OURAY – The Ouray Board of County Commissioners began 2009 by drawing up a punch list of “inefficiencies” in the county’s Land Use Code. The need to regulate residential development on patented mining claims became a top priority for the commissioners in the first half of 2009.

The commissioners’ first step was to buy themselves a six-month window for the regulations to be drafted, by approving a moratorium on residential development on mining claims from Jan. 26 to July 26.

“I want to reiterate that the purpose of this [moratorium] is not to take away anybody’s right to develop properties,” Commissioner Keith Meinert said. “In the interim period when talking about fairly major changes in regulatory structure in the zoning of mining claims, I think having a moratorium in place while discussing the issues will eliminate the potential to game the system and rush to file an ill-conceived permit just so they can avoid the regulatory statutes we decided on.”
There are 1,292 mining claims in Ouray County – and, in Colorado, there is a growing trend of developing such tracts for residential purposes.

As possible regulations began to take shape, a sharp division within the community grew. Not wanting to see the process stall, the commissioners directed the county planning commission in early July to “forward to the board as expeditiously as possible its approval, disapproval or suggestions” on a drafted section of code that specifically deals with the residential development of mining claims. However, a July 9 planning commission workshop revealed that several commission members felt such regulation was unnecessary.

With the process at standstill, the BOCC vowed to continue drafting the regulations. At an informational forum on July 27, one day after the moratorium had expired, almost 200 members of the public gathered to speak out about the issue; among the roughly 50 people who expressed their opinion, 24 spoke out in favor of regulations and 29 spoke out against them.

Finally, in August the commissioners decided that instead of drafting an entirely new section of the LUC, they will find ways to better enforce or tweak existing codes to address the board’s concerns over development within mining claims.

Moving ahead with that plan, the planning commission has held several work sessions and public forums but no significant changes have yet occurred.

One significant but unrelated change was made to the land use code in 2009. In

early December the BOCC passed an amendment to Section 6.12 of the LUC that removes a two-thirds veto authority from Planned Unit Development or subdivision landowners when a development is faced with specific plat amendments or alterations.