The Animas Valley Registered District Advisory Committee (RDAC) needs our help!
Please read the email below from Anita Rancatti who is our RDAC contact person to the County for the Animas Valley.
In the past year it was discovered that in 2017 there was a non-transparent “Administrative” Amendment to the La Plata County Land Use Code for the Animas Valley before the final revision. It removed all options for “Major” Special Use development proposal requests and placed all special use requests (such as Roberts Resorts Village Camp RV Park) as “Minor” special use requests.
Six of our RDAC members spent the past year drafting recommended updates to our Code, including having Major returned. We cited that it is discriminatory for all other Districts to have that option and for the Animas Valley to be the only to not have it. Those proposals go before the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) for approval, not simply the volunteer Planning Commission.
Clearly, the Roberts Resort Village Camp proposal for 304 (or later 277) RV units should have been filed as a Major request, however Minor was no longer an option. Now the County is stating there is no “process” to deal with our Code update request.
It is essential to have folks in attendance Thursday evening, December 12, to show support from Valley residents. The Planning Commission meeting is at 6:00 p.m. at the La Plata County Administration Building,1101 E 2nd Avenue.
Typically only a few of the same faces attend. In order to show other residents are aware and involved, we hope you will consider attending. We realize it is the holiday season and very late notice.
Anita Rancatti Request
The Animas Valley RDAC has been working on a revision of our code for the past year and submitted the proposed changes on October 21st to the La Plata County Commissioners, Planning Department and Planning Commissioners. Lynn Hyde responded with comments on November 1st which implied there was no process and the department did not have time or priority to address our proposed changes. Shirley Dill and I met with Lynn Hyde and Dan on November 19 to discuss how we could work together and prioritize our request.
1. The first thing Shirley and I realized is Valley residents need to attend BOCC and Planning Commission meetings for the next few months with the goal of requesting the proposed changes be included in 2025 work priorities for the Planning Department. What does that mean? For the next few rounds of meetings, we need to have Valley residents physically attend (Zoom has yet to work this year) each of the meetings listed below. Since we cannot be added to the agenda, we need speakers to sign up for the public open business/comment section in each meeting. Speakers are limited to 3 minutes each. The focus here is to get our request in the meeting minutes and on each group’s radar to set work priorities for the Planning Department.
December 10 2:30pm – BOCC Special Planning Planning Meeting 1101 East 2nd Ave
December 12 6pm – Planning Commission meeting at 1101 East 2nd Avenue
January 9 6pm – Planning Commission meeting at 1101 East 2nd Avenue
January 21 10am – BOCC Planning Meeting 1101 East 2nd Ave
January 23 6pm – Planning Commission meeting at 1101 East 2nd Avenue
2. The other issue all parties realized is the Animas Valley Land Use Code is rather clumsy and revamping the actual code categories into a matrix would clarify and streamline project review for users and planning staff. I volunteered to work on the translation with Dan over the next few months.
3. While we asked for a building mortorium or at least a stop on all land use code change requests, there was a lot of push back. This topic also needs to be mentioned in our request for being added to the 2025 work priority.
So, I am looking for volunteers to sign up to attend each of the these meetings. We really other Valley residents to attend besides Dot, Shirley and myself. I plan on attending all 5 and we may need to attend BOCC regular meetings instead of their planning meetings. We will know more after the 12/12 meeting. Once I know who the volunteers are, I will work with each to develop a script so we have clear communication on the RDAC desires.
Please let me know if you can attend any of these meetings and if so, what dates.
Please remember this revision is the best way to reinstate the land use codes that were removed over the past 5 years which allowed undesirable development to occur in the Valley. We need to show Valley support for these changes and that means people need to show up and speak up!
Thank you Anita Rancatti