Ask Planning and Zoning page 3

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Q Can my son-in-law and myself both build homes on a single tract of land (1-2 acres)?  Can one buy 1.5 acres and sell the other .5 acre and both build?

A I would caution you to not purchase a property and then sell one portion to someone else without working with the County.  Based on your scenario, selling .5 acres to your son-in-law could create an illegal division of land.  At the time of building permit review, the County would need to verify the legal description for the property.  The change in description would create a red-flag and would stop any further review and the ability to obtain a permit from the County.

There are available options to subdivide, reconfigure or alter the property through County processes.  I would recommend that you come into our office and sit down with us so that we can best direct and assist you on this matter.  Other factors that should be considered when subdividing property include access to the property, water, sanitation and compliance with the underlying zone district. 

Q Does the county have archives of residential plot/site plans for homes built in '93/'94?  If so, how can I obtain a copy of mine?  I need to determine the setback of my home to the property line.

A The County does have some archives of residential plat/site plans for homes built in 1993/1994.  The best way to obtain a copy, if one exists on file with the County, is to come into our office and work with one of our planners at our Front Counter area.  Provided the site plan has not been reduced or modified, it should help you determine setbacks. We can also check our database system and determine what setbacks where established at the time the home was constructed.  Again, please come into our office so that we can work with you directly. Our database system goes back to 1993 when we began entering permits electronically and we have a large majority of paper copies for building permits that go back to 1980.

Q For a residential single home addition in zone MR3, what is the square footage threshold at which a wildfire defensible space evaluation is required? From the Q&A section, it appears it might be 400 square feet.

A Please see my response to a previous question.  The 400 square feet is based on new square footage added to the existing structure. So, if you propose a 400 square foot deck attached to the residence, and your property exists within the Wildfire Overlay Hazard Zone, you will need to work with us to obtain a Defensible Space Permit.  If you have proposed a 400 square foot detached garage with no living space included in the structure (i.e. a second story office area), then a Defensible Space Permit is not required.

Q I have an 8 acre property in Pine, Colorado.  It has 10 cabins on it that are granfathered in.  I am interested in forming an HOA and selling the cabins individually.  How would I go about finding out if this is possible? How would I do this? Any advice on the subject? How long does a process like this take? Do I need to rezone in order to do this?

A Thanks for your question.  It sounds like the cabins are part of the estate or land they reside on.  I would caution you about selling the cabins individually.  Here is my concern; most often, people will want to purchase the structure and land together.  Selling off any portion of land to coincide with each individual cabin will create an illegal division of land.  Any subsequent improvement that a new owner may want to make on those cabins could not be completed without legalizing the illegal division of land.  Condominimizing the cabins, or selling the "air space," but not the land underneath may present additional issues.  For example, do the cabins have individual wells and septic systems?

I would recommend that you come into our office and speak with my staff about this situation.  You may want to look at subdividing the land for each cabin, prior to eventually selling them off.  If many of these cabins are "grandfathered" or legal nonconforming structures, they might not comply with zone district standards for setback, height and so forth.  In that case, we need to look at rezoning the land in addition to subdividing the property.  If both a rezoning and subdivision of land need to occur, this process can take up to 1 year or longer to complete.  Coming into our office allows us the opportunity to determine zoning, applicable land use process and other standards that might be needed in order for you to accomplish your objective.

Either way, you did the right thing by asking the questions you did.  I hope that we can be of further assistance by having you come into our office and talk with us further.

Q Greetings, Yesterday, I visited with  P&Z.  I learned that I would be required to obtain a variance for a road that has been used for many years and has several homes built on it.  I bought the property earlier this year.  Prior to the purchase, I visited your office to inquire about the process to rezone my 19 acres that is zoned A-2 and to  subdive it into two lots.  I also told the guy who helped me that I would be taking the house down on my land and building a new house.  Before I purchased the property, I was under the assumption that this was a county maintained road.  I have lived down the road for the past 24 years.  This was to be our life long dream house.  I was in shock after I was told this.  Your staff said that I had three options: I could go through to get a permit.  One, I could see if the 8-9 neighbors would either "vacate" their portion of the county dedicated road; two, have the neighbors join in and pay to bring the road to county standards and the final option being the variance. 

WHY do I have to get a variance to "Re-build" my house.  Most of the lots have been built for years.  The house I took down was functionaly obsolete.  There is no sane reason for a permit not to be granted.  But why must I have to pay for a survey of a road that has been used by the prior owner of the property I bought and the other 8 - 9 owners.  I can see this working in a new development, not an existing one.  Please enlighten me.  I would rather obtain approval to submit for permit without variance.

A Jefferson County has begun working with property owners and local Fire Protection Districts to ensure that the physical access to a property meets the minimum requirements of the County's Jefferson County Roadway Design and Construction Manual.  This will provide better safety for property owners and emergency personnel. 

When a person wishes to build a new home, add an addition of over 400 square feet, or as in your case, to replace an existing dwelling, the access serving the property must be reviewed to ensure both legal and physical access meet the minimum requirements to the Jefferson County Zoning Resolution.  In your instance, the access lies within a County dedicated rRight-of-way (ROW) but has not been constructed to the required minimum standard for a "public" road. 

To meet these access requirements; we must look at a hierarchy of steps to ultimately establish the minimum requirements. First we need to know the condition, width and grade of the existing "non-maintained" access.  If the applicant can establish that the road exists or can be built to a public road standard, no further action is required.  If the road does not meet the standard, then we must look at alternatives.

Can the road be built to the required standard, if yes, then the individual could obtain a construction permit within the ROW to construct the access to a public road standard?  If the road cannot be built to the applicable standard, then the applicant has the option of working with the adjacent property owners to vacate the ROW, and establishing reciprocal access easements and then building the access to a "private" road standard, or making an application to the Board of Adjustment (BOA) to allow an alternate standard for the access.  Upon successful completion of the Vacation or the BOA process, a permit for the construction of the access and subsequent building permit can be obtained.

The required standards for a public or private road can be found in the Jefferson County Roadway and Construction Manual.

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Last Modified: Mar 28, 2009 10:17 PM