It just requires that the fire protection district approve an emergency water supply, so I wanted to point that out just because I think. That condition. Language still allows the applicants to work. How they have been with the fire protection district. But again, I think if the commissioners are concerned, we could probably get a little bit more specific. Language in that one as well. That's all the notes that I had written down, but. I'm happy to answer any additional questions. Great. Thank you, Sam. Any additional questions, commissioners? I see a head shake from Commissioner Stolman. Commissioner Lo Chuing. I think I'm okay. Thank you. I did have one additional question. I'm looking at the applicant's narrative. There was the discussion around special events. That's not really part of this application. Right. I guess what I wanted clarification. On is. If a group of people.

2:16:40Are occupying the cabins for the purpose, assuming we approve it, and they want to get together and all have a picnic in the picnic area. Would that be considered a special event under our code? That would require a permit or some sort. Of approval to host that kind of thing. I'd have to look at the definition of a special event to see, but I would. Say, generally speaking, if it's the people who are renting the cabins on the site. That we wouldn't restrict them from having an event if they were already staying there. As long as there weren't additional people showing up again because of the issues with the septic system and the traffic, circulation and parking. All right, that makes sense to me. That's what I was thinking, too. Okay, and. You probably cannot answer this question either, but I'll give it a try anyway. Being that. The location of the fire pit pits.

2:17:40Would piped natural gas be allowed in the flood plane there? I'm not entirely sure. I'd have to look at the floodplain section. Of the code. It wasn't specifically discussed one way or the other. In the comments that we got from the floodplain team, they just said that. The storage tanks were not permitted in the floodplain. But I guess that would be flagged if the applicants applied to extend a gas line down. There. That would be an opportunity to review for whether that would be allowed. Yes, they would need a new floodplain development permit or potentially be able to modify the existing one. So we would catch it if they were allowed or not allowed. Okay, thanks. If I could add on to that question. I would like to know that, because. The way I heard in the presentation was. The update on that flood. Development permit. That the gas propane tanks had been removed. And then I heard it described as whatever we have to do, even if we have to put gas lines. In the way it was described that the applicants would do that. I would actually be interested, even if it takes us a recess or a few minutes for staff. To look into that because. That just seems so out of line with unincorporated Boulder County. But I don't know if

2:19:04we have the ability to put that in as a condition. Or not. I'm certainly not familiar enough with the floodplain regs to quote them off. The top of my head. So I definitely need a couple of minutes to look and see if I could get an interpretation or get a response from our floodplain planner. I believe they were going to watch the hearing, but I'm not sure if they're listing right. Now or not? Yeah, that's fine. And I think for me, if there's another commissioner who'd be interested in finding out. What kind of regulation or condition we could put in there, then it would be worth taking some time. But if not. Then. Is your question. I guess the way I understood what Sam said in response to my question is. That if they did seek to put the gas line in, then they'd have to get a permit, and we determine whether it's allowed or not allowed. Are you? Wanting to know now so that it would be prohibited and they wouldn't seek a permit. I think my concern. Is. My concern.

2:20:13Is. Based on the use of the properties so far and some of. The work that's been described. And some of the items that have been found on the property without permitting during the analysis. And the application that. It might be benefit to Boulder county to have something put in there. As a prohibition ahead of time if that's something that we're able to do. Why don't we let the apple. Let's go ahead and finish the hearing. And then we'll see where we get in deliberations. Excuse me. Ms. Campbell, we're going to finish up talking. With sam. And then you, as part of the applicant team, will have a chance to give any final remarks. That you want to give. Okay. I just had information. Yeah, we'll get to you here. In just a minute. As soon as we've finished our questions of Sam. Thank you. Did you have any other questions? No. Okay. I actually did have one more. I got a little bit confused. By Commissioner Stolzman's questions of the applicant around. How can you meet? The special use and subdivision exemption requirements if it's not historic. I only understood those criteria to be if it's historic, it needs to be preserved. But. We could approve. This special use in the forestry district. For a totally new unhistoric. Development. Is that right? Yes, if you

2:22:03found that it met the criteria. Is there a criteria that says it must? Have historic significance in order to be approved. Hold on just a minute. Could I just restate what I had asked? I asked how they. Think they demonstrate compliance with two of the criteria in particular, if they're not historic because. The way that it was evaluated by staff for the comprehensive plan. Compliance. And to not have an adverse impact on the historical, cultural and archaeological resources. They found that it needed to be consistent. So I was asking the applicant how they would find it would meet these criteria, which they provided no response to. So you're asking for a counterfactual that wasn't evaluated. Well, the way I interpreted your question was that it assumed that. It was a historic structure, but. Development if it weren't? Yeah, I was just giving them a chance to explain how they meet their criteria. If it's. Not the way the staff defined it. Yeah, well, okay. If this were a totally different development proposal and it had no historic significance, Is there a criteria for a special use for this kind of development? That would require that.

2:23:33It meet historic or cultural preservation interests. There's not a criteria that would require the presence of a historic use or structure to permit. A new resort lodge. So just to kind of directly answer the question, Staff found that standard three of the special use review was applicable for the historic preservation or the historic landmarking requirement. So that requires that the proposed use will be in accordance with the Boulder county comprehensive plan and then in the discussion and the staff recommendation. One of the goals or, excuse me, its cultural resources element. Goal one, identify and protect of the comprehensive plan which says Bowler county identifies and protects cultural resources which meet national, state or local criteria. For historic designation. From destruction or harmful alterations. So we found that in order to meet the comprehensive plan and meet that specific goal of the comprehensive plan, historic landmarking of the property should be required. Yeah. And I think.

2:24:42What I'm just asking about is this presumes that it does. Have historic significance. And. If it were not found to have historic significance, then this would simply not be applicable. I'm sorry. I totally stopped paying attention. I shouldn't have. Okay, I think I'm not doing a very good job of expressing myself. Your analysis. And your requirement. I think is based on HPad's work. And there are conclusions. But if it were not. Ultimately found to be eligible to be landmarked because it was not of historic significance. Then would they still be eligible for special use approval? As the staff recommended. Conditioned as the staff recommended conditions are written? No, because the staff recommended conditions just require historic landmarking prior to the recording of the development agreement or the issuance of any building permits. I think the commissioners could change that condition to give the applicants a little bit more flexibility in the event that. The HPAB reviews the property again and finds that it's no longer eligible because of the work that was done. So I guess maybe what I'm missing is that. HPAB's review that you referenced in 2018 and then again in 2023. To staff's analysis that's conclusive. Well, yeah. It's unequivocal that HPAB in 2023 found that the lodge property was eligible for historic landmark status. Okay, so that is a conclusive finding,

2:26:38yes. They voted and made a unanimous found through a unanimous vote that the property was eligible for historic designation. Okay. Thank you. Okay, I think we're ready then for the applicant to give us any closing remarks that. You have. Sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off. I just wanted to kind of talk a little. Bit. Commissioner Loachman asked about the floodplain requirements. Oh, I'm sorry. No. It's totally fine. I came across this kind of while I was trying to search around, so I don't. Know that it really gives you any more reassurance one way or the other, because I'm not sure how we would interpret. A gas line relative to the code provisions that I was able to find. In the past few minutes. But there is a prohibition in the floodway specifically. On.

2:27:28I just read it. Storing or processing of materials that are buoyant, flammable, explosive, or otherwise potentially injurious to human, animal or plant life. There's also a prohibition on newer, expanded critical facilities. I'm not sure what a critical facility is. It's capitalized, so I assume there's a definition I'm. Not familiar enough with it, so. That doesn't particularly answer your question. I could see us potentially having interpreted that to mean that a gas line couldn't be installed in the floodway, but we'd have. To probably have better information about. Where the fire pits and the gas lines would be located. Specifically because the floodway. Is pretty narrow on this property, and then the floodplain is expanded. I'm not. Sure if the prohibition would apply in the floodplain as well. And I did message the floodplain planner, but it looks like they're out of the office currently. Thank you.

2:28:19For that. Okay. All right. So then I think we are now ready for the applicant to give us any. Final closing remarks that you'd like to make sure. Thank you, ma'am. With respect to the floodplain permit. I'm trying to go back and find the actual flood development hazard permit that was approved. And to Sam's point, maybe we just need to make sure we validate that. But if I recall, those fire pits were actually included in that floodplain development permit. Their biggest concern was the propane. Tanks. They were not something that was permitted or allowed. And so those have been removed. They've been taken out. They won't be put back in because. It's an outright prohibition. So what our thought was. That we would explore. The opportunity to try to bring a gas line into those fire pits, because I think it is I'm sorry. This is Johnny Sauce with a record team. If you could please have that. Microphone within two inches of your mouth.

2:29:20Be appreciate it so much. Apologize. The microphone is not affixed to the table. There we go. Sorry. So just going through and clarifying that in the flood hazard development permit, but that is a nice amenity. That folks that do stay out there can go out there knowing that, obviously. It's not a wood burning pit that would propose. Any fire danger. But we do know that we'd have to apply for the proper permits, whether that's. The building permit. Or any other type of permits modifying the flood hazard development permit for that if the county comes back and says, no, you can't do a gas line. Then. I guess we just cannot use those pits out there any longer. But again, I'm trying to find the actual flood hazard development permit, but I'm pretty sure the biggest concern. Was the propane tanks. Going back to the historic preservation advisory board in those comments. I think I had mentioned earlier in my comments we would like another opportunity to go before them. And sit down and talk with them. In 2018. It was a different property owner. And of course, in 2023, I don't think that either Heidi or Micah. Were a part of that conversation with them when they were going through that dialogue and making this determination that they have. So we would really just kind

2:30:52of appreciate being able to maybe schedule a meeting with them. Sit down with them. Go over that dialogue one more time. And just really kind of understand. Where they're coming from, and then maybe at the end of the day, that's. A decision. That Mr. Coles has to make. But. I think we're definitely willing to have that conversation again with them. But would we just. Like to be invited. To their next meeting. To understand how they arrived. At this determination or requirement. I don't know. Do you want to add anything? My understanding on how that works is that. The historical designation is something that you opt into. It's a volunteer. Procedure. If left up to me, I would prefer to hear the mountain and be able to make that. Decision. But what I'm hearing from Sam is that. It is not necessarily a requirement. Or we still meet the criteria without. That is what I just heard. That's not what I heard. I don't think that's what any of us heard. It is a requirement. Currently in the conditions of approval. Now, the commissioners will deliberate and we'll decide whether. To adopt. These conditions as written.

2:32:26But staff. 's analysis does require. That I just went off that page. Prior to recordation of the development agreement, the subject property must be designated as a historic landmark. By the board of county commissioners. I guess I was distinguished between. Their recommendation for that to be. A requirement. But outside of that, which. I thought you were kind of trying to pin down. Was that? We do meet. The requirements for the special use permit without that. That's something that. We'll be discussing and deliberating. Did you have any other remarks that you would like to make? I think, Ms. Campbell. Wanted to provide some additional information. I don't. Okay, thanks. Ms. Campbell. You were trying to make a point when we were still talking with Sam, if you'd like to provide any additional information, now's the time to do it. And you are muted if you're trying to talk. Okay. Well, I think that. We've given the applicant the opportunity to have the last word, which is our procedure. It is what we always do. So we will now close the public hearing. And the three of us will deliberate on this application. Who would like to start us off? I'm happy to just get us started in some conversation. I think.

2:34:38A couple of things I heard at the end from the applicant. Some interest in having additional conversation. With staff and. I understood it as a historical preservation advisory board, potentially, or to one of the meetings is how it was described. And so for me, that begs the question of whether. This hearing needs to be tabled so that they can look into. Their other to have some of those conversations. So that was what was coming up for me. Right now, I think. Just in general, I'm in agreement with staff's analysis here, and. Wouldn't change the conditions in regards to the Su CR criteria three on the Boulder county comprehensive plan to me. That would create a different type of analysis if the staff was going to look at different items. Of comprehensive plan, but the way it's set up right now. To me would require that historic. Landmarking process. I do have some concerns about the gas line. I heard. The applicants have removed the propane tanks, but. I would like to just have some discussion about whether or not commissioners would be interested in adding a condition. It just seems so in conflict with Boulder county values. So I'm just having a hard time understanding that and maybe gas lines. Just looking at the pictures on this particular, very unique site. There, right along the

2:36:09river. I'm having a hard time connecting with why we would permit gas lines to be installed. In a corporate Boulder county, so that was. When I would like to have a little bit more discussion about. But I think the other questions I had that you all heard me talking about in regards to. Just understanding that 28 person versus the 34 person, and then. The parking. There was some for me, some comments made in regards to, in testimony and on the record. About. The applicants. Plans and their interpretation of what special events means. And so that addressed some of the concerns that I were having, was having. About. A lot more people ending up on the property than what was being stated initially. I didn't hear. One of the other questions that I had was just in regards to. Some of the neighbor concerns. And offer potential set hours or quiet hours. That. 's pretty common.

2:37:16In lodging areas, et cetera, and they didn't hear any offerings from the applicants specifically. About any commitment, I guess I should say, to address some of those issues. Of the lights and disturbance, et cetera. So those are some of the pieces that were on my mind. Commissioner. Solemn thanks. Generally a similar page. I generally land in a similar place where the staff is with the conditions that they've added that would make it possible to move forward. With the application I was listening to here. If there were a different rationale other than landmarking. That could meet some of the criteria and didn't hear it. And so I think that we need to leave those in. Many of the criteria about impacts to the neighborhood and lodging in this high risk for both flooding and fire area and things like that, I think would have a very hard time being approved if it weren't for the historic pattern of the property. Really, we're looking at the incremental marginal effect from where we are today. And is there any. De minimis. Greater than de minimis. Is there any significant change to the use and the impact that it has on the surrounding area. So I think because of the long standing lodging use, It's hard to show that there's an increased risk or an increased over something. That

2:38:34has been, and I know that it lapsed, so I do believe we could evaluate it. Without considering the historic use because it's been over six months that they've not. Used it as lodging, and they're just homes. And so I think without the historic designation, it can't comply. With either su three or se twelve. So I think that that is an important part of this. Application. So I'm comfortable moving forward with the conditions that have been presented to address the concerns. And address the aspects of the code that need to be met. I would be open to adding a condition. Under ten, which is the otherwise detrimental to health, safety and welfare that just prohibits fire pit of any type. There's no management on site, there's no oversight on site. The state of the fire risk in this area is significant. And so there was really no plan in place to address the risk that's created by people that maybe don't understand the risk that's in this particular geography in our county, but I also can live where it is. So I think. That's the only thing I had been thinking that's maybe on the same vein. But from a different angle. Once coming from the flood angle and the risk that presents one's. Coming from the fire angle, but both are about the health, safety

2:39:54and welfare of those present. On the property and adjacent to it. Okay, so I'm hearing that we're moving towards that. We're generally in agreement. With staff's analysis that this does meet the criteria for both special use and subdivision exemption. Approval. I agree as well. Based on this historic use, I think it would be hard to argue that. This is incompatible. Or an unreasonable increase in intensity. Based on the fact that there have been cabins. There. For who knows how long. The condition number four. That does require the property to be designated as a historic landmark. Just for the applicant's benefit. During that process. It would go back to HPab and. They would consider it formally as part of that application, so you'd have an opportunity to meet with them at that time, so I don't think we need to arrange some kind. Of an additional opportunity. I think my discomfort with the way this is worded is that it does presume that. These are eligible and should be landmarked. And I know HPab looked at them. But to me, that wouldn't seem to be conclusive until it has actually gone through. The formal process and we have approved it. That's what made me uncomfortable as we're saying it must be landmarked, and we're actually the decision makers on whether it is landmarked. I was comfortable

2:41:47with. The way the planning commission wanted to do this was require them to apply. And go through the process. And. If it is landmarkable and we landmark it, then that would control. But I just felt like this presumes an outcome. And there is an actual formal process for it. So that was the only thing that made me a little bit uncomfortable. I have no idea if you can put a gas line in the floodplain. I would worry me that a flood would come along and knock the improvements out, and then you'd. Have an uncapped. Gas line. I don't know how it would work, but it seems like there's a potential that you would just have gas. That would be flowing freely, and that does concern me. I think that's a matter of. The floodplain review process, though, to determine whether that's the case. There may be automatic shut off valves or things of that nature.

2:42:53I just have no idea whether that's the case or not. I would just say to the applicants, As a cautionary matter. The fact that the floodplain review. Did not comment on a gas line. Don't take that as approval because. They only reviewed what was there, not what you might do. So for me. That would just be a given, that it'd be a requirement that you go back. With whatever it is that you actually want to do in the end. I think for me, the only thing. I would want to modify. Is that condition number four? To require them to apply. And have that resolved. Before. A development agreement is recorded. Just a little conversation on that point. I'm comfortable continuing until that decision is determined and just holding this open and then coming back. Once we have more information on that. If we don't have enough information for the hearing. Today. That would be how I would be comfortable approaching it. I don't see how logically any of the other criteria can fall into place if they don't receive approval because if it doesn't have historic designation, Then how can we say that using these cabins doesn't provide an increase in hazard for health, safety and welfare. Every other criteria falls apart from me after that. So I can't get to yes on any of

2:44:26the other criteria if they don't. Have this historic designation, which in their comments they relied heavily on of historic use. This is how it's been used. This is what we're doing. So for me, historic preservation. Has to do with, of course, the cultural resources and the built environment, but also uses and some other things, so. I can't. Follow. I didn't hear from the applicant. A compelling explanation of how the application meets our criteria without this historic designation. That's where it falls apart for me. No, thank you. And I think I now understand. What you're saying. I guess. What? I'm just. I'm distinguishing between the fact that. This has historically been the use. And so there have been people coming and going and coming and going and staying in cabins for tens of years, decades. Versus.

2:45:21The structures themselves and whether the structures are. Landmarkable. I've been focusing on. Do the structures meet that they look at the integrity of them? Have they been altered to the extent that they no longer. Are examples of some architectural style. Yeah, I don't think that it's conditioned as specifically as which exact structures or whether it's the overall property or I don't. Think it actually is that specific in. What we're requiring as a condition. I don't know whether it would be. Oh, it's in historic use. Well, a historic property. There are historic designations on properties with no buildings. I don't know that that's the case. I know in the country and in our county. I don't know if in our particular county historic designation process. There are examples, but I know of properties that have historic designations that have no building, so I just don't think we've been that prescriptive, so. The things that I'm comfortable leaving it as is, because I do actually think it's.

2:46:27Fairly permissive or I'm happy to continue. And find out the results and then continue the conversation. Both things seem reasonable to me. Okay, well. That's the only one I would alter. If I may add in just in regards to that same condition for the conversation, I'm wondering about the way it's written there, if we might want to consider some change that. Would open up a little bit, meaning the subject property must be designated as a historical landmark. That the way I read in the packet, could be local, it could be state, it could be. National. It might not have to be the board of county commissioners. It could be HBAB. Or another organization. So just wanted to offer that for the conversation. Or if you all felt like and I was trying to get to the comment about where that same entity, the way it's written right now, but I don't know that it has to be written that way. For me. If we're going to leave this in as written, it would be a historical landmark by the board of county commissions. It would be under our procedure. I don't think we recognize. Other.

2:47:38County Historical Society. I wouldn't want to delegate. To just a nonprofit organization or some other organization. The ability to either. Be the gatekeeper on whether something goes forward. I think. The question. Before we proceed to a motion is whether there are two commissioners who want to leave. Condition number four as written. And I know Commissioner stolesman wants to Commissioner Lo Chimi and. Are you wanting to leave it as written or go towards the way the planning commission. Had revised it. I'm fine with it as it was written. I was just trying to. Have some discussion to see if we might be able to reach something that would meet all commissioners. But we don't need to. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Your proposal. I appreciate you trying to do that, but that wouldn't really address my concerns. Okay.

2:48:38This is Leona Laramore, assistant county attorney. I do have a suggestion for language that I think might meet. All of the commissioner's intent, and you can let me know whether it does or does. Not. Thank you. It is essentially the same condition, but it reads prior to the recordation of the development agreement, the subject property must be designated as a historic landmark by the board of county. Commissioners if the property is determined to be eligible for designation. So it requires it. As long as when that application is filed, it is still determined to be eligible for designation. I think that meets exactly commissioner Levy's intent and doesn't meet mine whatsoever, but. I appreciate you. Oh, no, I apologize for that. I think from my perspective, I appreciate you. Yeah. It requires it if it's still eligible. Yeah. No, I think. Commissioner, I understand Commissioner Stolzman's concern. And I agree. That would not meet it. So I do think we can get to a motion on this. If one of my fellow commissioners would like to put a motion on the table, I'm. Actually not ready for motion. I just had another topic I wanted to get back to and just have some conversation with both.

2:49:50Of you in regards to the gas line or. Outdoor fire. So I'm curious. I think. In regards to condition or either it might be an added condition. I'm looking at criteria ten. In our ability to prohibit fires altogether. And wondering about if there'd be any support on that. To me, that does connect. Back to. Which one is it? Standard three. Su. I believe in rake arts. No, that's. Not everyone. In regards to health, safety and welfare of the community. And so I just want to know if there's interest in that. And then maybe we could get some staff support. To potentially write a condition or look and see if there's another condition that's in there because I'm looking at few screens here that we could look at. Commissioner Luchman. If I could speak to the gas line. Thank you. And as always, I'll remind you.

2:50:52That the applicant should be given a chance to respond as well once I'm done. So. The floodplain planner just messaged me back. Thank you, Kelly. So she said that she would not support the installation of a gas line. In the floodplain, even if the storage tanks were located outside of the floodplain. And she referenced the provision that I quoted earlier about the storage or processing of essentially flammable. Materials being prohibited in the floodplain. For me. What? I'm interested. I am interested in. Adding, I'm looking here really quick here. Condition ten is talking about wildfire partner certificate, which is just actual defensible space and. Mitigation, et cetera. So that doesn't quite meet it for me. Condition twelve talks about posting signage around. Fire restrictions, but that doesn't get to the issue for me. That's around boundaries.

2:51:52And otherwise. So I would be looking for an additional condition that prohibits. The fires on this property. I think for me, if. They can't have the tanks. They can't have. A gas line. They can't use those fire pits. I think it's going to. Be very tempting for someone when they see a fire pit down by the water. To gather some wood and light a fire. And I would lean towards requiring them to just remove it. I think it's just going to be too tempting. To have a fire pit sitting there on a beautiful evening and not want to make a fire. And I'm thinking about the fact that with our short term rentals in the mountains, we do not allow any sort of fire pit whatsoever because of the fire risk. So given that. They wouldn't have a way to actually have a gas fire there. The fire pit doesn't serve any purpose. I agree with that. So I would be looking for a different condition or an additional condition that would require. Maybe the language is decommissioning of current fire pets. And is clear about. The prohibition of fires altogether at riverside cabins or at this property before we proceed. Any more here with our deliberation. Sam was cautioning me that I need to allow the applicants to respond. I guess, to the additional

2:53:28information about. The floodplain. What's allowed in the floodplain? Thank you. This came up. Before. And. We have made some movements towards determining. What would be allowed there in regards to permitting. And. My understanding is there is a way to get a permitted. There are shut offs, emergency shutoffs. On the lines that would keep it safe. And so that is the direction we would want to pursue. With those fire pits to keep them there. Just like any other. Perhaps. Property that has fire pits. You can't do wood burning, so people do propane. We can't do the propane tanks because. They're in a floodplain and there's a way to get them permitted. With gas lines. That's what we would want to pursue. Okay, well, what we heard is not definitive. They didn't have an application in front of them. It didn't go through a full review. So I think. It's just maybe a caution to you that at least where the fire pit is currently located or pits, plural, are currently located. It may not be possible to keep them there.

2:55:08Looking at the floodplain, the floodway, and the 100 year and the 500 year flood. Plains on your property. And I suppose just because it may be possible to put a fire pit in, that is not. At all in any of the regulated areas. We may not want to completely prohibit. A fire pit on the property. But. This would have to be determined by. Our flood. Floodway, whatever flood development review person. So are we closing the public hearing again and returning to deliberation? Well, I did want to give them a chance to just address that. Floodplain issue or the floodway issue. I think we would defer to. The permitting. Governance on that as to whether or not it'd be allowed. I was just, I think, making a statement that that's what we would pursue. Since the pits are already there, they get used. And my understanding is there was a path. To doing the underground. Lines. But we would just follow. The permanent guidelines on that. Yeah, you would.

2:56:38As guidelines. Yeah. Okay. All right, then. I think we're back. To our deliberations on this. Great. Thank you. Yeah, I can return back to where I was just simply and ask to the board if there's interest in. Either. An additional condition that reads as decommissioning of fire pits. In prohibition of fires of any kind on this property or. If it's just decommissioned or if it's just prohibition, that would be another option. And I would need staff's help to write something that kind of fits a line with the other conditions. If there was interest from another commissioner. Well, let's have some discussion, commissioner. Stolzman? Yeah, I mean, I think what we've heard through the presentation today is. There's real reason to be concerned in this particular area about health. Safety and welfare of guests and about neighbors and about community at large. And so looking at the criteria around that and taking steps to ensure there are good plants in place is really what's been done.

2:57:40So I see a lot of good effort in that. Space. What I'm hearing is that. On review. Some of these other solutions likely wouldn't be allowed for the flood risks anyway. I think being explicit. That fire pit is not permitted with this particular use, given all of the facts at hand, like there's no management on site. It's not the same as a person who lives in a neighborhood that has a tank. So I think. Given all of the facts on hand, I think it's reasonable to mitigate the detrimental effects to health, safety and welfare by just saying no fire pits on the site if the conditions changed and the special use change, they could come in for a different application that may have different facts. And maybe that would be different, but with what we've been presented today, I don't. Understand why I think people would be really enticed in to say, hey, there's. A fire pit here. I'm going to use it. Yeah, I think. What I was thinking is. That I'll give them the opportunity to. Seek a floodplain development. For that location.

2:58:48If it is not approved. Then. They must remove the fire pit, because I do think people will end up using it because it's there and they'll assume it's there. And it's possible. They could get approval. For a fire pit somewhere else. So I think I wouldn't just say no. I think I would say if. They're not allowed to have. A gas supply to the fire pit? Well, I mean. It cannot be wood. It has to be gas. Not allowed to have gas, then they have to. Remove the pit regardless of where it's located. And I don't recall. Do the signage provisions require them? To this may not be a criteria or it may not be a condition, but Sam. To have posted that. There are no open burning, no wood fires, et cetera, on the property. I think that there was some signage language in here. This is Sam, CPMP. So the recommended condition. Twelve.

3:00:01Text is the applicant. Must post signage regarding fire restrictions, the county noise ordinance and occupancy restrictions on the inside of each rental unit's exterior door. The applicants must also post signs along shared boundaries private parcels. To indicate the limits of guest access, boundary signs must be posted every 20 linear feet. At a minimum, along any shared boundary, okay? I think that's the way I would go, is they can apply. If they can't get it approved, then they have to remove. The pit. Does that sound acceptable? I would add a condition. I can just keep repeating myself. I would add. A condition. 15. That would or maybe go in place of the current 14. That the applicants will decommission the fire pits. And all fires will be prohibited. I didn't have. Staff eloquence on writing the condition, but that's what I would put in. There. This is Leona Larrymore, assistant county attorney. I welcome your feedback on this proposed language. Fire pits, gas grills or other open flames are prohibited on the subject property. And all existing fire pits must be decommissioned. That's much better. That does not reflect my views, but that may reflect two commissioners. I don't know. In all our views, we're actually going to end up at the same place as what?

3:01:34I'm sort of hearing through the course of the conversation, but I understand. The. Views. So I think what's proposed would best suit the, and address the issues that have been raised, articulated from both public we received today in person and. In referral comments that we received in the packet around health, safety and welfare, which is one of the criteria we look at for these applications. So I would go with the language that was proposed. Okay, I hear two commissioners that would support that language. I would have allowed them to apply. And if they were not approved for a floodplain, development permit than I would have required that it be removed, but. We do have two commissioner's support for that language. Anything else that we would like to have addressed. I'm just trying to think of.

3:02:34I heard. In regards to the parking spots is the other note that I had, but I think it got taken care of and. I believe that Sam has responded in regards to that 1.5 parking spots, and so I think we got address. I just want to make sure somebody. Okay. That was the only other one. That I had a note on. Thank you. Okay. Who would like to make a motion? I'm happy to give it a try. I would make a motion. To approve community planning and permitting. Docket Su 23. Se. 240. Five. As conditioned with the additional condition as stated this afternoon regarding the fire pit. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Is the content of the motion understood by everyone? It is. So all in favor, say aye. Aye. And so we have approved that unanimously. Thank you, applicants, for bringing this to us and all your work to get this property.