Amid controversy, Delta posts ‘working draft’ of subdivision regs

DELTA —In the first attempts in 10 years to revise Delta County’s subdivision regulations, concerns have been raised over whether the proposed changes are legal or appropriate.

County officials posted online Friday the latest working draft of their revised regulations, which will be the focus of a county work session May 8.

An internal document commissioners said was not yet ready for public review was distributed widely in April after residents wrote letters to the editor, which were published in regional newspapers, saying they obtained a copy the county forbade them to see.

Commissioners Wayne Wolf and Jan McCracken said the planning department had discouraged the public from seeing the documents because they were still in the drafting process.

Residents Debbie Schum and Jan VanDenBerg are among those criticizing the proposed regulations and process under which they were created.

VanDenBerg said there are sections of the regulations in which the commissioners have taken on excessive, vague and poorly defined powers that are considered by her lawyer, David Masters, to be void for vagueness under Colorado state law.

Schum, chairwoman of the Delta County Libertarian Party, said the draft contains elements of building codes and zoning. Further, she said the county is inserting new ordinances into a pre-existing document and calling them “revisions.”

She criticized the appearance of revised regulations in the definitions section. Specifically, county officials outlined regulations for the “cottage industry” or “home occupation” in definitions. Those definitions were deleted from the working draft.

“I doubt they will be discussed any further,” Wolf said.

“The point is it’s not the appropriate place. Subdivision regulations are not the place to address home occupations.”

The inappropriate placement of these revisions is among criticisms that continue to fuel ongoing concerns about corruption by commissioners, which was the subject of an April 22 press release from the county’s Libertarian Party.

Schum said she plans to try to revive corruption charges citizens filed last year, particularly that commissioners violated state law when they “knowingly and purposefully transferred funds from the general fund into the road and bridge fund.”

Draft revisions of subdivision regulations will also include density standards, a topic expected to generate debate, and one Schum said does not belong in subdivision regulations but zoning.

Wolf said discussions about density standards are legitimate. “Over the months, the planning department has made some different density standards suggestions to the county commissioners,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve picked a perfect one but we’ve picked what we like so far.”

The county is not objecting to subdivisions but to having too many lots in these areas, McCracken said. She added that the county is not “trying to stop growth by any means. We’re trying to make it fit with what we currently have.”

The county’s subdivision regulations, which were originally adopted in 1972, were last revised in 1998.  The impetus behind revising the regulations is to clarify the process, Wolf said. Those who disagree with proposed changes said they worry about the documents’ vagueness.

Attempts at creating building and zoning codes — or the perception of having done so — have been a decades-old struggle for Delta County. According to published reports, protests were held against building codes and hundreds testified against such proposals.

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To view the proposed revised subdivision regulations, visit: www.deltacounty.com/index.asp?nid=327

Contact Lisa Huynh at lisah@montrosepress.com