On Tuesday, July 1, the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) voted unanimously to approve Resolution 2025-36, amending the Archuleta County Land Use Regulations (LUR) relating to public notice requirements.
The changes were presented by Planning Manager Owen O‘Dell, who explained the request for changes came from the Archuleta County Planning Commission after a “controversial” proposal in a rural area, noting the planning commission felt the applicant did not have a “very large reach” with the number of neighboring and nearby property owners who were required to be notified.
O’Dell indicated that, previously, public notice requirements were for adjacent properties within 500 feet, explaining, “So, as you can imagine, those larger parcels [are] really only notifying a handful of people.”
He explained that the planning commission asked for staff to “make some adjustments” on the mailed, posted and public notice requirements.
O’Dell explained the changes were being made to Section 2 of the LUR, explaining the first change adds language to include posting public hearing notices on “any social media platform the county is active,” on top of the existing requirement that a notice be published at least twice in the newspaper 21 days prior to the hearing.
He then explained the next change defines a minimum size requirement for signs to be posted on the subject parcel.
“Previously, there was no indication for minimum sign size,” O’Dell said, explaining the Planning Department has been using 2-foot by 3-foot signs.
He indicated the planning commission requested the minimum size to be 12 square feet.
O’Dell then went on to explain the third change in the public notice requirements, saying, “This is where the conversation really started,” which has to do with mailed notice requirements.
O’Dell explained the planning commission requested that a minimum of 15 property owners be notified of a public hearing event through a mailed notice, beginning with property owners that are adjacent to the subject property.
If the minimum of 15 is not met, then property owners within 500 feet of the subject property would be notified, with that distance increasing by 500 feet until the minimum is met.
O’Dell noted that it would be possible that an applicant could end up having to notify more than 15 minimum.
O’Dell also explained that the 500-foot increment was based on the previous mailed notice requirement of having to notify property owners within 500 feet of the subject property.
Commissioner Warren Brown asked who would be paying for the signs.
O’Dell explained the county has always paid for the signs.
“I really like this concept,” Commissioner John Ranson said.
Commissioner Veronica Medina requested that language be added to clarify that any social media notices would be treated as a “secondary” notification.
clayton@pagosasun.com
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