Water group lacks leader on land-use committee

The Board of County Commissioners formalized a land-use Code Advisory Committee on Tuesday but it’s still unclear who will lead the water protection group.

The board told the water group to choose its primary representative from two members with notably dissimilar backgrounds.

This influential representative will be either a conservationist or a rancher.

The choice is between Buena Vista resident Reed Dils and Frank McMurry of Nathrop. Dils serves on the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservation District and the Arkansas River Basin Roundtable.

Frank McMurry is a fourth-generation rancher who owns water rights, and sold some with property to Nestlé Waters North America. Nestle will draw 65 million gallons a year from an aquifer, pipe it to Johnson Village, then truck it to a Denver bottling facility.

The motion passed 2-1 to accept a slate of focus group representatives to serve on the committee. Commissioner Tim Glenn, District 3, and Commissioner Dennis Giese, District 1, voted in favor and Chairman of the Board Commissioner Frank Holman, District 2, dissented. “I would really like the water committee to make their own decision,” Holman said, as to who should be on the short list of representatives.

The position of primary rep, or spokesperson, carries some weight. A spokesperson and alternate will represent each group, ranging from real estate and development to heritage. Alternates are encouraged to attend meetings but their involvement would be minimal compared to the spokesperson’s.

The eventual committee will be composed of Chaffee County Citizen’s Land Use Roundtable focus group representatives. The committee’s purpose is to implement the roundtable’s recommendations and revise the code, creating workable planning and zoning regulations. The roundtable’s work took more than two years to come to consensus.

County planner Kim Antonucci urged the board on Tuesday to formalize code-advisory committee members. “There is some urgency here,” Antonucci said. “From a planning perspective, our code is horrendous. I’ve been here two years and I still have questions that I cannot answer with 100 percent confidence.”

Water group leader changes multiple times

Jeanne Foster, a member of the water group, said that there wasn’t a clear consensus as to who should be representatives, and that she, McMurry and Dils were all interested.

Glenn spoke in favor of Dils, noting that Dils was the only member who applied by the Aug. 12, 2009 deadline to be a representative. Dils brings a useful perspective with his conservation work and involvement on a state water conservation board, Glenn said. Other members of the commission, specifically Nancy Roberts and Bruce Cogan, could adequately represent agricultural interests, he said.

The water protection group has seen some flip-flopping as to who will be spokesperson. The name listed first on the county’s website is the spokesperson expected to be confirmed. In the fall Dils was listed first as spokesperson on the website. Then McMurry was listed first in early December. Now Dils is listed again. At this point, it’s unclear who will eventually speak for the water protection group.

Seven months, so far, to form committee

Commissioners have been criticized for taking too long to formalize this committee, seven months so far, with the decision tabled at the December board meeting.

Keith Baker, primary representative for the sustainable growth focus group, said: “Mr. Dils met the application deadline and has unrivaled credentials on water issues. It isn’t as if the only applicant was unqualified and the deadline needed to be extended. Under my personal value system, Mr. Dils should be chosen for the water position. Mr. McMurry, who is indeed well-qualified on water topics, should be appointed if he was the only applicant who had applied on time.”

County planners will write an initial land-use code draft based on the Colorado Department of Local Affairs model template and incorporate their interpretations of the roundtable results. This work is expected to be completed in mid-February. The land-use advisory commission will then weigh in, and the hope is the work will wrap up by June.

Forming the committee is the last step in an almost 10-year process to revise the land-use code. Currently, the land-use code is unclear, conflicting and hinders smart development. The committee will work with the Planning Commission and county staffers.

Until a decisive land-use code is finalized, the subdivision review process presents the greatest challenge. There are conflicts going back to previous zoning and subdivision regulations that stood alone but referred to each other. Basically, the two were treated separately and as subdivision requirements evolved and changed, the zoning did not.

County land use Articles 3 and 7, zoning and standards, are the most controversial. “Those two articles are the ones that we want the committee to review carefully,” she said.

Much of the land-use code is self-referential as language in one section cites language elsewhere. The entire code needs to be examined as part of the same process, Antonucci said.

Code Advisory Committee

Real Estate & Dev: Karin Adams, Mike Allen
Production Agriculture: Bruce Cogan, Nancy Roberts
Water Protection: Reed Dils, Frank McMurry
Sustainable Growth: Keith Baker, Kathy McCoy
Commercial & Industrial: Rick Shovald, Tom Eve
Heritage: Cheryl Brown-Kovacic, Melanie Roth
Government: Dara MacDonald, Dee Miller